Thirteen Colonies

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The Thirteen Colonies were the 13 British colonies in North America, separately chartered and governed, that rebelled, signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and formally broke with the Kingdom of Great Britain, leading to the American Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States of America. Other British North American possessions—the former French colony of Quebec and the colonies of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island—remained loyal to the British Crown and much later were united as Canada. The colonies of East Florida and West Florida also remained loyal during the American Revolution.

1 The Thirteen Colonies
2 Proprietary, royal, and charter colonies
3 Other British colonies in North America and the Caribbean in 1776
4 See also
5 External links

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The Thirteen Colonies

Contemporaneous documents almost always listed the colonies in geographical order, roughly from north to south, as follows (the division into three regions is a later construct of historians, though New England was always considered to be a distinct region):

New England:
- Province of New Hampshire, later New Hampshire
- Province of Massachusetts Bay, later Massachusetts and Maine
- Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- Connecticut Colony, later Connecticut
Middle Colonies:
- Province of New York, later New York and Vermont
- Province of New Jersey, later New Jersey
- Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania
- Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware), later Delaware
Southern Colonies:
- Province of Maryland, later Maryland
- Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia
- Province of North Carolina, later North Carolina and Tennessee
- Province of South Carolina, later South Carolina
- Province of Georgia, later Georgia

Reference is sometimes seen to the Chesapeake Colonies, these being the Province of Maryland and the Colony and Dominion of Virginia; so called because they border the Chesapeake Bay.

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Proprietary, royal, and charter colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were established by one of three possible means.

Proprietary colonies: Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. The British Crown gave a charter (document) and land to a private owner (proprietor) who would then govern the colony.

Royal colonies: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The British Crown retained sovereignity over the colony and governed it.

Charter colonies: Rhode Island and Connecticut. The British Crown granted a charter (document) to a group of settlers, who would then govern the colony.

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