8711. UNITED STATES, Independence of.—
The several States, now comprising the
United States of America, were, from their
first establishment, separate and distinct societies,
dependent on no other society of men
whatever. They continued at the head of
their respective governments the executive
magistrate who presided over the one they
had left, and thereby secured in effect a constant
amity with that nation. * * * The
part which our chief magistrate took in a war,
waged against us by the nation among whom
he resided, obliged us to discontinue him, and
to name one within every State.—
Mississippi River Instructions. Washington ed. vii, 571.
Ford ed., v, 461.
(March. 1792)
