Thirteen colonies became the independent states announced by the Declaration of Independence.
The document’s formal title referred to “the thirteen united States of America.” These colonies had been British possessions along the Atlantic coast and acted collectively through the Second Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War.
The thirteen were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Their delegates did not always agree on independence, but the colonies ultimately joined in the declaration and the war against Great Britain.
The number thirteen later became a powerful national symbol. It appears in the original flag’s thirteen stripes and in the thirteen arrows held by the eagle on the Great Seal of the United States. The thirteen colonies should not be confused with the states admitted later, beginning with Vermont in 1791.