The term "United States" or "the United States" has multiple meanings laid out in court cases. Three articles on "the three United States":

The Three United States (KairosIEA.org)

The Three United States (Deoxy)

The Three United States (The Federal Zone, Chapter 4)


Some of the information may be errant. What seems rather certain is there is more than one class of state and more than one class of citizen or national comprehended by the Constitution for the United States of America, the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of each of the several United states.