The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4th 1776, was headed ‘The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America’ while also, later in the text, referring to the ‘United Colonies.’ In the Articles of Confederation, signed in late 1777, the name ‘The United States of America’ was adopted for the new republic.
In 1778, two maps were published in France, referring to the ‘United States’ in the title [see A & B below]. Until relatively recently, the Eliot map has been described as “the earliest to include in its title “les Treize Colonies Unies de l’Amerique” ...”, thus claiming “priority in the naming of the new nation, in its French translation ..."
A. CARTE DU THÉATRE DE LA GUERRE ACTUEL Entre les Anglais et les Treize Colonies Unies de l'Amerique Septentrionale DRESSÉE PAR J.B. ÉLIOT, Ingénieurs des Etats Unis. 1778.
B. CARTE DU CANADA ET DES ETATS-UNIS de l'Amérique Septentrionale Par le S.r ROBERT DE VAUGONDY. 1778.
Neither map is a map of the United States, in a geographical sense; the Eliot is principally a map of New England, and omits much of the Middle States, and all the Southern States, while the Robert deVaugondy omits the Southern States.
I believe that the first map devoted to the thirteen states, that uses the name United States (in its French form) in the title, is Rigobert Bonne’s map of 1780, printed on two sheets. The northern sheet covers the States of New Hampshire in the North, to Maryland, in the south, and the southern sheet covers Virginia, in the north, to Georgia, in the south.
Publication: Atlas de toutes les parties connues du globe terrestre, dresse pour l'histoire philosophique et polique des etablissement et du commerce des Europeens dans le deux Indes, Jean-Leonard Pellet, Geneva, 1780
Condition: Excellent, folds as issued, lightly age toned. A small paper fault in left margin, not affecting image, has been repaired. The attached photo is part of the item description, please examine carefully.
Color: Uncoloured
Size (h x w): North sheet: 20.8 x 31.7 cm (neat line). South sheet: 21.0 x 31.4 cm (neat line).
Technique: Copper engraving
Cartographer: Bonne. R,
Date: 1780
Ref:JJB3128