The standard quantum mechanical electronic state calculations for molecules and solids use the Schrödinger representation where the momentum conjugate to the coordinate qr is given by −iħ∂∂qr. This formalism contains an extra U(1) phase degree-of-freedom. We show that it can be regarded as a Berry phase arising from many-electron interaction, and when it is non-trivial, it gives rise to a current carrying ground state identified as the superconducting ground state. It is shown that this superconducting state is connected to the BCS one, and captures the experimentally verified results of the BCS theory. There are also gratifying differences that remove the shortcomings of the BCS theory; the ground state is particle-number-conserving, and the mass appearing in the London moment phenomenon is the free electron mass.