America!
Land of the free and home of the brave
And also some pretty weird borders
Why do the Gulf Coast States look like this?
Why do Louisiana and Florida steal coastline that looks like it should belong to Mississippi
and Alabama?
Well
Under Spain, Florida's panhandle reached as far west as the Mississippi river.
But, since the US and Spain were having a conflict over the Western borders of Louisiana,
and the US wanted to control both banks of the Mississippi river, in 1810 they invaded
Spanish Florida and annexed the land west of the Pearl River to Louisiana.
Later, during the war of 1812, the US annexed the land west of the Perdido river and made
it part of the Mississippi territory.
Then in 1816, the territory was split vertically roughly in half into Mississippi and Alabama.
Why is the upper peninsula a part of Michigan?
Why not Wisconsin, or it's own state?
Well, in 1835 there was a dispute between Ohio and Michigan over a strip of land on
Lake Erie
The Toledo Strip
Why?
Well, the Northwest Ordinance declared that a state could be created from the Northwest
Territory with all land north of a straight east-west line from the southern point of
Lake Michigan
That state being, Michigan
Now, based on that, the Toledo strip should definitely be part of Michigan
But the maps used at the time showed Lake Michigan as being further north than it actually
is
But then, why didn't Ohio just give up the land after the truth was revealed?
Well, the Toledo Strip was rich agriculturally, multiple canals were going to be built there,
and it included the mouth of the Maumee river
As such, Ohio didn't want to lose Toledo to Michigan
And, since Ohio was a state, while Michigan was not, Ohio had a lot more political representation
As such, Ohio was given the Toledo strip, while as a consolation, Michigan was given
the Upper Peninsula
Why does Oklahoma have that skinny Panhandle?
Why isn't it just part of Texas?
Well, it was a part of Texas
Until in 1845 when Texas tried to join the Union
And it wanted to maintain slavery
But, due to the Missouri compromise, new territories could only permit slavery if they were south
of 36 degrees 30
So Texas gave up claims to territories north of that line, some of which is now the Oklahoma
panhandle
But then why isn't the Oklahoma panhandle just part of Kansas?
Well
The originally proposed southern border of Kansas was 36 degrees 30, which would have
made the Oklahoma panhandle part of Kansas
But Congress instead set the border at the 37th parallel
Why?
Well, look at Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota
They all have 3 degrees of height
See, Congress wanted states to have similar sizes to each other, which can be seen in
the previous example, as well as in Colorado Wyoming and Montana all having 4 degrees of
height, and all of these states being the same width
Okay, but if Congress wanted states to be similar sizes to one another, then how come
Texas and California are so huge?
Well
Almost immediately after California was taken from Mexico, gold was discovered there
And so the population exploded
Because of this, California tried to make itself a state
But it still needed approval from Congress to do so
So why didn't Congress split California into smaller states?
Because of how far away California was from other heavily populated areas of the US
See, California could have just declared independence from the US, and the US would not have been
able to take it back
"She is practically further removed from us than England.
We cannot reach her by railroad, nor by unbroken steam navigation.
We can send no army over the prairie, mountain and the desert."
So, since California could do basically whatever they wanted, they made their state stretch
as far south as the port of San Diego, and far enough west to include all the Sierra
Nevada gold fields
But what about Texas?
Well, Texas was an independent country before becoming a state
And it joined the Union at a time when many Americans supported the idea of Manifest Destiny,
that America should control all of North America
So America didn't want to force Texas to split into smaller states out of fear that that
might make them refuse to be annexed
Why does this strip of land even belong to Idaho?
Wouldn't it make more sense to be part of Washington?
Well, it was part of Washington
But when gold was discovered in the region, settlers came from different parts of the
country
Due to cultural and political differences between these settlers and the people on the
Pacific coast, they split the state roughly at the 117th meridian west
But then, why isn't part of Montana just a part of Idaho?
Well, it used to be
But due to the mountains, there was little to no interaction between the people in these
two regions
So Idaho's border with Montana was set at the peaks of the Bitterroot mountains
Why does Wyoming take what looks like it should be the Northeast corner of Utah?
Well, there are a few reasons
First, this region was cut off from Utah by the Uinta mountains, while it was easily accessible
from Wyoming
Second, this region was full of coal fields, waterways, and many roadways such as the Oregon
Trail passed through it
And many members of Congress were worried that Mormons would have too much influence
if this region were in Utah
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