Thirteen colonies were represented in the United States Declaration of Independence.
The document’s famous heading calls it the “unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” Those thirteen colonies were British possessions along the Atlantic coast that declared themselves independent in 1776.
The colonies were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. They later became the original states of the United States.
The number thirteen is still reflected in national symbols, especially the thirteen stripes on the U.S. flag. The Declaration’s wording can cause confusion because the colonies did not all have identical political positions at every stage of the independence debate, but the final document presented the thirteen as united.