Thirteen colonies declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.
The colonies stretched along the Atlantic coast of North America, from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south. Their representatives formed the Second Continental Congress and acted together in declaring independence.
The thirteen colonies were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They later became the original states of the United States.
The number is sometimes confused with the thirteen stripes on the U.S. flag, but the connection is historical rather than a count of all states today. The United States eventually expanded to 50 states. America250 commemorates the independence declaration made by these thirteen British colonies, not the later admission of the additional states.