The United States of America was founded on July 4, 1776, when thirteen British colonies in North America signed a Declaration of Independence. The colonies declared themselves free and independent states in the Lee Resolution of July 2, 1776. For decades, scientists believed the Clovis people were the earliest Americans, who arrived in the New World 13,000 years ago from northern Asia. However, new archaeological evidence suggests that humans arrived in the Americas thousands of years earlier.