independence, they were colonies under the
sovereignty of Great Britain, and since independence they have existed
and acted only as states united. The colonists, before separation and
independence, were British subjects, and whatever rights the colonies
had they held by charter or concession from the British crown. The
colonists never pretended to be other than British subjects, and the
alleged ground of their complaint against the mother country was not
that she had violated their natural rights as men, but their rights as
British subjects--rights, as contended by the colonists, secured by the
English constitution to all Englishmen or British subjects. The denial
to them of these common rights of Englishmen they called tyranny, and
they defended themselves in throwing off their allegiance to George
III., on the ground that he had, in their regard, become a tyrant, and
the tyranny of the prince absolves the subject from his allegiance.

In the Declaration of Independence they declared themselves independent
states indeed, but not severally independent. The declaration was not
made by the states severally, but by the states jointly, as the United
States. They unitedly declared their independence; they carried on the
war for independence, won it, and were acknowledged by foreign powers
and by the mother country as the United States, not as severally
independent sovereign states. Severally they have never exercised the
full powers of sovereign states; they have had no flag--symbol of
sovereignty--recognized by foreign powers, have made no foreign
treaties, held no foreign relations, had no commerce foreign or
interstate, coined no money, entered into no alliances or confederacies
with foreign states or with one another, and in several respects have
been more restricted in their powers in the Union than they were as
British colonies.

Colonies are initial or inchoate states, and become complete states by
declaring and winning their independence; and if the English colonies,
now the United States, had separately declared and won their
independence, they would unquestionably have become separately
independent states, each invested by the law of nature with all the
rights and powers of a sovereign nation. But they did not do this.
They declared and won their independence jointly, and have since
existed and exercised sovereignty only as states united, or the United
States, that is, states sovereign in their union, but