One colonist, Thomas Jefferson, wrote a very famous document, called the Declaration of Independence. In it, he said that the colonies were a new and independent country. On July 4, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and some other men signed the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. King George was angrier than even with the colonists, and he sent more soldiers with guns across the Atlantic Ocean to New York. General George Washington and his army of colonists were waiting for them. France and Spain joined Washington and the colonists in the long American war of Independence against Britain. Many people died in the American War of Independence. But in 1783, the war ended and a new country was born the United States of America.