23 Interesting Facts about the Treaty of Paris (1763)

by World History Edu · Published October 15, 2019 · Updated September 25, 2020

The Treaty of Paris of 1763 was a peace treaty signed by Britain, France, and Spain on February 10, 1763. This treaty brought to an end the Seven Years’ War (also known as the French and Indian War of 1754 to 1763 in North America) that raged across the globe from 1756 to 1763. As a result of the treaty, the victors, Great Britain, became the number one global colonial power. The following are 23 interesting facts about the Treaty of Paris 1763:

The Paris Treaty of 1763 was given assent to by the monarchs from Spain, France, and Great Britain. These monarchs were King Charles III of Spain, King Louis XV of France, and King George III of Britain.
The Treaty of Paris 1763 is commonly called the Peace of Paris or the Treaty of 1763. Representatives and negotiators from Great Britain (as well her allies Portugal and Prussia), Spain and France signed the treaty on February 10, 1763.
After the war was over, Britain experienced a dire financial situation. The empire had spent about 60 million pounds on the war.
To raise money, Britain decided to make the American colonies pay for the war. They first imposed duties and taxes – the Sugar Act 1764 and the Stamp Act 1765.
When it came to who got what territory, Great Britain dictated the terms of the Treaty. France ceded all its mainland North American territories (French Canada) to Britain. However, the French got the Caribbean islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon in exchange. Also, the vanquished nation Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

Not only was Great Britain the biggest winner by virtue of the Treaty of Paris (1763), Britain came out of the deal the undisputed colonial power in the world. Britain’s interests and territories dominated the world for the next two centuries.
In 1762, King Charles III – Spain’s ruler – proposed to King Louis XV of France to cede control of Louisiana, New Orleans to Spain. Under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, France and Spain completed the negotiations in secret in November 1762.
The person who drafted the bulk part of the Treaty was French negotiator and foreign minister François de Stainville, Duc de Choiseul. Due to his tireless diplomatic talks with the British Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, France did not come out of the treaty extremely humiliated.
France Foreign Minister François de Stainville, Duc de Choiseul (right) and British Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
Shortly after the Treaty of Paris in 1763, Britain issued out the Proclamation of 1763 on October 7. The Proclamation established a borderline that separated the Native Indian territories from the American colonies.
In terms of how much land area Britain acquired, one could say that the treaty propelled Britain into a dominant super nation in North America and beyond.
The remaining two parties to the war, Prussia and Austria, signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg on February 15, 1793. Prussia’s exclusion from the big boys’ table in Paris infuriated Fredrick II of Prussia. The monarch saw this as a blatant betrayal by his British allies.
The phrase “Hubertsburg Peace” has come to be used to describe any treaty which restores parties in the negotiations to the situation that existed before dispute/conflict erupted.
The negotiators from Britain, France, and Spain were as follows: John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford; César Gabriel de Choiseul, Duke of Praslin; and Jerónimo Grimaldi, 1st Duke of Grimaldi respectively. The preliminary Treaty of Paris was signed by the negotiators on November 3, 1762.
With the exclusion of big wins such as French Canada, the treaty ensured that the areas taken during the war were given back to the original owners.
Another very interesting fact about the 1763 Treaty of Paris is that Britain got to keep some of the territories that they acquired. However, France and Spain returned virtually all the lands they took during the war.
The factories in India were given back to France. It did, however, allow some British businessmen to have a stronghold over certain parts of India, especially in Bengal.
Excluding Saint Pierre and Miguelon off Newfoundland, France lost virtually all of her territories in North America.
The French viewed Guadeloupe as a better place than Canada. The territory was a sugar cane colony, bringing in about £6 million a year. Canada was too large a settlement to maintain. It needed a lot of resources; hence, the Caribbean islands were considered a much better alternative, the French reasoned.
Benjamin Franklin supported taking all French mainland territories (Canada) in North American. Franklin reasoned that those areas held great value to Britain and the American colonies. On the contrary, famous Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire begged to disagree. He believed that France was better off with the sugar cane Caribbean islands. The French philosopher once described Canada as “a few acres of snow”.
Due to their Protestant background, American colonists were not so pleased about granting some rights and religious protection to the French Catholics in North America.
Ex-British Prime Minister William Pitt, the Elder, decried the Paris Treaty of 1763. He made passionate arguments in the British House of Lords, stating that Britain had taken it easy on its enemies. He criticized then-Prime Minister Stuart’s handling of the situation. After all was said and done, the treaty was ratified with a landslide victory in Parliament.
The United States of America would later secure the remaining part of Louisiana in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Then, in 1819, under the Adams-Onis Treaty, Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
With French out of North America, the American colonies diverted their attention to a different kind of threat – Great Britain. The Treaty of Paris (1763) can be described as the event that snowballed into American colonies fighting for their independence. French foreign minister François de Stainville, Duc de Choiseul had enough foresight of this and readied France’s navy for the events that were about to unfold.