itgrrl :donor:<p>In the latest edition of <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/itgrrlReadsLegislation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>itgrrlReadsLegislation</span></a>, I’m down a bit of a <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/RabbitHole" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RabbitHole</span></a> 🐰🕳️ relating to the singular vs plural usage of “United States” [1] & I’m fascinated /repulsed by this sort of article: </p><p>“The” vs. “These” <br><a href="https://theacru.org/2023/11/15/the-vs-these/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">theacru.org/2023/11/15/the-vs-</span><span class="invisible">these/</span></a></p><p>The d00d is writing on the American Constitutional Rights Union website (🚩) but despite this mostly invokes the US Declaration of Independence 🤔 to “support” his “argument” – but it’s clear he’s only actually interested in “states rights”</p><p>He says:</p><p>“That brings us to the topic of this brief, “the” vs. “these.” We often hear people say “the United States of America.” I would offer that is not the correct way of referring to our nation. The correct way would be “these United States of America.””</p><p>He also fixates on capitalisation in the Declaration of Independence:</p><p>“In the closing paragraph of our Declaration of Independence, Jefferson refers to the gathered body of 56 as “Representatives of the united States of America.” In that phrase you will notice that “united” is not capitalized, but States is.”</p><p>Followed by some hand-wavy dismissals:</p><p>“Furthermore, you will see that Jefferson uses the language of “United Colonies,” and, yes, “United” is capitalized, and in several instances he says “Free and Independent States,” using capitalization. This is why reading the entire Declaration of Independence is vital to understanding the construct, foundation, which would establish our rule of law, the US Constitution.”</p><p>(but don’t worry about that bit ‘coz it doesn’t support his “argument” 🤪)</p><p>It’s super interesting to me that the US Constitution consistently uses “the United States” – not once does it use “these United States” (I checked 😩)</p><p>Nor does the phrase “these United States” appear in the Declaration of Independence [2], although the phrases “the thirteen united States” (once) & “the united States” (once) are used, along with “these Colonies” (3 times), “these States” (3 times), “these Colonies” (once), & “these United Colonies” (once).</p><p>The phrase is also absent from both the US Constitution [3] & the Bill of Rights [4]. 🤔</p><p>For someone writing on a website allegedly devoted to upholding “Constitutional rights”, he’s pretty sloppy in his selective quoting… 🤔🤔</p><p>But of course, this d00d & the org whose website he’s published on aren’t particularly interested in upholding the combination of Declaration of Independence, Constitution, & Bill of Rights in their entirety. They’re doing what fundamentalists always do – cherry-picking the bits of “sacred texts” that support their bigotry & biases to further their ideological agenda 🤢🤮 while rejecting anything that comes after their arbitrary purity cut-off date as being an something pushed by “the progressive socialist left” (lol, as if that actually exists in modern-day mainstream US politics)<br> <br> <br>Interestingly, referring to the United States as a plural entity was much more common in the very early days of the republic – in the form of “the United States are…” Later, usage shifted to “the United States is…” This shift seems to have occurred after the US civil war.</p><p>The use of “these United States” was actually common until the late 1800s / early 1900s (as recorded in court proceedings), so that particular shift doesn’t seem to have been related to the civil war. I guess courts take a while to catch up with popular usage. 🙃<br> <br> <br> <br> <br>[1] don’t worry, it’s for a joke in a presentation I’m writing that will probably be on screen for <1s 🤪</p><p>[2] I’m referencing the “engrossed copy” as the source of truth here, which is the version that the Second Continental Congress ordered on 19 July 1776 be engrossed on parchment (hand-written by Timothy Matlack). Full text transcription at <a href="https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence_(engrossed_copy)" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Unite</span><span class="invisible">d_States_Declaration_of_Independence_(engrossed_copy)</span></a></p><p>[3] full text transcription at <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/full-text" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">constitutioncenter.org/the-con</span><span class="invisible">stitution/full-text</span></a></p><p>[4] full text transcription at <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">archives.gov/founding-docs/bil</span><span class="invisible">l-of-rights-transcript</span></a></p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/USpol" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USpol</span></a> <br><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/StatesRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>StatesRights</span></a> <br><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/federalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>federalism</span></a></p>