Thirteen colonies are named as free and independent states in the Declaration of Independence celebrated by America250.
The document presents the colonies as a collective political community breaking its connection with Great Britain. Its closing section lists the thirteen entities that declared themselves independent states.
The thirteen were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They stretched along the Atlantic seaboard and varied widely in population, economy, and political traditions.
The number is sometimes confused with the number of signers or the number of original states under the later Constitution. Fifty-six delegates eventually signed the Declaration, while the first United States consisted of thirteen states formed from the former colonies.