Monthly Archives: September 2011

Our states looked like stripes

Posted on September 28, 2011 by

By the time the colonial settlers were setting boundaries for their territories in the New World they were already aware that far to the west this chunk of land ended at the Pacific Ocean.  Both the Spanish and the French … Continue reading →

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Wyoming takes a bite out of Utah

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

By the time westward expansion brought settlers across the Mississippi River, states started to take on rather uninteresting shapes.  Unimaginative shapes – – – like “rectangle.”  As explained in an earlier post, the advent of railroads had removed the need … Continue reading →

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California – size matters!

Posted on September 13, 2011 by

The massive size of California, much like Texas and Alaska, completely violates Thomas Jefferson’s intention that all states should be roughly equal in size.  How did California avoid being broken up into three or four smaller states?   The explanation … Continue reading →

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Round headed Delaware

Posted on September 6, 2011 by

Delaware has a feature that no other state has –  a perfect arc for its northern border.  Most other colonial borders were either formed by meandering rivers,  straight lines from point A to point B, or were carved out by … Continue reading →

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