There's a tendency for modern people to assume that the American Revolution was pretty much a unanimous thing; that all American colonists wanted Britain kicked to the curb. In our popular imagination, only one person opposed it (and that's why we all know the name of Benedict Arnold).

But that's just not true.

In broad strokes, about a third of the colonial population were Patriots, a third were Loyalists, and a third just wanted to hang out and powder their wigs. Loyalists weren't exactly popular among Patriots, and as the cause tipped, more and more of those undecideds went over to the winning side. There were a lot of die-hard Loyalists that stuck to their guns (muskets?) until the bitter end, though.

Which is why the Treaty of Paris makes such a big deal about America playing nice with former Loyalists.

Everything mentioned in the Treaty actually happened, by the way. Loyalists had their property confiscated and destroyed. (The moral of this story? You never want to be on the losing end of a revolution.)

Since England plays the Big Bad in the Revolutionary War, it's nice to point out when they're donning the Good Guy white hat. The Treaty of Paris is one such occasion. For David Hartley, who opposed the war and sought peaceful reconciliation, the Loyalists were Englishmen who shouldn't be punished just for being on the wrong side. And we think that's totally decent.

Luckily, Franklin, Adams, and Jay were all pretty chill as well. They weren't interested in retribution—after all, they were too busy trying to build a country.