What name for the new nation first appeared in the United States Declaration of Independence?

The name “United States of America” first appeared in the United States Declaration of Independence.

The phrase appears in the document’s formal title: “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America.” It identified the colonies as a collective political entity at the moment they announced separation from Great Britain.

Congress later formally approved the name United States of America on September 9, 1776. Before that, the colonies were often referred to collectively as the United Colonies. The Declaration therefore helped establish the country’s enduring national name as well as its claim to independence.

The wording is different from “United States,” which became common shorthand. It is also separate from the later constitutional system created in 1787. America250 focuses on the 1776 declaration, when the national name and the independence claim were presented together in a founding document.