As "United States" they adopted the Articles of
Confederation, in which the separate sovereignty, freedom, and
independence of each was distinctly asserted. They were "united States"
when Great Britain acknowledged the absolute freedom and independence of
each, distinctly and separately recognized by name. France and Spain
were parties to the same treaty, and the French and Spanish idioms still
express and perpetuate, more exactly than the English, the true idea
intended to be embodied in the title--_les Etats Unis_, or _los Estados
Unidos_--the States united.
It was without any change of title--still as "United States"--without
any sacrifice of individuality--without any compromise of
sovereignty--that the same parties entered into a new and amended
compact with one another under the present Constitution. Larger and more
varied powers were conferred upon the common Government for the purpose
of insuring "a more perfect union"--not for that of destroying or
impairing the integrity of the contracting members.
The point which now specially concerns the argument is the historical
fact that, in all these changes of circumstances and of government,
there has never been one single instance of action by the "people of the
United States in the aggregate," or as one body. Before the era of
independence, whatever was done by the people of the colonies was done
by the people of each colony separately and independently of each other,
although in union by their delegates for certain specified purposes.
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