The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded between 1607 (Virginia) and 1732 (Georgia).Individual colonies began collaborating at the Albany Congress of 1754 to demand more rights. They set up a Continental Congress in 1774 which declared independence from Great Britain in 1776 and formed a new nation, the United States of America. The thirteen colonies were: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Jersey were formed by mergers of previous colonies.All the colonies had similar political and legal systems, with a high degree of self-government. Most white men could and did vote for local and legislative officials. The colonies were all prosperous and had high growth rates based on immigration from Britain and Germany, together with ample food supplies and land for new settlers. Most families operated subsistence farms. All the colonies had legal slavery, with slave-based plantations in the South producing valuable exports such as tobacco and rice. The Northern and Middle colonies concentrated on trade. The frontier districts often confronted Indian wars, but by 1700 the colonists greatly outnumbered the Indians.The British government in London practiced a policy of mercantilism. It administered the colonies for the benefit of the mother country, while the colonists after 1760 resisted British demands for more control, especially over taxes. The colonies were religiously diverse, though overwhelmingly Protestant with the Anglican Church of England officially established in most of the South, but there were no bishops and the churches had only local roles. Education was widespread in the northern colonies, which had established colleges such as Harvard and Yale, while the College of William and Mary trained the elite in Virginia.