North American country vs the States

North American country and the States both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
North American country	Yes	No	No	No
the States	Yes	No	No	No

North American country (noun)	the States (noun)
any country on the North American continent	North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776