Historian Samuel Flagg Bemis called the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolution the "greatest victory in the annals of American diplomacy." While all scholars may not agree with this assessment, it is certain that the achievement of peace and independence by the American negotiators in 1783 constituted a stunning accomplishment. Not even the most optimistic members of the Continental Congress that reluctantly voted for separation in 1776 could have imagined attaining nationhood on the favorable terms embodied in the Treaty of Paris. As Peace and the Peacemakers makes clear, the treaty can be approached on several levels. First, the document both reflected the personalities of the men who had negotiated it and revealed the processes of their diplomacy. Second, it mirrored the sectional interests and aspirations that were fundamental in shaping the diplomatic goals of the newly formed American republic. Finally, by translating the American victory at Saratoga in 1777 and the Franco-American triumph at Yorktown in 1781 into economic and political realities, the Treaty of Paris provided a solid foundation for the United States' entry into the international community. The essays in this volume study the Treaty of Paris from each of these perspectives. In the opening essays Esmond Wright and Gregg L. Lint explore the objectives of the principal combatants in the Revolutionary War, Wright from the British side and Lint primarily from the American, although he also considers French and Spanish objectives. Four of the articles, those of James H. Hutson, Bradford Perkins, Charles R. Ritcheson, and Jonathan R. Dull, examine the character and motivation of the negotiators for the United States, Great Britain, and France, and evaluate the influence of these men on the treaty-making process. The papers of Marcus Cunliffe and Samuel F. Scott explore, respectively, the cultural impact of the Revolution on the United States and the military consequences of the war for the great European powers. Richard B. Morris concludes the volume with an analysis of the long-term diplomatic significance of the treaty. - Dust jacket.