[rockrr]

And yet they did. All of them.

[LexRex in TN]

From another document--namely the Declaration of Independence “That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved;"

Note that they referred to the states with the same verbiage they did Great Britain...using the word "state" as a synonym for "nation." Each "state" considered itself a separate "nation" and they forged an alliance for their benefit--not for their detriment. That others have changed the original intent is no surprise--after all, there are those who say there is no right to bear arms, when it is plainly stated exactly that way...there are others who have interjected a "separation of church and state" when it most decidedly is NOT there...