Thirteen colonies were represented in the Declaration of Independence’s phrase “thirteen United States of America.”
The thirteen colonies were British colonies along the Atlantic coast that joined the revolutionary movement and declared themselves independent in 1776. The Declaration presented their reasons for separating from Great Britain and asserted that they were free and independent states.
The colonies did not initially function as one fully centralized nation. Each had its own political institutions and delegation in the Continental Congress, while Congress handled matters connected with the common revolutionary cause.
The number thirteen remained important in early United States symbolism. The first national flag design described in the Flag Resolution of 1777 used thirteen stars and thirteen stripes, representing the original states.