"So the “Founding Fathers” sat down, said some stuff, wrote some stuff, did some rituals, and then magically had the right to coercively govern and control a million or so acres of land, the vast majority of which they had never even seen? Wow, that’s some powerful magic. (Or some utter bullshit.)"
VIA International Treaties, Governments actually admit that Political Status and Territory are not in alignment, that instead that certain Nations holds 'Sway' over territorial areas, effectively based on Citizenship. If tomorrow, 350 million people were to swear an allegiance to a new Political Status, the Government known as 'The United States' would no longer control the land.