American Revolution: The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations became the first of the Thirteen Colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown.

The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British rule to form the United States of America. The revolutionary era reached its zenith with the American Revolutionary War, which commenced on April 19, 1775, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The leaders of the American Revolution were colonial separatists who, as British subjects, initially sought greater autonomy. However, they came to embrace the cause of full independence and the necessity of prevailing in the Revolutionary War to obtain it. The Second Continental Congress, which represented the colonies and convened in the present-day Independence Hall in Philadelphia, established the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief in June 1775. The following year, the Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, which served to inspire, formalize, and escalate the war. Throughout the majority of the eight-year war, the outcome appeared to be uncertain. However, in 1781, a decisive victory by Washington and the Continental Army in the Siege of Yorktown led King George III and the British to negotiate the cessation of colonial rule and the acknowledgment of American independence. This was formalized in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, resulting in the establishment of the United States of America as a sovereign nation.

The Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was an English colony on the eastern coast of America, founded in 1636 by Puritan minister Roger Williams after his exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It became a haven for religious dissenters and was known for its commitment to religious freedom and self-governance.

The Thirteen Colonies were the English colonies and later British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America.