When did United States of America exist?

United States of America existed 1776–present. On this map they are drawn 1776–1944, 1967–2024.

How large were United States of America?

At their greatest extent drawn on this map, United States of America covered about 12 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.

North America · Norse and colonial ventures

United States of America

1776–present

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Existed: 1776–present
Shown on the map: 1776–1944, 1967–2024 (2 periods)
Peak area: 12.4M km²
Region: North America

Overview

The United States of America was born on 4 July 1776, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence (drafted principally by Thomas Jefferson), proclaiming the thirteen British colonies free and independent states. Independence was won in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) under commander-in-chief George Washington, with decisive help from France; the turning points were Saratoga (1777), which brought France into the war, and the Siege of Yorktown (1781), which forced the British surrender. The Treaty of Paris (1783) recognized U.S. independence.

History

The states first united under the weak Articles of Confederation (1781), then adopted the enduring Constitution of 1787 (in force 1789), creating a federal republic with separated powers, quickly amended by the Bill of Rights (1791). Washington was the first president (1789–1797). The nation expanded explosively westward — the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the acquisition of Florida, the annexation of Texas, and the vast cessions from Mexico (1848) and Britain (Oregon, 1846) — under the ideology of "Manifest Destiny," at enormous cost to Native nations. It fought the War of 1812 against Britain and the Mexican–American War (1846–1848).

Later history and present status

The Republic's central crisis was slavery, which fractured the Union in the Civil War (1861–1865) (see entry 19); the Union victory abolished slavery (13th Amendment) and preserved the nation. Industrialization made the U.S. the world's largest economy by 1900; victory in two World Wars and the Cold War made it a superpower, with the mid-20th-century Civil Rights Movement dismantling legal segregation. The United States remains a federal presidential republic of 50 states; its capital is Washington, D.C.

Common questions

What were United States of America?: The United States of America was born on 4 July 1776, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence (drafted principally by Thomas Jefferson), proclaiming the thirteen British colonies free and independent states.
When did United States of America exist?: United States of America existed 1776–present. On this map they are drawn 1776–1944, 1967–2024.
How large were United States of America?: At their greatest extent drawn on this map, United States of America covered about 12 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives them across the years they are drawn, not necessarily their greatest extent in history.
Who ruled United States of America?: The states first united under the weak Articles of Confederation (1781), then adopted the enduring Constitution of 1787 (in force 1789), creating a federal republic with separated powers, quickly amended by the Bill of Rights (1791). Washington was the first president (1789–1797).
What is the present status of United States of America?: The Republic's central crisis was slavery, which fractured the Union in the Civil War (1861–1865) (see entry 19); the Union victory abolished slavery (13th Amendment) and preserved the nation. Industrialization made the U.S. the world's largest economy by 1900; victory in two World Wars and the Cold War made it a superpower, with the mid-20th-century Civil Rights Movement dismantling legal segregation.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory, and states that it was written from established reference works with targeted checks on current facts, rather than from a fresh multi-source research pass. It names the English Wikipedia article for each polity and its key figures as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the US National Park Service and the World History Encyclopedia. The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — United States en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

This entry was last updated 12 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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