Treaty of Paris Announced at Princeton

On October 31, 1783, while the Continental Congress was meeting at Nassau Hall in Princeton, official word arrived that the Treaty of Paris had been signed, formally ending the Revolutionary War. Congress, under the presidency of Elias Boudinot, received the news and issued a proclamation announcing the peace. Princeton thus became the place where the end of the war was officially recognized by the American government. The moment was both a conclusion and a beginning — the war was over, but the task of building a functioning nation from the Articles of Confederation was just starting.