How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein

residents south of the Potomac successfully petitioned to rejoin Virginia (called both 'retrocession' and 'a crime') in order to keep out free African-Americans. Border stories shine a spotlight on many aspects of American history: the 49th parallel was chosen for the northern borders of Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana because they ensured England's access to the Great Lakes, vital to their fur trade in 1846, Washington D.C. Proceeding through the states alphabetically, Stein takes the innovative step of addressing each border-north, south, east, west-separately.

The exact location of borders became paramount playwright and screenwriter Stein amasses the story of each state's border, channeling them into a cohesive whole. Adding the fresh lens of local geographic disputes, military skirmishes, and land grabs, Mark Stein shows how the seemingly haphazard puzzle pieces of our nation fit together perfectly.Īmerica's first century was defined by expansion and the negotiation of territories among areas colonized by the French and Spanish, or occupied by natives. Packed with fun oddities and trivia, this entertaining guide also reveals the major fault lines of American history, from ideological intrigues and religious intolerance to major territorial acquisitions. Here are the stories behind the stories, right down to the tiny northward jog at the eastern end of Tennessee and the teeny-tiny (and little known) parts of Delaware that are not attached to Delaware but to New Jersey. How the States Got Their Shapes is the first book to tackle why our state lines are where they are. Even the oddities-the entire state of Maryland(!)-have become so ingrained that our map might as well be a giant jigsaw puzzle designed by Divine Providence. We are so familiar with the map of the United States that our state borders seem as much a part of nature as mountains and rivers.

Why does Oklahoma have that panhandle? Did someone make a mistake? God bless the panhandles and notches, the West Virginias and Oklahomas.' - Wall Street Journal 'Give me the splendid irregularities any day.

How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein