United States Declaration of Independence. After a decade of conflict with Great Britain, the 13 American colonies responded to King George III’s outright refusal to grant political reform with a call for revolution. On July 4, 1776, more than 14 months after the war began in Lexington, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Seven years later, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain, the United States officially became a free and independent nation.
