English

Proper noun

United States of North America

1. (obsolete or rare) The United States of America.
   • 1781 (1977), John Adams, Robert Joseph Taylor, Gregg L. Lint, Celeste Walker, Papers of John Adams, page xxxv:

     The United States of North America in Congress Assembled […] have appointed the honble. John Adams […] to be their Minister Plenipotentiary

   • 1959, United States Congress, Communist threat to the United States through the Caribbean: Hearings before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Eighty-sixth Congress, first session […] , page 438:

     Communists of the entire Western Hemisphere are living in Havana […] attacking and discrediting the United States of North America.

Usage notes

• 1965, Samuel Bemis, A diplomatic history of the United States, 5 edition, page 43 (note):

  The name United States of America first appears in the Declaration of Independence. The Franco-American treaties of 1778 use the phrase United States of North America, occasionally employed thereafter in official pronouncements; but Congress resolved July 11, 1778, in favor of the name United States of America, to be used on its bills of exchange, and it has been used since as the official name.

Though the phrase was more commonly used by writers of the British Empire, it continued in use in the United States until the 20th century, especially in the context of diplomatic missions to Latin America.

Derived terms

• Usona, Usonian