A Legal Merger Between the United States and the States of Canada

Copyright by James Carlson

A Future Union of States may include:

The USA, Canada, Greenland, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands

Can it be that CANANDA will be a State within the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)? Is Mr. Trump kidding or is he serious? Let’s assume he’s being serious for a moment and review some of the ramifications that a merger would bring. Let’s begin by addressing our various legal histories and not some mental abstraction of social compact philosophy. Let’s look at the legal order of Canada and the USA and compare/contrast them to get a picture of what we’re dealing with if/when a merger between our 2 great nations occurs. This is going to get interesting!

The USA was founded upon a legal system that is based upon the English Common Law. This was a system of advocacy for the Individual (We the People) and the USA has a legal system that supports the Rights of Individuals first and not the State. Canada, however, has a mix of legal traditions where in French Quebec their legal history extends back to the days of the Roman Civil Law, which put the State before the People. This kind of a hybrid legal system with both the common law and the codified law persists in some parts of Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean States. This may, at first glance, present an apparent problem if/when our 2 countries merge; but we may this is an easier problem to solve then when first reviewed.

As we seek a political and economic union between our 2 great nations, we need to be sure we can transition all government institutions to a common legal system where possible. We may find a witness of how this can be done with the legal precedents established in the Territory of Louisiana. French Louisiana (before and after the Louisiana Purchase) was under the French legal order founded upon the Roman Civil Law. After the Louisiana Purchase, many changes were made to the legal order of the new Louisiana Territory. Aspects of Roman Civil Law were codified as civil laws and included within the larger structure of the common law.

Recall the not too distant past when the Louisiana Territory was divided into the Orleans Territory and the District of Louisiana (the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase). The Orleans Territory eventually became the State of Louisiana. The current legal system of Louisiana stands in sharp contrast with the remainder of the nation in that it still represents a hybrid system of government today.

The Canadian Province of Quebec had a legal order that was largely based upon the Roman Civil Law. Within Quebec and elsewhere in Canada were the French Canadians (Acadians) who came to be known as Cajuns. The Cajuns left Canada and move to familiar territory within Louisiana and have made a home there in New Orleans and elsewhere in the region. There are many traditions of the Acadian culture that persists today and the merger they had with our country has proven to be of great value.

As Americans began to expand beyond the Louisiana Territory, they incorporated new lands into new Territories before they became States in the Union of States.

·        Missouri Territory

·        Kansas Territory

·        Nebraska Territory

·        Indian Territory

·        Minnesota Territory

·        Dakota Territory

·        Oklahoma Territory

·        Alaska Territory

·        Hawaii Territory

·        Alabama Territory

·        New Mexico Territory

31 of our 50 States were at one time a Territory of the United States. Today, the United States has 5 populated territories:

·        American Samoa

·        Guam

·        Northern Mariana Islands

·        Puerto Rico

·        United States Virgin Islands

Someday these Territories will become States in our Union.

The witness of these Territories and States provide an historical foundation for incorporating the nation of Canada into the Union of States (USA). However, as Canada has 11 Provinces and 2 Territories of its own, they are organized into 4 regions: Atlantic, Central Canada, the Prairie Provinces, and the West Coast, which may become States.

Canadian Provinces (11)

·        Alberta: A province in the Prairie Provinces region

·        British Columbia: A province in the West Coast region

·        Manitoba: A province in the Prairie Provinces region

·        New Brunswick: A province in the Atlantic region

·        Newfoundland and Labrador: A province in the Atlantic region

·        Nova Scotia: A province in the Atlantic region

·        Ontario: A province in Central Canada

·        Prince Edward Island: A province in the Atlantic region

·        Quebec: A province in Central Canada

·        Saskatchewan: A province in the Prairie Provinces region

Canadian Territories (3)

·        Northwest Territories

·        Nunavut

·        Yukon

So clearly there are many States that can be made from the Canadian Provinces and Territories. It would be safe to say that at least 4 regions may be incorporated by Treaty into the United States as Territories of the USA prior to full admission into the Union as States.

As we work to build a new nation with Canada, we should also make a brief review of the history of ‘nation building’ that the USA has largely been successful with over the last century. Granted, the recent examples of nation building have been poor but that is because the modern culture wars have diluted the meaning and purpose of the rule of law. While Iraq and Afghanistan have had moderate success (prior to the Biden administration), the witness of nation building in West Germany and Japan represent a success story.

The principles of government born of our Declaration of Independence were not lost to the Greatest Generation who not only won WWII but rebuilt Germany and Japan after they were totally defeated. The principles of Liberty under Law, Liberty and Justic for all, we stock in trade in their day. Today, the culture wars present us with ideas of defund the police, etc., etc. How can we build nations while tearing down our own nation. The belligerent nations of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan were changed to follow the American model of government according the rule of law. Law and Order were required for governance and the Individual was no longer the heal of the State.

President Bush once stated that “the desire for freedom resides in every human heart.” While true, the human conscience also yearns for justice. Unless and until the People of Iraq and Afghanistan witnessed with their own eyes how liberty and justice were protected by the rule of law, their constitutions were nothing more than waste paper. And this is where we stand today. How much of the American example of liberty under law is being witnessed in these countries (Afghanistan exempted having been betrayed by liberal ideology)? Both countries should have remained territories of the United States and our Allies prior to being admitted into the world community as sovereign nations. It takes about 40 years, one full generation, for nation building to be effective. That allows the children to grow up and see liberty and justice for all first hand instead of giving them just a piece of paper.

Prior to the admission of Canada into the USA, each Canadian Territory should be required to demonstrate their capability to govern according the rule of law following the traditions of jurisprudence now practiced in the United States. A gradual entry of States into the United States can occur with economics leading the way (merging standards of weights and measures and currency). And as the political order of Canada is based in part on the parliamentary system, they would remain in power until the final merger. The Canadian Parliament can mentor their own systems of law and order to align with that of the USA.

So prior to Mr. Trump and his ideas of including Canada and Greenland into the USA, I have only focused upon the issues surrounding the same ideas for the Caribbean Islands. The nations and states of the Caribbean Sea can be organized into 1 Territory with Puerto Rico serving as the Capitol. We can present a Treaty to the People of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico., etc. where their entry into the USA would take approximately 40 years, with Puerto Rico fulfilling the requirement and having 1 Representative in the House and 2 representative in the Senate. Add to the list of new entries into the constellation of the American flag (new States in the USA) and this might even extend to Greenland and Mexico.

Bringing Canada into the USA is more than interesting; I think it is very possible. A gradual merger, economically, politically, and legally should begin ASAP. Treaties between our 2 countries will detail these matters but as we share in common the North American continent, our shared histories are not too dissimilar.

The final words of the Declaration of Independence, presented their reliance upon God for the protection of their initiative to establish a new nation from the old of Great Britain:

…with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

As the Patriots did in 1776, so too we should do. Let us pray to God for His Blessing on this matter as no new nation, in the constellation of nations like a new star in the heavens, can emerge without His knowledge and consent.

Suggested Prayer:

Dear God in heaven, Creator of the world and the people therein. We humble ourselves before you as we exercise great patience in establishing a new nation under heaven between the peoples of Canada and the United States of America. Who is man that you are mindful of him? You stoop down to witness the acts of mankind and provide counsel to us for the improvement thereof. We submit ourselves to you and ask for your Providence in the matter before us. We sincerely praise your Glory that has been given to all the peoples and nations of the earth and ask that you would Bless the merger of our 2 great nations. Bless us to continue with the principles and traditions of law and order, religious freedom, and free economies that have benefited our people. May your hand be with us to open these doors and provide us with the wisdom we need to succeed in these endeavors. Thy Will be done in heaven and on the earth. We ask these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!