File talk:United States Central change 1776-07-04.png

Meaning of "{State] creates United States"

What does this expression mean? Viz., "Virginia creates United States," "Maryland creates United States," and so forth. I don't know what the intended meaning is. That type of syntax is foreign to me as a native English speaker. Is that label even needed at all in the diagram? Thanks. Holy (talk) 05:48, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

This is a reference to the United States Declaration of Independence, and is notionally a change in status for each entity from a colony of the United Kingdom to a member of a confederation called the United States. As that article explains, the actual process was a bit messier than that, as not all of the colonies agreed to independence at the same time, and the Articles of Confederation arguably created the country later. But the announcement of the Declaration on July 4, 1776, is now traditionally celebrated as the birthdate of the United States. I agree the map is confusing as-is; probably one "Declaration of Independence by the thirteen United States of America" for the whole map would be better. -- Beland (talk) 19:26, 5 February 2024 (UTC)

Hmm, that text is already at the bottom of the image. The table in Territorial evolution of the United States#1776–1784 (American Revolution), where this image is used, explains the messiness of different independence dates for different colonies. The only other use is on United States Declaration of Independence; I've clarified the caption there to indicate that this map also does not show many border disputes among the new states. -- Beland (talk) 19:43, 5 February 2024 (UTC)