How The States Got Their Shapes - Mark Stein

   2008; 306 pages.  Book 1 (out of 2) in the “How the States Got Their Shapes” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : US History; Geography; Reference; Non-Fiction.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    “Why does Delaware have a semicircle for its northern border?  What’s at its center and why was it encircled?  Why does Texas have that square part poking up?  And why does the square part just miss connecting with Kansas, leaving that little Oklahoma panhandle in between?

 

    The more one looks at state borders, the more questions those borders generate.  Why do the Carolinas and Dakotas have a North state and a South state?  Couldn’t they get along?  Why is there a West Virginia but not an East Virginia?  And why does Michigan have a chunk of land that’s so obviously part of Wisconsin?  It’s not even connected to the rest of Michigan.

 

    This book will provide those answers.  State by state (along with the District of Columbia), the events that resulted in the location of each state’s present borders will be identified.”

 

    (from the Introduction to “How The States Got Their Shapes” by Mark Stein)

 

What’s To Like...

    The book’s title, and the teasers in the Introduction listed above, say it all.  How The States Got Their Shapes is a detailed reference work, replete with lots of little-known history, geography, and political tidbits that combine to logically explain how each colony and/or territory morphed into the present-day United States.

 

    The book is structured to be first and foremost a handy reference resource.  After the Introduction, there’s an enigmatically-titled chapter called Don’t Skip This – You’ll Just Have to Come Back Later.  Do what the title says, it goes over a number of territorial acquisitions that impacted the borders of multiple states.  These events include the French and Indian War, the Louisiana Purchase, the Nootka Convention (say what?), the Adams-Onis Treaty (say who?!), and a sustained effort by the federal government to adhere to the principle that all states should be created equal.

 

    Following that are chapters about each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, presented in alphabetical order. Each one starts out with a couple of teaser questions (anywhere from three to six), then gives the answers via historical details.  The chapters are further subdivided by the borders' directions, so, for instance, the Alabama chapter addresses first its southern border, then its eastern, western, and northern boundaries.

 

    This might sound tedious, but the chapters are short (generally less than 6 pages) and almost always contain several maps illustrating the “before and after” shape of the state as each change in its borders took effect.  Whoever created these maps deserves a special tip of the hat!

 

    The discovery of gold within a territory usually impacted its later borders, but not in the way I expected.  You’d think a prospective state would want to latch on to such a valuable resource, but that was rarely the case.  A gold rush meant a rapid influx of gold miners, who were known to not care much for legal systems.  Law-enforcement was iffy at best, and even worse, those rowdy prospectors could quickly outnumber the citizens already there, and vote in their own types.  Territories about to apply for statehood always tried to exclude gold finds from their proposed boundaries.

 

    Pro- and anti-slavery sentiments had the same sort of effect.  Royal charters usually bequeathed a colony all the land within its north-south latitudes from the Atlantic clear to the Pacific.  But most colonies voluntarily ceded to the federal government their western lands beyond some modest point.  The reasons were not altruistic.  Usually, they hoped those lands would become multiple states, with two senators each, and who were expected to vote along the same pro- or anti-slavery lines of the original colony.

 

    Other recurring factors that caused hiccups in states lines include mountains (you can’t enforce your laws if you can’t get over the hills), sloppy surveyors (or sometimes, drunken ones), and ambiguous, overlapping, or erroneous charters from the king.  Lastly, we won’t even mention the numerous instances of neighboring states squabbling with each other, seemingly just for the sake of strutting their stuff.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.4/5 based on 667 ratings and 400 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.52/5 based on 3,377 ratings and 620 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Texas first became a place of continual colonial settlement in 1691, when Spain grew alarmed at reports that Frenchmen had crossed the Sabine River from Louisiana.  The French, possibly testing the waters for colonial expansion, were befriending the local Indians, an alliance of tribes known by their native word for “allies,” tejas.  Spain dispatched an expedition to clear out the area of the French and convert the Indians to Christianity.  To ensure that the French stayed out and the Indians stayed Christian, Spain built missions throughout the region and established the province of Tejas.  (loc. 2800)

 

    When the New York authorities attempted to tax the residents [in Vermont], they found themselves facing the muskets of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys.

    Before violence erupted, however, the American Revolution commenced.  In keeping with the spirit of the time, the region declared its own independence as the state of Vermont.  When the Continental Congress refused to recognize it, Vermont threatened to ally itself with England.  In response, Congress voted to invade Vermont!  But George Washington resisted, pointing out that his troops had little desire to fight fellow Americans.  (loc. 2982)

 

Kindle Details…

    How the States Got Their Shapes is currently priced at $10.99 at Amazon.  The sequel, How the States Got Their Shapes Too: The People Behind the Borderlines, goes for $13.99.  Mark Stein has several other e-books for your Kindle, all non-fiction, which range in price from $11.99 to $16.64.

 

California violated the policy of equality among states because it could.  The United States needed California more than California needed the United States.  (loc. 454)

    There are a couple quibbles, but nothing major.

 

    Obviously, the reason for, say, Pennsylvania’s northern border with New York is the same as the reason for New York’s southern border with Pennsylvania.  Therefore, repetition of information is inevitable.  The author generally tries to minimize this, often by giving the historical details from the perspective of whichever state is the subject of that chapter.  Usually he mentions that you can also read about this in the other state’s chapter.  Some reviewers seemed to be really irked about this, but I didn’t find it off-putting at all.

 

    There are some typos to trip over along the way: Not/Now, Face/Fact, Calvary/Cavalry, it/its, and one that made me chuckle: memer/member.

 

    Finally, I have to admit that trying to read too many chapters in one sitting sometimes blurred my brain.  So even though you can probably plow through How The States Got Their Shapes in a single night, my advice is to read, say, a half-dozen chapters per session, then put the book down and read something else.  This trick also works when reading books of poetry.

 

    9 Stars.  I’m a history and geography buff, so How The States Got Their Shapes kept me entertained throughout.  Trivia buffs will also enjoy this book.  The origin of Texas’s name is given above, but you’ll also learn about things such as the “Toledo War”, what state was initially called the “Jefferson Territory”, and how Nevada got away with stealing 18,000 square miles from the Arizona territory.