Territorial evolution of the United States 1976, the transferred land was minuscule (ranging in size from 1 acre to 646 acres) and uninhabited. Territorial evolution of the United States The United States of America was created on July 4, 1776, with the declaration of independence of thirteen British colonies. Their independence was recognized by Great Britain with the Treaty of Paris of 1783, following the American Revolutionary War. This effectively doubled the size of the colonies, now able to stretch west past the Proclamation Line to the Mississippi River. This land was organized into territories and then states, though there remained some conflict with the sea-to-sea
United States Declaration of Independence Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. This has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language", containing "the most potent and consequential words in American history". The passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy and argued that it is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted. The Declaration of Independence inspired many similar documents in other countries, the first