Thirteen British North American colonies declared independence in 1776, forming the political basis of the United States.
The colonies occupied the Atlantic coast of North America from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south. Their economies, populations, and political institutions differed considerably, but all were governed within the British imperial system before the Revolution. The Declaration of Independence described them as the “thirteen united States of America.”
The colonies did not all act as a single political unit from the beginning. The First and Second Continental Congresses brought delegates together to coordinate resistance, manage the war, and eventually declare independence. After independence, the states cooperated under the Articles of Confederation before adopting the Constitution.
The number thirteen is sometimes confused with later statehood. Vermont joined the Union as the fourteenth state in 1791, while Kentucky became the fifteenth in 1792. The original thirteen stars and thirteen stripes on early national flags represented the founding states, although the flag's design changed as more states entered the Union.
America250 focuses on the 1776 declaration by these thirteen colonies and the long political development that followed it.