Myth #11: The United States "is," Rather Than "are"

This is the Eleventh Myth in the series: 25 Myths of the U.S. Constitution.

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The sovereign states formed the federal government as established by the U.S. Constitution for the express purpose to protect and preserve the union of individual states. The founders specifically designed the system with limiting principles, giving the federal government few authorities, while the States retained many powers. The United States was not seen as a nationalistic entity, but as a union of sovereign states. During the American Civil War, President Lincoln used what he perceived to be necessary war powers to subvert the Constitution, and change the perception of our American form of government from a union of individual states that had the ability to nullify and secede if they felt the federal government was acting in an unconstitutional manner, to a nationalistic entity in which the federal government dictates to the states what they can and can't do. Nationalism was never originally intended by the Founding Fathers. The strength of our republic, and the protection of individual liberty, comes from the original idea of state sovereignty.

In the U.S. Constitution the United States is referred to as "them" in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8; and Article III, Section 3, Clause 1.

Quotes by the Founding Fathers also provide clues to how they regarded the union of states. The language they used, including grammar, reveals that the founders did not view the United States under the federal government as formed by the U.S. Constitution as a single nationalist entity, but as a union of individual states.

"Governments, in general, have been the result of force, of fraud, and accident. After a period of six thousand years has elapsed since the creation, the United States exhibit to the world the first instance, as far as we can learn, of a nation, unattacked by external force, unconvulsed by domestic insurrections, assembling voluntarily, deliberating fully, and deciding calmly concerning that system of government under which they would wish that they and their prosperity should live." -- James Wilson, November 26, 1787 in remarks in Pennsylvania ratifying convention.

“The United States enjoy a scene of prosperity and tranquility under the new government that could hardly have been hoped for.” -- George Washington in a letter to Catherine Macaulay Graham, July 19, 1791.

In both quotes, if you locate the words “United States,” you will notice that in both cases the word following “United States” does not end with an “s”. This is a significant clue to understanding how the founders viewed the new country. They saw the United States not as a single nationalistic entity, but in the plural, or as a collection of sovereign states united for the purpose of the protection, and the preservation, of the American way of life under the union.

The first quote reads, “. . . the United States exhibit to the world the first instance, as far as we can learn, of a nation. . .” The United States is a nation, the quote says so. However, the fact that “exhibit” has no “s” at the end of the word reveals that Mr. Wilson did not see the United States in the singular, or as a nationalistic entity, but as a nation of states - a federation of states. The United States, in this quote, is in the plural. The United States, then, in this quote, could very well have read “these states that are united,” and it would have meant the same thing.

Mr. Washington’s letter reads, “The United States enjoy a scene of prosperity and tranquility under the new government that could hardly have been hoped for.” Once again, there is no “s” at the end of the word after “United States,” meaning that Washington was not referring to a single nationalistic entity, but to a collection of sovereign states. As with Mr. Wilson’s quote, George Washington could have written “The States that are united enjoy a scene of prosperity,” and the sentence would have meant the very same thing.

Understanding how the founders viewed the union is important because it reveals much about why they wrote the United States Constitution. The founding document was not written to create a national government, but to create a federal government with the power to protect the union of individual states. In other words, the Constitution enables a governing body to protect and preserve the union of the States that are united.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary