When I was in eighth grade, I was very curious about how the states got their shapes.
Why are all the states so weirdly shaped
and then Wyoming and Colorado are just boxes?
Why are the states in the east real tiny, but the states in the west so huge?
I voiced this curiosity to my social studies teacher that year,
and she introduced me to the show, "How the States Got Their Shapes."
I loved this show.
I still tell people how some states got their shapes much to the annoyance of most of them.
If you're one of those people that would be annoyed by that, click away, go watch TheOdd1sOut or something
beacause I'm about to learn you a lesson on why the states are so weird.
Number one:
Why are the eastern states's borders squiggly lines, but the western states's borders straight and boxy?
Well it's because of choo-choo trains.
Back in the east they used rivers as borders because trains hadn't been invented yet,
and water was their primary source of transportations.
(That's also why most major cities are on water)
That's also why most state borders in the east are very squiggly.
Then comes the Industrial Revolution,
TRAINS ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, the U.S. is moving west and with that movement comes more states,
and when you have more states you have more borders, so what do you do to define these borders?
With the train tracks! That's why most state borders have straight lines and are so boxy.
Number two: Missouri.
Missouri seems like a pretty normally shaped state,
with the straight border on the bottom, top, and left side,
and the Mississippi River carving out the western side.
Everything's normal except for those two weird things on the side.
The little bit on the top left is the Platte Purchase which was acquired *FROM* the Natives there.
I don't get why it's called the Platte Purchase,
when I doubt there was any actual purchasing going on.
The bootheel of Missouri is actually an interesting story,
At least... it is to me.
Back when Missouri was first admitted to the Union, it didn't include the bootheel.
The people that lived there were all like,
"we have more in commom with Missouri,"
"Missouri is better than Arkansas,"
"Arkansas is bad," etc.
No,
after writing this I looked it up just to confirm if I was remembering it right,
and it turns out was I said was just a legend.
It turns out it was because the rich landowners didn't want to be part of Arkansas
and just wanted to govern themselves.
But that's boring.
Another version I heard from the aforementioned (ooh big word) social studies teacher was that
there was a huge earthquake in New Madrid, Missouri.
It rang bells in North Carolina,
made the Mississippi River run backwards,
and destroyed Memphis.
This earthquake devastated the area in what is now south-eastern Missouri,
which meant it was cheap to buy.
This guy bought the land,
and when Arkansas and Missouri were becoming states
he wanted to join Missouri because he felt that Missouri would have stronger political power.
I didn't see the version anywhere on Wikipedia, so I'm assuming it's not true.
That kinda makes me sad because it was pretty interesting.
I guess teachers can't always be right.
Next, Ohio and Michigan.
Have you ever wondered why Michigan has that upper peninsula?
No?
Well, too bad, I warned you I was going to nerd out.
Well,
back in the day Toledo was a pretty important city,
with it being on Lake Erie and all.
Michigan and Ohio both wanted Toledo,
and they actually had a war called the
Toledo War. Or the Michigan-Ohio War.
It depends on who you ask.
It lasted from 1835 to 1836
The U.S. government was all like,
"we can't have these states fighting, that's no good."
(Even though the Civil War would be like 30 years later)
So they proposed a deal.
Ohio would get Toledo,
and Michigan would get the land above Lake Michigan that no one had really explored or colonized yet.
Michigan was pretty sad at the time,
but I imagine they're just laughing now.
Finally, why is a part of Kentucky not actually in Kentucky?
Funny you should ask,
it's because that part of Kentucky actually used to be connected to Kentucky.
How did it end up looking like it either belongs to Missouri or Tennessee?
Interesting story, it's because of the Mississippi River.
Rivers, especailly rivers like the Mississippi or Missouri,
are constantly changing their position due to erosion and stuff.
The river eventually moved downward enough
that it separated that part of Fulton County from the rest of Fulton County.
I went onto Google Streetview to see if there were any houses or people living in the area
and all I saw was a bunch of farmland, which isn't really too weird for the U.S.
Quick note before I go to the end card,
while I was messing around with Google Maps
I found that someone had gone kayaking (or canoeing or whatever)
and took a 360 camera so you can do a streetview of that part of the Mississippi River
that surrounds that little part of Fulton County
Radical.
Alright, that's it,
I hope you enjoyed the video
and that I didn't nerd out too much.
This was really a fun video to make because it's just so interesting to me,
but yeah okay bye.
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