INDEPENDENCE
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776.
Thirteen independent sovereign nation-states were created. These were: New Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The "We" statement of the Declaration referred to the fact that it was a "united" statement by the authorized representatives of each state "sovereignty," (one official voting delegate per state.) The "United States of America" as an entity did not exist at that time, as no formal alliance between the states had yet been established.
At this point what existed politically under international law, was 13 separate nations, each with full and separate sovereign capacities, not one nation.
According to St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries: With Notes of Refernce to The Constitution and Laws of the Federal Government of the United States; and the Commonwealth of Virginia, William Young Birch, and Abraham Small; Philadelphia, c 1803. "View of the Constitution of the United States, Section 1"
"...From the moment of the revolution they became severally independent and sovereign states, possessing all the rights, jurisdictions, and authority, that other sovereign states, however constituted, or by whatever title denominated, possess; and bound by no ties but of their own creation, except such as all other civilized nations are equally bound by, and which together constitute the customary law of nations. A common council of the colonies, under the name of a general congress, had been established by the legislature, or rather conventional authority in the several colonies. The revolutionary war had been begun, and conducted under its auspices; but the first act of union which took place among the states after they became independent, was the confederation between them, which was not ratified until March 1781, near five years from the commencement of their independence.... "
As stated by Justice Chase in Ware v. Hylton, 3 U.S. 199 (1796) 3 U.S. 199 (Dall.):
"In June 1776, the Convention of Virginia formally declared, that Virginia was a free, sovereign, and independent state; and on the 4th of July, 1776, following, the United States, in Congress assembled, declared the Thirteen United Colonies free and independent states; and that as such, they had full power to levy war, conclude peace, etc. I consider this as a declaration, not that the United Colonies jointly, in a collective capacity, were independent states, etc. but that each of them was a sovereign and independent state, that is, that each of them had a right to govern itself by its own authority, and its own laws, without any control from any other power upon earth.
"Before these solemn acts of separation from the Crown of Great Britain, the war between Great Britain and the United Colonies, jointly, and separately, was a civil war; but instantly, on that great and ever memorable event, the war changed its nature, and became a PUBLIC war between independent governments; and immediately thereupon ALL the rights of public war (and all the other rights of an independent nation) attached to the government of Virginia; and all the former political connection between Great Britain and Virginia, and also between their respective subjects, were totally dissolved; and not only the two nations, but all the subjects of each, were in a state of war; precisely as in the present war between Great Britain and France. Vatt. Lib. 3. c.18,s.292. to 295. lib.3.c. 5.s.70.72 and 73.
"From the 4th of July, 1776, the American States were de facto, as well as de jure, in the possession and actual exercise of all the rights of independent governments...."
Also, on the international level under the Law of Nations, each nation-State became vested with "territorial sovereignty" (tile and dominion) to the lands and waters within its borders. As cited in the arguments of Martin v. Waddell's Lessee, 41 U.S. 367 (1842):
"The laws of nature and nations establish the following propositions, pertinent to this question: 1. Every nation is the proprietor as well of the rivers and seas as of the lands within its territorial limits. Vattel 120, 266...."
As stated by Justice Taney in Martin v. Waddell's Lessee:
"...For when the revolution took place, the people of each state became themselves sovereign; and in that character hold the absolute right to all their navigable waters, and the soils under them, for their own common use, subject only to the rights since surrendered by the constitution to the general government...."
Eventually, in the 1783 "Treaty of Paris," England recognized the separate political and territorial sovereignty of each individual State:
Article 1: "His Brittanic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz., New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free sovereign and independent states, that he treats with them as such, and for himself, his heirs, and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety, and territorial rights of the same and every part thereof."
The treaty itself was ratified by several states separately from the Congress, and in New Hampshire it was ratified by individual towns. (Ref.: Forrest McDonald, E Pluribus Unum, Liberty Fund, c 1965.)
A later Supreme Court decision in M'Llvaine v. Coxe's Lessee, 4 Cranch 209 (1808), held that this Treaty only had the effect of establishing the recognition of one country to the sovereignty of the States, which had actually existed since their independence in 1776:
"This opinion is predicated upon a principle which is believed to be undeniable, that the several states which composed this Union, so far at least as regarded their municipal regulations, became entitled, from the time when they declared themselves independent, to all the rights and powers of sovereign states, and that they did not derive them from concessions made by the British King. The treaty of peace contains a recognition of their independence, not a grant of it. From hence it results, that the laws of the several state governments were the laws of sovereign states, and as such were obligatory upon the people of such state, from the time they were enacted." at 212.
