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For the most part, the US "states" stopped being states in the political sense when the Articles were replaced by the Constitution, and deliberately so.

gshubert17 8y ago
And even more so after the huge increase in federal power during and after the Civil War (1861-65). Before the Civil War, people often said "The United States are in the Western hemisphere". By the twentieth century it was more often that "The United States is ...". https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/the-united-states-is-or-are/ https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/the-united-sta...
anticensor 8y ago
Which Articles? Non-US reader here.
- OscarCunningham 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation
- azernik 8y ago
  For more than a Wikipedia link: The War of American Independence was fought by use of voluntary contributions from the individual states, which were more or less sovereign. From around 1781, this arrangement functioned under a loose confederation with similar or lesser power to the modern EU; its constitution was called the Articles of Confederation. It took until 1788/9 for the current Constitution to be adopted, after the Articles proved unable to cope with: 1. Payment of wartime debt, since the states' contributions to the federal budget were entirely voluntary. 2. Security threats, such as the looming British, or an unpaid veterans' (see point 1) rebellion in Massachusetts. 3. Foreign policy obligations, as the confederation couldn't enforce the terms of the 1783 peace treaty on the states.
adrianratnapala 8y ago
When Tocqueville visted decades after the Constitution was adopted, he remarked on how the federal government was remote, and not very much of a concern in peoples lives. Nearly everything he had to say about how democracy mostly-successfully holds tyranny in check was about about state politics.

gshubert17 8y ago

And even more so after the huge increase in federal power during and after the Civil War (1861-65). Before the Civil War, people often said "The United States are in the Western hemisphere". By the twentieth century it was more often that "The United States is ...". https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/the-united-states-is-or-are/ https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/the-united-sta...

anticensor 8y ago

Which Articles? Non-US reader here.

OscarCunningham 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation
azernik 8y ago
For more than a Wikipedia link: The War of American Independence was fought by use of voluntary contributions from the individual states, which were more or less sovereign. From around 1781, this arrangement functioned under a loose confederation with similar or lesser power to the modern EU; its constitution was called the Articles of Confederation. It took until 1788/9 for the current Constitution to be adopted, after the Articles proved unable to cope with: 1. Payment of wartime debt, since the states' contributions to the federal budget were entirely voluntary. 2. Security threats, such as the looming British, or an unpaid veterans' (see point 1) rebellion in Massachusetts. 3. Foreign policy obligations, as the confederation couldn't enforce the terms of the 1783 peace treaty on the states.

adrianratnapala 8y ago

When Tocqueville visted decades after the Constitution was adopted, he remarked on how the federal government was remote, and not very much of a concern in peoples lives. Nearly everything he had to say about how democracy mostly-successfully holds tyranny in check was about about state politics.