On this day: The United States of America gets named

by Theo Dyssean · September 9, 2017

On this day in 1776, The Continental Congress officially gave its union of colonies the name United States of America.

This was not, however, the first time this collection of colonies and territories had been called that. A letter dated January 2, 1776, from Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Stephen Moylan, Esq., to Lt. Col. Joseph Reed, ordered that the “full and ample powers of the United States of America” were be carried to Spain to assist in the revolutionary war effort, is the earliest historical mentioning.

About Theo Dyssean

Theo Dyssean is a United States Army veteran, and former Intelligence Professional. He is an expert on Central and East Asia, intelligence collection and analysis, Linguistics, and culture. He enjoys reading, writing, and running. He has been involved with this media team since 2013.

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Micky M
Thank you Ody.
Tessa Shmessa
❤️❤️❤️❤️ Thank you, friend. Today my brain has mostly been on vaycay...
Michelle B
Ms. Tessa, I love your thoughtful comments, so take all the time that you need. I'm still here. In the meantime, there's certainly enough upheaval lately to get our attention and re-focus on the basics and some of the most important things in life. Survival, family, compassion and assistance for other members of the human race, etc.
Tessa Shmessa
Interesting post. I'm sorry I haven't replied yet to your comment in our talk about the national monuments (the natural ones, I don't give an F WORD about the statues staying or going) but I was waiting until i had a few moments to truly be thoughtful. So distracted this week by all of the catastrophic weather events and following the news on that. If it is the beginning of the end, I think the man upstairs must be drinking. "I'll send fires! No wait. I mean floods. No, an earthquake! Wait, how about more hurricanes...?" Go home apocalypse, you're drunk.
Michelle B
That was cool. I like our name. And the short-name of "America" is my favorite. I remember reading antebellum Supreme Court cases that often referred to "these United States," and the shift toward "The United States" as we gradually sorted out federalism and just how strong and central our federal government needed to be (a work still in process). It fascinates me how much a name forms a core part of one's identity, as a country or a person. Or a persona...with a pseudonym. 😉 (Although, I suppose it's the other way around, that a name takes on meaning as a result of the qualities of the person or country it identifies.)