With all the problems affecting the United States of America today, it should come as no surprise that many are predicting (and even preparing) for what seems to be the inevitable collapse of this union. Many states have suggested secession from the Union, while the remaining problems seem to suggest the United States may follow the fate of the Soviet Union and dissolve. But as chaotic as it may seem today, the United States of America has gone through worse times. None so chaotic as the first years of independence, when the Thirteen Colonies were farther apart then what we take for granted today, and when the United States of America (as we know it) didn't even exist.