Thirteen colonies became the original United States when independence was declared, a number central to America’s 250th anniversary.
The thirteen colonies were British North American colonies that declared independence in 1776 and formed the first United States. They stretched along the Atlantic coast from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south.
The Declaration of Independence referred to the new nation as the thirteen United States of America. The colonies did not all have identical economies or political systems, but they cooperated through the Continental Congress and the Revolutionary War.
The thirteen original states are sometimes confused with the number of delegates who signed the Declaration. Those are different figures: the document was signed by 56 delegates, while the new nation consisted of 13 states.