Given a passage and a question, find the answer to the question based on the passage. The answer should consist of only one word that lies in the span of only one of the sentences in the passage.

Paragraph: Armed conflict began in 1775 . In 1776 , the Second Continental Congress declared a new , independent nation : the United States of America . Led by General George Washington , it won the Revolutionary War with large support from France . The peace treaty of 1783 gave the new nation the land east of the Mississippi River ( except Canada and Florida ) . The Articles of Confederation established a central government , but it was ineffectual at providing stability , as it could not collect taxes and had no executive officer . A convention in 1787 wrote a new Constitution that was adopted in 1789 . In 1791 , a Bill of Rights was added to guarantee inalienable rights . With Washington as the first president and Alexander Hamilton his chief adviser , a strong central government was created . Purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 doubled the size of the United States . A second and final war with Britain was fought in 1812 , which solidified national pride .
Question: when was the united states founded as a country
1776