Letter about the Articles of Peace

On Jan. 25, 1783, Jonathan Nesbitt and John Rucker, prominent merchants, wrote from l’Orient, France, that Britain, France, and Spain had signed the final articles of peace, drawing the war to a close. Both Nesbitt and Rucker were in France to facilitate the sale and trade of American-made goods. The money made from the sale of these objects would be sent back to the colonies to help pay for the debts that America had incurred from the eight years of war. The Treaty of Paris, signed in September 1783, recognized the independence of the United States of America. The letter’s recipient John Brown was an assistant to Robert Morris, known as the “financier of the American Revolution.” 

Document Details

• Letter to John Brown
  Written by Jonathan Nesbitt and John Rucker
  L’Orient, France
  January 25, 1783
  Ink on Paper
  Museum of the American Revolution (Benninghoff Collection), 2007.00.0386