In a message dated 10/29/2001 10:55:35 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> I have received a
> letter from a child who wants to know why the US was called the United
> States and not the United Colonies, or some other such name. Is there a
> simple answer to this question?
>
>

The simplist answer is that when the "colonies" freed themselves from Great
Britain they considered that they were no longer "colonies" but were
independent "states"  They opted to become one nation in dealing with the
rest of the world and were thus "united".  They really never gave up their
status as "states" and are still called that by the nation and the states
themselves although they have not been allowed to be "states" since 1865.

If "states" are "united" then the logical name for the organization would be
"The United States of America" since they were all on the North American
continent.
I cannot conceive of a more appropriate name.  It would not be logical to
call them merely America since there were ununited nations on the American
continents.  I suppose that they could have been named something like
"Freeland" but I feel that each of the colonies who now considered themselves
as independent states would not have been willing to be so consolidated
together.  The peoples of those times were more independent minded than are
most people of today's USA.

Gordon Reid Hale
Grand Prairie, Texas

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