Twelve colonies sent delegates to the First Continental Congress, a gathering linked to America250.
The congress convened in Philadelphia in 1774 after Britain enacted punitive measures against Massachusetts and Boston. Delegates represented every colony except Georgia. The 56 delegates debated how to defend colonial rights while avoiding an immediate declaration of independence, which was not yet the stated goal of the meeting.
Georgia’s absence is an important detail. Loyalist sentiment was comparatively strong there, and the colony did not send representatives to the first congress. Georgia joined the revolutionary congress later, sending delegates to the Second Continental Congress in 1775.
The congress produced the Continental Association, a coordinated boycott of British imports, and issued a declaration of colonial rights. Its work created an intercolonial political framework that the Second Continental Congress expanded after fighting began. Thus, the answer is twelve rather than thirteen: the phrase “Thirteen Colonies” describes the full group, not the number represented at this first congress.