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>Er, the USA practically IS a continent, a continental empire of separate states. cf Europe. (that way GB becomes Hawaii :-) And some of your states are bigger than some European countries, esp. Belgium, Holland, et al. Your army of independance was called the "continental army" wasn't it?
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>So how could any indiv. Euro. country hope to compete with an empire the size of the US, with all her mineral riches?

As I recall, we are almost a continent. We are part of North America, which includes that little country above us.