5 states declared their independence PRIOR to 4 Jul 1776. New York did NOT assent to the Declaration until August 1776 [see yesterdays post on the subject]. Now by definition "union" would mean that the states acted in concert, together, in unison, but facts prove otherwise. 5 of 13 states acted INDEPENDENTLY of each other, followed by 7, followed by 1 straggler, is NOT and will never be indicative of unanimity!
Now lets hear the arguments alledging that "perpetual" really didn't mean perpetual. Those are real howlers.
Articles of Confederation:
Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of
New Hampshire [that's one],
Massachusetts bay [that's two],
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations [three],
Connecticut [four],
New York [five],
New Jersey [six],
Pennsylvania [seven],
Delaware [eight],
Maryland [nine],
Virginia [ten],
North Carolina [eleven],
South Carolina [twelve] and
Georgia [that makes thirteen].
US Constitution
Article VII: 'The Ratification of the Conventions ofNow in the land of the sane, NINE is less than THIRTEEN. Your bizzaro world might be different. Now if a PERPETUAL union of 13 members is shrank down to athirteennine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same".
Those two states which did not ratify and join the new government were treated no differently than they had been under the old. They were not kicked out of the Union, their citizens did not lose their citizenship as Americans. They had no tariffs imposed, had no foreign policy seperate from the US, had no navy, no ministers in foreign courts, used no other money.
It is typical of you to take a temporary anomaly and build your case on it. No one believed North Carolina and Rhode Island would not soon take part in the new governmental structure of the Union.
And the five states at the Founding did not independently act wrt military matters or diplomatic. They NEVER considered themselves to be independent nations or outside the newly forming Union.