Do modern American power assumptions fit the thirteen colonies?

Do people overstate the thirteen colonies' importance because they project the modern United States backward into the eighteenth century?

Yes. The thirteen colonies had value but lacked the continental territory, resources, and economic weight that later made the United States a great power.

The thirteen colonies differed radically from the later nation stretching across North America. Colonial territory formed a relatively narrow band along the Atlantic coast and did not yet command the interior land, raw materials, and productive depth associated with modern American power. The comparison with Sweden, once an imperial great power despite its different position today, shows the danger of projecting present-day status backward. Some colonists may also have overestimated their leverage and expected Britain to concede rather than fight. Modern national power is therefore a poor shortcut for judging earlier states and colonies.