How many states are there in the United States of America?

A month after the Confederate States of America was formed, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President of the United States. In his inaugural address, he argued that the Constitution had made the United States a more perfect union than under the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union-- and likewise that "the Union is much older than the Constitution," being, he claimed, 1) formed by the Articles of Association in 1774, 2) made a nation via the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and 3) "declared to be perpetual" under the Articles of Confederation in 1778. As such, he claimed that the Constitution was a binding contract supremely bestowing national authority to the Union over the states, and that therefore "no state by its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union," calling the secession "legally void". Lincoln stated that he had no intent to invade Southern states--except that which was "necessary" to maintain possession of federal property and collection of various federal taxes, duties and imposts. His speech closed with a plea for acceptance of the bonds of union.