Being Nice, 18th-Century Style

While the people negotiating the treaty didn't hate each other—Ben Franklin and David Hartley actually had a good bromance going on—there was a good deal of bad blood between the two sides at large.

So this was a pretty huge moment historically. And they knew it at the time…even if Britain had no idea what kind of superpower America was going to turn into. (We're betting Ben Franklin was already planning to put a man on the moon.)

The U.S. became the first place to successfully declare independence from a European power. Because history loves irony, they were only able to do that with the help of European powers—France especially—but it still counts. However, Britain saw an opportunity here (likely spurred on by the friendship between Hartley and Franklin) to turn an enemy into a friend.

…or at least take a friend away from their longtime rival, France.

With Britain and France ending up on the same side in both world wars, it's easy to forget that before that, those two countries fought like cats and dogs…if cats and dogs had access to cannons and came up with catchy national anthems.

The tone, therefore, is surprisingly friendly for what really seems like it should be a bitter document.