In the American Revolution commemorated by America250, thirteen British colonies declared independence in 1776.
These colonies occupied much of Britain’s Atlantic seaboard territory in North America. They were commonly grouped as four New England colonies, four Middle Colonies, and five Southern Colonies. Georgia, founded in 1732, was the last of the thirteen to be established.
The colonies were separately administered, but they shared political and legal traditions and increasingly opposed British taxation and authority. In 1775, delegates met in the Second Continental Congress, which organized resistance, appointed George Washington commander of the Continental Army, and eventually moved toward independence.
The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776, described the colonies as “free and independent States.” The Declaration’s title also referred to the thirteen states, although the colonies had declared independence individually during the first half of 1776. Their victory in the Revolutionary War led Britain to recognize the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.