Today, the United States of America celebrates its birthday. It is a commemoration of the day in 1776 when representatives of the 13 British colonies signed the Declaration of Independence, a separation from Great Britain. There were many complex reasons for this split—the Declaration's principal author, Thomas Jefferson called them a long train of abuses and usurpations. But it all boiled down to a few salient points. Much of it had to do with what the colonists perceived as abuses by the British Government that went back many years.For example, the colonists greatly resented British laws that forbade any movement or settlement West of the Allegheny mountains, and the imposition of taxes that were meant to replenish the British treasury depleted by years of fighting. And most of all, they were angry that they had no say in the hundreds of laws that were passed by the government in distant London.