Thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, forming the original United States.
The colonies stretched along the Atlantic coast of North America and were politically distinct before independence. Their delegates met in the Second Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration of Independence and announced that the colonies were becoming states.
The thirteen were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. Their names and order appear in the Declaration’s closing section, though historical lists sometimes arrange them geographically or alphabetically.
The original thirteen should not be confused with the 50 states in the modern United States. The number 13 refers to the founding colonies, while the present union expanded through later admissions and territorial changes.