Thirteen colonies declared independence in the United States Declaration of Independence.
The colonies were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Together, they became the original thirteen states of the United States.
The Declaration’s formal title described the document as a declaration of the thirteen United States of America. During the July 1776 vote, twelve colonial delegations voted for independence while New York abstained because its representatives had not yet received authorization. New York later joined the unanimous position, and the document presented the colonies collectively as independent states.
The thirteen-colony count is different from later numbers associated with the United States. Vermont joined the Union in 1791 as the fourteenth state, while Kentucky and Tennessee followed in the 1790s. The thirteen stripes on the modern U.S. flag commemorate the original colonies, while the stars represent the current states.