Do you ever think about the term "United States"—specifically the term "united?" United in what? The will of self-preservation? The desire to do whatever we choose without regard for right or wrong? The desire to be good citizens?
Here's what John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, said when he wrote Federalist Paper #2:
"I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people—a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.
"This country and this people seem to have been made for each other, and it appears as if it was the design of Providence, that an inheritance so proper and convenient for a band of brethren, united to each other by the strongest ties, should never be split into a number of unsocial, jealous, and alien sovereignties."
