The Declaration of Independence described thirteen colonies as the United States of America in 1776.
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 formed the political foundation of the new United States.
The Declaration’s formal title called the document “the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” At the time, these were not yet the 50 states of the modern country; they were former British colonies becoming independent states.
The number thirteen is central to early American symbolism, including the original flag’s thirteen stripes and stars. It also explains why references to the “original states” are not interchangeable with references to the current number of states. America250 looks back to this thirteen-colony founding moment.