United States Declaration of Independence being the 1789 "Declaration of Flanders" issued during the Brabant Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands. It also served as the primary model for numerous declarations of independence in Europe and Latin America, as well as Africa (Liberia) and Oceania (New Zealand) during the first half of the 19th century. By the time that the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations had been deteriorating between the colonies and the mother country since 1763. Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase revenue from
United Kingdom–United States relations Atlantic, such as the Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists and Episcopalians. Britain and the United States practise what is commonly referred to as an Anglo-Saxon economy in which levels of regulation and taxes are relatively low, and government provides a low to medium level of social services in return. Independence Day, July 4, is a national celebration which commemorates the July 4, 1776 adoption of the Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. American defiance of Britain is expressed in the American national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner", written during the War of 1812 to the tune of a British celebratory song