But the first step towards independence of the Crown was to unite.

From that day onward they were never separate.

Nor did the King of Great Britain acknowledge the "independence and sovereignty" of the thirteen individual and separate States.

The Treaty of peace declares that "His Majesty acknowledges the said United States [naming them] to be free, sovereign, and independent States."-- not separately and individually, but the "said _United_ States." The King then agrees that "the following are and shall be the boundaries of the said United States,"-- proceeding to give, not the boundaries of each State, but the boundaries of the whole as one unit, one sovereignty, one nationality.

Last of all, the commissioners who signed the treaty with the King's commissioner were not acting for the individual States, but for the _United_ States.