The Treaty of Paris created the United States.

Yeah, that's still a pretty timely issue.

We have a ton of docs that helped make an unlucky number of colonies into the 'Murica we know and love. The Declaration of Independence states that the colonies wanted to be their own country; the Constitution states that they are their own country; the Bill of Rights lays out what the citizens are guaranteed.

But before the Treaty of Paris? There was no United States. Afterward, there was.

At the time, this was a pretty humiliating setback for Great Britain. This kind of thing had never happened before. Britain didn't think much of the actual new country, and, truth be told, neither did any of the other European powers. They assumed that the United States would be a provincial backwater whose contribution to world history pretty much began and ended with sticking it to England…

…which is kind of like the geopolitical equivalent of some dude at the turn of the 20^th century saying "Yeah, this 'automobile' thing will never catch on."

To France, Spain, and the Netherlands, the signing of the Treaty of Paris was a victory in a proxy war against Britain. Britain—and most likely Hartley—saw the potential to keep the United States as an ally. After all, the dominant culture was a wealthy white planter class that wasn't all that different from the aristocracy in England. Hartley had a ton of common ground with Ben Franklin.

Great Britain and the U.S. of A. had a rocky history after this, but by the time the 20^th century rolled around, that alliance was more or less in place. The shared culture and language insured that the leaders would have a ton of common ground. Great Britain got a steadfast ally too, one that supplied it during both World Wars and eventually fought alongside it in both.

In the modern world's stage, it's tough to find two powerful countries that are as in sync as the United States and Great Britain. We listen to each other's music. We speak the same language. We both obsessively watch The Great British Bake-Off.

To a certain extent, this extends to the other commonwealth nations, including Canada and Australia. It's a pretty good alliance all told, and it looks like it's going to stay on solid ground.

And it all started with the Treaty of Paris. Great Britain lost a colony, but ended up gaining a staunch ally. Sounds like in in the long term, they won big.