Thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.
The colonies occupied the Atlantic seaboard of North America and had developed separate governments under British rule. Their representatives met in the Second Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration of Independence and described the new political entities as the thirteen United States of America.
The thirteen were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. They did not all vote identically at every stage: the declaration’s adoption followed negotiations and changing positions among colonial delegations. A common mistake is to count later states such as Vermont, Kentucky, or Tennessee, none of which belonged to the original thirteen colonies. The number remains central to American symbolism, including the thirteen stripes on the national flag and the thirteen arrows held by the Great Seal’s eagle.