Which American colony first renounced allegiance to King George III in 1776?

Rhode Island was the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III in 1776.

On May 4, 1776, the Rhode Island General Assembly formally declared that the colony no longer owed allegiance to the British king. This occurred two months before the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.

Rhode Island’s action reflected the rapidly changing political situation after the Revolutionary War began. Colonial governments were replacing royal authority, and local leaders increasingly treated the conflict as a struggle for self-government rather than a dispute within the British Empire.

Rhode Island later became one of the thirteen founding states. Its early break with the Crown is distinct from North Carolina’s earlier authorization for delegates to vote for independence and from Congress’s later national declaration.