Certain it is that the States in the American Union
have never existed and acted as severally sovereign states.
Prior to independence, they were colonies under the sovereignty
of Great Britain, and since independence they have existed and
acted only as states united. The colonists, before separation
and independence, were British subjects, and whatever rights the
colonies had they held by charter or concession from the British
crown. The colonists never pretended to be other than British
subjects, and the alleged ground of their complaint against the
mother country was not that she had violated their natural rights
as men, but their rights as British subjects--rights, as
contended by the colonists, secured by the English constitution
to all Englishmen or British su6jects. The denial to them of
these common rights of Englishmen they called tyranny, and they
defended themselves in throwing off their allegiance to George III.,
on the ground that he had, in their regard, become a tyrant, and
the tyranny of the prince absolves the subject from his
allegiance.
In the Declaration of Independence they declared themselves
independent states indeed, but not severally independent. The
declaration was not made by the states severally, but by the
states jointly, as the United States. They unitedly declared
their independence; they carried on the war for independence, won
it, and were acknowledged by foreign powers and by the mother
country as the United States, not as severally independent
sovereign states.
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