The 13 Colonies of America As They Were on July 4th, 1776

Map found on redditThe map above shows what the borders of the 13 original states looked like on July 4th, 1776, the day The Declaration of Independence was adopted.

Below is an overview of these states as they existed in 1776:

1. Delaware

• Statehood: December 7, 1787 (1st state to ratify the Constitution)
• Capital: Dover
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~59,000
• Borders (1776): Similar to today, bordered by Pennsylvania (north), New Jersey (east, across the Delaware River), and Maryland (west and south).

2. Pennsylvania

• Statehood: December 12, 1787
• Capital: Philadelphia (moved to Harrisburg in 1812)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~434,000
• Borders (1776): Similar to today, bordered by New York (north), New Jersey (east), Maryland and Delaware (south), and the western boundary extended vaguely.

3. New Jersey

• Statehood: December 18, 1787
• Capital: Trenton
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~184,000
• Borders (1776): Essentially the same as today, bordered by New York (north), Pennsylvania (west), and Delaware River/Atlantic Ocean (south and east).

4. Georgia

• Statehood: January 2, 1788
• Capital: Savannah (moved to Augusta, then eventually Atlanta)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~40,000
• Borders (1776): Extended from the Atlantic Ocean (east) to the Mississippi River (west), with South Carolina (north) and Spanish Florida (south).

5. Connecticut

• Statehood: January 9, 1788
• Capital: Hartford
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~206,000
• Borders (1776): Similar to today, bordered by New York (west), Massachusetts (north), and Rhode Island (east).

6. Massachusetts

• Statehood: February 6, 1788
• Capital: Boston
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~378,000
• Borders (1776): Included present-day Maine, bordered by New Hampshire (northwest), Rhode Island (south), and the Atlantic Ocean.

7. Maryland

• Statehood: April 28, 1788
• Capital: Annapolis
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~245,000
• Borders (1776): Similar to today, bordered by Pennsylvania (north), Delaware (east), Virginia (south), and the Potomac River.

8. South Carolina

• Statehood: May 23, 1788
• Capital: Charleston (moved to Columbia in 1786)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~248,000
• Borders (1776): Bordered by North Carolina (north), Atlantic Ocean (east), and Georgia (southwest).

9. New Hampshire

• Statehood: June 21, 1788
• Capital: Exeter (temporarily; Concord became the capital in 1808)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~88,000
• Borders (1776): Same as today, bordered by Maine (east), Massachusetts (south), Vermont (west), and Canada (north).

10. Virginia

• Statehood: June 25, 1788
• Capital: Williamsburg (moved to Richmond in 1780)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~538,000
• Borders (1776): Included present-day West Virginia, with extensive land claims west to the Mississippi River.

11. New York

• Statehood: July 26, 1788
• Capital: New York City (moved to Albany in 1797)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~340,000
• Borders (1776): Similar to today but lacked full definition in some northern and western regions.

12. North Carolina

• Statehood: November 21, 1789
• Capital: New Bern (moved to Raleigh in 1794)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~393,000
• Borders (1776): Bordered by Virginia (north), South Carolina (south), and extended westward to the Mississippi River.

13. Rhode Island

• Statehood: May 29, 1790 (last to ratify the Constitution)
• Capital: Providence and Newport (shared; consolidated to Providence in 1900)
• Estimated 1776 Population: ~58,000
• Borders (1776): Same as today, bordered by Massachusetts (north and east), Connecticut (west), and the Atlantic Ocean.

Changes in Borders:

1. Territorial Claims: Many states, such as Virginia, Georgia, and North Carolina, held vast western land claims extending to the Mississippi River (although as the map above shows they didn’t actually control that land) . These were ceded to the federal government by the early 19th century.
2. Maine’s Separation: Massachusetts included Maine until 1820 when Maine became a separate state.
3. West Virginia: Separated from Virginia during the Civil War (1863).