American Revolution

On 10 February 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War. France traded a continent for a sugar island, Britain collected an empire, and the bills came due within a generation.

On 14 January 1784, Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris and the United States became legally real. Britain's terms were so generous that the French foreign minister called it buying peace rather than making it. That generosity launched the world's next superpower.