[gorush]

Before the civil war people would say "The United States are...", after the civil war people say "The United States is...". The idea of states rights, and hence the original meaning of the constitution, was lost. Slavery would have ended regardless of the outcome of the war due to its immorality. The north's victory made it easier to ignore the constitution from then on...and you can see where that has gotten us.

ps, I'm an old history loving northerner, disagree if you must, I'm used to it and am old enough now to not care.

[liberty or death]

Bingo. It’s why I put Lincoln down as the worst president in our history, so far. So many people murdered to eliminate states rights. Not slavery. As we are now all slaves to a federal government that dictates to us and our individual states.

He nearly destroyed this country. He may yet, from the grave.

[Pelham]

Good post. Wish more Northerners on these threads were of your sort. Instead we are plagued with haters.

[ejonesie22]

You are quite correct.

[RipSawyer]

I’m an old history loving southerner and my views have evolved over decades until they seem to fit exactly with what you have expressed. I am descended from confederate veterans on both sides of the family and have never personally known a black person who shared my surname or the maiden name of my mother. My paternal great grandfather, born 100 years before me, did not fight to preserve slavery, he was a poor man who never owned a slave. He fought in vain trying to defend his homeland. When I think of Lincoln’s words about preserving the union I am reminded of the words of the officer in Vietnam who said that the village had to be destroyed in order to save it.

[BroJoeK]

gorush: "Before the civil war people would say "The United States are...", after the civil war people say "The United States is...". "

A big item in the old Lost Causer myth.
In fact from the beginning, the "United States" was usually but not always referred to as plural, and this continued well into the late 1800s, and even occasionally in Supreme Court documents as late as 1935.

But the first reference to the United States as singular is in Article III, Section 5 of the Constitution:

"The judicial Power shall extend to... Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;..."

According to this 1901 New York Times article, references to the United States as singular can be found in the writings of Jefferson, Hamilton, Webster & Jackson, amongst others.

And the change from plural to singular had nothing so much to do with politics as with a general shift in American versus British linguistic practice.
For example: Brits even today can refer to "British Airways" as plural.
For other examples on our side, consider that the US Constitution also refers to the House of Representatives and the Senate as plurals, and yet nobody today claims that change to singular had anything to do with the Civil War:

"The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other Officers;"

"The Senate shall choose their other Officers"

Bottom line: the United States was sometimes referred to as singular before the Civil War, usually referred to as singular after the Civil War, and like so much else wrong with our country, was only exclusively referred to in the singular beginning with the Progressive Era, about 100 years ago.

gorush: "I'm an old history loving northerner..."

Sounds to me like you're more in love with myth than real history.

For more on this, read:

Another article from 1895

A 2009 Visual Thesaurus article

A brief summary, note comment citing Justice McReynolds in 1935