> I would say that the United States was created when the Assembly > in Philadelphia declared that they were and had the right to be > free and independent states in June/July 1776. This creation was > ratified when we won the War of Independence. The Articles of > Confederation and the Constitution were two attempts at setting up > a federal government and had nothing in itself to do with Declaring > or Winning independence for the colonies. > > The Articles of Confederations were for the United States of American > just like the Constitution. It was just not a successful govenmental > format. > > Julia Coldren-Walker <FamRSearch@aol.com> Julia, That was actually my thought as well, just wanted some other perspectives. Next question then were all the colonies called colonies? Once they were formed. Or Provinces? Again, just looking for some helpful hints / ideas how other people record the "States" pre 1776-1787 timeframe. Thanks, Kevin Sholder "rdrunner" <rdrunner@siscom.net>