by David Snyder

Created on: March 02, 2009

The United States are simply that: a group of nation states that have chosen to unite under a single banner. To say that the United States is one nation is to deny the very foundation of our colonial past. Now, this does not demote the obvious advantages of our current unity.

Historically, our founding fathers all hailed from various colonies throughout the eastern coast of North America. Some hailed from Main, Maryland, Pennsylvania, the list goes on. Out of a necessity, the coalition of governmental leaders throughout the colonies called for a unified army in order to fight off the first, and so far, the only invasion of North America beyond the initial colonization. This had to be done in order to achieve victory over a common enemy. The power that was produced by our unity pushed back our oppressors and allowed us the gain our Independence.

Then, again out of necessity, these government leaders decided that combining our currencies, which differed per colony, would better solidify our commonality, lessening the risk of tension between the people. This idea struck a chord with the rest of the appointed leaders, as it raised a common banner over all the colonies. Then came the Civil War...

The Civil War occurred when the United States was still fairly young. Most generals, soldiers and government leaders were more loyal to their states in those days. General Lee held his loyalty for his home state, as did Grant. If they would have fought along side of their kin, they would not have fought on the side these historical figures were known for.

We say, "The United States is our homeland."
They said, "The United States are our homeland."

Today, we have forgotten that our states have the same structure than that of our common federal government. The only difference is that our states have become more and more dependable on our federal government since the days of the Civil War, after the Union reunited under one banner. This was used as a deterant for the future potential of another Civil War, however it did cause us to lack in the power that was derived by the unification of our independent states.

By completely dissolving our states' unique sovereignty, we have made the United States a viable nation for potential invasion. If the federal government witnesses a meltdown of some sort, of any sort, the states would suffer the meltdown as-well, as per our current system allows. If, however, the United States restructured to her original format, a union of independent states, then a complete invasion would be nearly impossible, as the outside force would have 50 states to deal with, instead of one Capitol Hill.

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