Thirteen colonies declared independence in 1776, forming the political foundation commemorated by America250.
The colonies were British possessions along the Atlantic coast of North America: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Their representatives met in the Second Continental Congress.
The Declaration of Independence announced that these colonies were no longer part of the British Empire. During the Revolutionary War, the new states operated under the Articles of Confederation before the Constitution created the present federal framework.
The phrase “thirteen colonies” refers specifically to the colonies that became the original states. It does not mean that Britain had only thirteen colonies anywhere in the world, nor that all later U.S. states existed in 1776. Vermont joined the Union in 1791, becoming the fourteenth state.