For the Virginia Plan to work, people here would have to think of themselves as citizens of the United States first and of their own state second. As anyone in the States can tell you, you may be able to get people to have a regional identity, but a national one is a Canadian idea, and people here can’t even agree on a demonym for ourselves. People in the Dixie region don’t like “Yank” or “Yankee” and people in the New England region complain that it’s top associated with the Capital region. I know they tried to make “American” catch on but Canadians shouted it down, and since they’re the big name in North America, people listen. I’ve been called a “Statie” by a few people, but I’m an Ohioan first and a Laker second.
Alexander Stephens said it at the signing of the Treaty of St. Louis - “we are one nation in name only.”