Perhaps you should have read upthread enough to know what we are talking about.
forthedeclaration indicated that the ability to defend its independence was the only criterion for nationhood.
But wait! In flies El Capitan with a laundry list of other criteria. forthedeclaration may not know you as well as I do, so he should probably be apprised that once evidence of your given criteria is presented, tha bar is raised. Further evidence will only raise it higher, until the task before us is to jump out of a bottomless pit over the Sears tower.
Apparently, the two of you should duke it out.
Having recognized and defensible borders is a common-sense (you might want to look that term up in a dictionary) attribute. One need only look at the European territorial disputes of conflicting French and German claims, or the history of Poland, to understand the idea.
With repect to ftD's comments regarding the Fourth of July as our date of independence, and the founding of the Country - he is absolutely correct. Because we were able to sustain our quest of independence and eventually conclude a treaty with our former sovereign, we can justly celebrate that key date as when we declared our intentions. Had we lost, as did the confederacy, there would be nothing to discuss.