FORT SMITH (KFSM) -- Jan. 14 is known as Ratification Day, which recognizes the ratification of the Treaty of Paris in 1784.
"The Treaty of Paris was a treaty that officially ended the American Revolution for the United States and gave us all the land east of the Mississippi [River], north of Florida and south of Canada," Fort Smith Museum of History Exhibit Designer Caroline Speir said.
The treaty was originally signed in 1783, but the ratification was delayed due to extreme winter conditions.
"There were only seven representatives available during that winter, so [President] Jefferson was afraid that Britain would not okay that," Speir said. "So they had to wait on the other two states in order for the ratification to be approved."
Once signed, the ratification would establish the United States as a free and independent nation.
"The ratification means that those signatures are binding," Speir said. "It has been approved and we have to abide by the laws that are in that document."
While this day was historic for the United Stats, this area wasn't yet developed.
"In 1784, Fort Smith would have had primarily French trappers and fur traders here, Native Americans; a lot of Caddo, some Osage," Speir said. "But you did not have a community here at that point."
The Old Senate Chamber is still preserved just as it was the day of the signing in 1784 in Annapolis, Maryland.