The Treaty of Amity and Commerce Between the United States and Sweden ( sv, Svensk-amerikanska vänskaps- och handelstraktaten), officially A treaty of Amity and Commerce concluded between His Majesty the King of Sweden and the United States of North America, was a treaty signed on April 3, 1783 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and the Kingdom of Sweden. The treaty officially established commercial relations between these two nations and was signed during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

Background

In 1783

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

was the American resident in

, and on September 28, 1782 he was given a new assignment by Congress, and was made Minister Plenipotentiary to His Majesty King

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. However, because Franklin was based in Paris, France, the discussions were carried out via the Swedish ambassador to the court of France, Count Gustaf Philip Creutz. On April 3, 1783, the two of them signed the treaty. Later that same year, the Treaty of Paris was signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, which ended the American Revolutionary War.

Signers

Benjamin Franklin by Jean-Baptiste Greuze

United States

Sweden

* Count Gustaf Philip Creutz

Provisions

* Peace and friendship between the U.S. and Sweden * Mutual Most Favored Nation status with regard to commerce and navigation * Mutual protection of all vessels and cargo when in U.S. or Swedish

jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...

* Mutual right for citizens of one country to hold land in other's territory * Mutual right to search a ship of the other's coming out of an enemy port for

contraband Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...

* Right to

due process of law Due process of law is application by state of all legal rules and principles pertaining to the case so all legal rights that are owed to the person are respected. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects the individual pers ...

if contraband is found on an allied ship and only after being Officially declared contraband may it be seized * Mutual protection of

men of war ''Men of War'' is a real-time tactics video game franchise, based mainly in World War II. Main series Soldiers: Heroes of World War II ''Soldiers: Heroes of World War II'' is the original game of the 'Men of War' series, and uses an early GE ...

and

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

and their crews from harm from the other party and

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History *War reparations **World War I reparations, made from ...

to be paid if this provision is broken * Restoration of stolen property taken by

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

* Right of Ships of War and privateers to freely carry ships and goods taken for their enemy * Mutual assistance, relief, and

safe harbor A safe harbor or harbour is literally a "place of shelter and safety, esp. for ships". It is used in many contexts: Film and television * Safe harbor (broadcasting), established in 1978 in the US, the time period in a television schedule during wh ...

to ships, both of War and Merchant, in crisis in the other's territory * Neither side may commission privateers against the other nor allow foreign privateers that are enemies of either side to use their ports * Mutual right to trade with enemy states of the other as long as those goods are not contraband * If the two nations become enemies nine months protection of merchant ships in enemy territory * To prevent quarrels between allies all ships must carry passports and cargo manifests * If two ships meet Ships of War and Privateers must stay out of

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

range but may board the merchant ship to inspect her passports and manifests * Mutual Right to inspection of a ship's cargo to only happen once * Mutual right to have Counsuls, Vice Counsuls, Agents, and Commissaries of one nation in the other's ports

Ratification

* The Treaty was ratified by Gustav III in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

on May 23, 1783. * The Treaty was ratified by Congress on July 29, 1783. * The ratifications were exchanged at Paris on February 6, 1784.

References

Sources

* Giunta, Mary A., ed. ''Documents of the Emerging Nation: U.S. Foreign Relations 1775–1789.'' Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1998. * Middlekauff, Robert. ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. * "Treaty of Amity and Commerce," ''The Avalon Project at Yale Law School''.

]. Accessed 30 March 2008.

External links

A collection of all the treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce, between Great-Britain and other powers, from the treaty signed at Munster in 1648, to the treaties signed at Paris in 1783: To which is prefixed, A discourse on the conduct of the government of Great-Britain in respect to neutral nations
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amity and Commerce (United States-Sweden) * The handwritten text of The U.S. Swedish Treaty of 1783 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1783_US_Sweden_Treaty_-_English.pdf Treaties of Sweden Treaties of the United States Political history of the United States Political history of Sweden 1783 in France 1783 in Sweden 1783 in the United States Ordinances of the Continental Congress 1783 treaties Sweden–United States relations Sweden during the Gustavian era