eli5: Since the U.S is described as ”a union between 50 free states” and gets more compared with the structure of the EU than, say, the counties of England; how come Texas or Oklahoma doesn’t compete independently in the olympics, or have independent representation in the UN? A union isn’t a nation

Question

eli5: Since the U.S is described as ”a union between 50 free states” and gets more compared with the structure of the EU than, say, the counties of England; how come Texas or Oklahoma doesn’t compete independently in the olympics, or have independent representation in the UN? A union isn’t a nation

In: 2

Answer 1

We tried a looser version of this between 1781 and 1789 (the Articles of Confederation) – and it went very badly! The union had none of the things you need a central government to do, from finances to international relations to military power. So they got back together and built a more robust federal government.