Rhode Island was the first colony to renounce allegiance to Great Britain during the American Revolution.
The Rhode Island legislature formally ended its allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776. This occurred two months before the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The action made Rhode Island an early and explicit advocate of separation.
Rhode Island’s decision was a colony-level act, not the same event as Congress declaring independence for all thirteen colonies. Congress adopted the Lee Resolution on July 2 and approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4. Those national decisions followed a series of local and colonial moves toward independence.
North Carolina had earlier authorized its delegates to vote for independence through the Halifax Resolves, adopted on April 12, 1776. That was authorization to support independence, whereas Rhode Island’s May 4 action formally renounced allegiance to the king. The distinction explains why both dates appear in accounts of the independence movement.