1776 – Thirteen British colonies located on the Atlantic coast of North America signed a Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Britain on this date. Florida was acquired by the British from the Spanish in 1763 as a result of the French and Indian War, and was subsequently divided into two colonies, East and West Florida, with the Apalachicola River as the dividing line. Throughout the American Revolutionary War, the Florida colonies remained loyal to the British and the population of St. Augustine and Pensacola swelled as other loyalists fled the thirteen colonies as fighting intensified. The Florida colonies would be handed back over to the Spanish in 1783 as a result of their allegiance to the United States of America.