Historedia
Episode 3 of 3

Rhode Island renounces allegiance to the British Crown

When
May 4, 1776
Where
Colony of Rhode Island
Part of
Rhode Island Renunciation of Allegiance

On May 4, 1776, Rhode Island became the first of the thirteen colonies to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown.

The sources date the act to May 4, 1776, and describe Rhode Island as the first colony to renounce its allegiance to the British Crown. One passage frames the same act as Rhode Island being the first colony to declare independence from Britain, and another identifies the renounced allegiance as that owed to King George III. The act followed the colony's earlier revolutionary measures, including its 1774 election of the first Continental Congress delegates and its 1775 creation of a standing army.

Sources

  1. Rhode Island Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.