On this day in 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris, finalizing the peace plan to end the Revolutionary War. In the treaty, Great Britain acknowledged that the 13 rebellious colonies were now their own nation and established new national boundaries between British and American lands.
In the agreement, both countries stipulated that debts incurred by a U.S. citizen in Britain during the war, or vice versa, would still be paid. The treaty also directed the release of all prisoners of war and sorted out the rights of each country to use bodies of water that crossed those boundaries. Notably, Britain also ceded to the fledgling nation its Northwest Territory, land that would go on to become the states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and some of Minnesota.
The treaty had been signed in September 1783 in Paris by delegates from the U.S., Britain, France, and Spain. The Continental Congress had to agree to the treaty before it took effect, though, and was called to assemble in then-U.S. capital Annapolis, Md., in November. It took six weeks for enough members to gather to vote. Once they reached quorum, the treaty passed unanimously.
You can read more about the Treaty of Paris at History.com, and read the (surprisingly short) document at the National Archives.
