The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-11-29

this republic the name United Statesian" Wher
this is examined il is seen to lack entirely the quality
Iof distnctness and exclusive application We have
n this hemisphere the united states of Mexico and the
united states of Brazil On the sthmus, since Boil
wars day there has been cherished dream Of the
united states of Central Amriea. SO, seen from tn,
outide the bare term united states would require ex
lplanation,
The Frenchman found his analogy in the name
of France and French. Both terms are understood
and are limited Our name, the United States of
America, is older than the constitution. In the
articles of confederation adopted in l777 confederat.
ing the original thirteen separate colonies, article
said; "The style of this confederacy shall be the
United States of America" This was followed in
the preamble to the constitution of l7S9, in which
the convention wrote that we do ordain and estab
lish this constitution for the United States of Amer
| lea
II will be observed that the article "the" serves
other than its merely grammatical purpose 1t means
that there may be other united states but this is
'the" united states At the time it was adopted this
was the only United States of America, 1t is there
luIVt tut SSHiul nav why NuHANu i'S
style. We have il will be seen, the prior right to
call ourselves Americans, When we adopted the
name all the rest of the hemisphere III colinal
condition The Canadas were English, the rest Of
the hemisphere was mainly divided between Spain
and Portugal and the people were Spanards and
Portuguese. We were the only Americans, adopting
the name of the continent as our name. When the
revolution began we called ourselves ''Contnentas,
because we wished to be differentiated from the peo-
Piles who owed foreign allegiance beyond the con-
tinent The transition of "American" was perfect
ly natural and in accordance with the principle gov
erning selection of style and title. SO we were the
first Americans and have become the greatest and
will remain to the end the greatest Americans meas
ured by our personal characteristics and our national
power.
Our style and title are well understood by the
whole world Sir Edward Clark criticism was called
out by an evolution of our style required by brevty
and dictated by the rule of exact description and
designation In view Of the existence of other unit
ed states, Junior to us in this hemisphere, our gov
ernment has dropped 'United States as the desig-
nation of our foreign embassies and our diplomatic
representative is called briefly and descriptively
the American ambassador" The title is simple and
dgnifed, and belongs to us by prescriptive right.
Other nations adopt their names and bear them
for reasons sufficient unto themselves For long
lime after the fall of Calais broke poor Marys heart
he English sovereigns styled themselves king of
Great Britain, France and Ireland In our first
reaty with Sweden the sovereign called himself the
ting of Sweden of the Goths and Vandals. So also
We have had treaties with his most Catholic ma
esty" and his most Christian majesty" These
overeigns chose the name that seemed best to ex-
,ress their power or their pretensions The people of
his country are also sovereign, and have the same
light to choose the national name by which they will
,e known Our fathers called themselves Americans
md this America, and the union they formed became
ogically the United States of America. These styles
will endure. Sir Edward Clark proposed to rechrst-
n us "Unona. But Mr.. Choate, American am
,assador, simply and with dignity dismissed the
ubject by saying that 1--WE are quite satisfied with
ur name"