 The Declaration was formally adopted by 12 colonies after a minor revision. New York, the 13th colony, approved it on July 19th. On August 2nd, the Declaration was signed. The American War for Independence would last five years. Yet to come were the Patriot Triumphs in Saratoga, a bitter winter at Valley Forge, the intervention of the French in the final victory of Yorktown in 1781. In 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris with Britain, the U.S. formally became a free and independent nation.