Thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
The document formally announced that the thirteen British colonies in North America regarded themselves as free and independent states. Those colonies stretched from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south and were represented in the Second Continental Congress.
The colonies did not all vote identically at every stage. On July 4, twelve colonial delegations voted for the Declaration while New York abstained because its delegates had not yet received authorization. New York later joined the unanimous position, and the document’s formal title referred to the “thirteen United States of America.”
The thirteen-colony framework is central to America250 because the 2026 observance marks 250 years since those colonies declared independence from Great Britain. The original thirteen states are also represented by the thirteen stripes on the United States flag, although the flag’s stars later changed as new states joined the Union.