Comments on: The Case for the Lower Case “u”

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 07:19:06 +0000

The declaration of Independence was nothing more than what it was, a declaration of 13 independent states wishing to remove themselves from the British crown, hence the use of the lower case u. It was not a binding contract, the Constitution was.
The preamble to the Constitution reads, We The People, with the people, despite their state, as the foundation of the country. It then continues with “of the United States.” Notice the use of the word the and not these, and the capitalization of the U. The creators of the Constitution spent more than a decade fine tuning what they considered an imperfect but necessary document, hence the Bill of Rights, and the use of an upper case U was intentional, as was the size of the phrase We The People.
As for the Lincoln commit, Jefferson thought a new Constitution would be written every 20 years, to keep up with the progression of time, unfortunately nostalgia replaced sense and the US was left with an outdated contracted that needed rectifying. Also, as soon as the Southern states succeeded, one could argue that they were a sovereign nation that was predetermined to be annexed by the US due to the great gift of Manifest Destiny bestowed upon the US by the grace of God.
Anyway, The “founding fathers” of this nation intended for this country to be one nation, made up of semi autonomous states and a strong central government, and they placed within the most important document, the Constitution, the authority of the Federal government to make, and enforce, laws that superceded the state. If they had not wanted it that way, we would not have the Constitution that we possess.

By: Olden

Olden — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:38:13 +0000

Sound grammar would dictate the lowercase usage of “these united states,” as the “united” is being used as an adjective and “states” as a non-proper noun. One could just as well say, “these states” and be referring to the same set. However, generally when one says “the United States,” they are referring to the country as an entity unto itself.

By: Norman R. Saliba

Norman R. Saliba — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:23:09 +0000

I really can’t speak for the Founding Fathers, but I think they understood that it’s a basic human tendency to want to overpower and enslave each other. But thanks to the Declaration and Constitution they came up with, they set in stone the liberties all humans are entitled to. I think people discredit them because they “owned slaves” or other charges people are very ill-informed about, but they knew what they were talking about, considering all the corruption they had lived through.

By: Stephen Clay McGehee

Stephen Clay McGehee — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:14:37 +0000

Thank you, Mr. Saliba. The era of the Founding Fathers (Enlightenment / Age of Reason) is a point that had been lost on me until you mentioned it. That is one of those forces that shape the culture that I had learned of in the past, but then forgotten. Thanks for the refresher course. Please stop by and comment again, sir.

By: Norman R. Saliba

Norman R. Saliba — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:03:18 +0000

This is an extremely well-written article about the lowercase “u” used in the Declaration of Independence. I first contemplated this when I was reading “The Real Lincoln” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo and watching some of his lectures about the “Civil War” (War of Northern Aggression). My grandfather has always stressed to me the importance of knowing the difference between a Constitutional Republic and Democracy (uppercase D). I truly think that, because the Founding Fathers were men of the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, they were leading us out of the Middle Ages, and Abraham Lincoln reeled us right back into them by stripping the South of its right to secede. Today, we have no “Free and Independent States”; we have one large federal nation-state, all thanks to “Honest” Abe.

By: Stephen Clay McGehee

Stephen Clay McGehee — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:51:48 +0000

The memory of hearing that is what prompted me to write this post. I didn’t remember where I first heard it, but I’m confident that Shelby Foote was at least one source. Thanks for writing.

By: Edward Spalton

Edward Spalton — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:11:05 +0000

There was a very impressive television series about the War between the States/Civil War which appeared here in England. One of the leading contributors was the Southern historian, Shelby Foote.

In summing up the result of the war, he said “Before the war, people said the united States ARE. After the war, they said the United States IS. You could say that is what it was all about”.

I may not have recalled his words absolutely accurately but they impressed me greatly at the time and the gist of them has stuck in my mind ever since.

By: John Yelvington

John Yelvington — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:06:18 +0000

Good attention to detail sir! It’s absolutely amazing how the simple switch of a few letters and words changes everything. Just like “Freedom of Religion” and “Freedom of Worship”. They sound exactly identical. However, the meanings of the two are worlds apart.

By: Sam Starrett

Sam Starrett — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 04:35:22 +0000

Mr. McGehee:

I have in the past usually referred to These United States. However, I believe you raise a very good point. I believe I will follow your usage and refer simply to these united States, unless of course I find myself in one of my capitalizing fervors(the same Orwellian beast that would lead me to refer, for instance, to the Great Free Republic or to the Great Egalitarian Ideal.)

Sincerely,

Samuel C. Starrett
Administrator
The Rambling Royalist