How The States Got Their Shapes
The Fur Trade Shapes the West (2:44)
Beaver furs were one of the first commodities settlers traded with Europe.
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How California Got Its Shape
How California Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (1:53)
Video Clip (1:53)
With the discovery of gold in 1848, thousands of prospectors poured into California. When it came time to create a state, the new residents wanted to make sure California included all potential gold fields in the Sierra Nevada range, and so drew their own borders.
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How Washington D.C. Got Its Shape
How Washington D.C. Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (2:30)
Video Clip (2:30)
George Washington picked out the location and laid out a perfect diamond shape for the city, spanning parts of Maryland and Virginia. But a looming fight over slavery caused the Virginia side to leave the District and return to its home state, giving D.C. its strange shape.
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How Florida Got Its Shape
How Florida Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (2:18)
Video Clip (2:18)
Florida was once Spanish and much larger. Its panhandle stretched from the Savannah River to the Mississippi, but, over time, the Spanish relinquished land and the entire area came under American control.
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How Texas Got Its Shape
How Texas Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (2:41)
Video Clip (2:41)
Texas may have a “go-it-alone” reputation, but the state needed the United States much more than the nation needed the state. The Republic of Texas had to give up territory that stretched as far as modern-day Wyoming in exchange for statehood.
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How Maine Got Its Shape
How Maine Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (2:53)
Video Clip (2:53)
Once part of Massachusetts, Maine joined the Union as a free state in 1820 to counterbalance the admission of Missouri, a slave state. But Maine’s northern boundary wasn’t settled until the United States and Great Britain compromised and established what would become the Canadian border.
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How Montana Got Its Shape
How Montana Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (2:43)
Video Clip (2:43)
The discovery of gold drew prospectors and gave the territory the financial wherewithal to become a state. Montana may have even used this gold to buy itself more land.
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How Utah Got Its Shape
How Utah Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (3:03)
Video Clip (3:03)
Originally called Deseret by its Mormon founders, the territory stretched across much of the West. A suspicious Congress cut the state down to size, removing any areas, like Nevada’s silver mines and Colorado’s gold deposits, it considered valuable.
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How Nevada Got Its Shape
How Nevada Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (1:40)
Video Clip (1:40)
Nevada became a state long before it was eligible in order to boost Abraham Lincoln’s reelection chances. To give the desert state access to the Colorado River, Congress took land from Arizona and awarded it to Nevada.
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How West Virginia Got Its Shape
How West Virginia Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (1:54)
Video Clip (1:54)
Culture, economics and geography separated western Virginia from then rest of the state. The Civil War drove the final wedge between east and west, with the western counties voting to stay in the Union. West Virginia split off from Virginia, and the Union added the eastern panhandle to guarantee access for a vital railroad.
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How Illinois Got Its Shape
How Illinois Got Its ShapeVideo Clip (2:23)
Video Clip (2:23)
The Illinois Territory’s northern boundary originally ended at the southernmost point of Lake Michigan, leaving it with no port on the Great Lakes, and, crucially, no access to the proposed Erie Canal. Congress shifted the border north, taking land from Wisconsin, and giving Chicago to Illinois.
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Drake's Folly
Drake's FollyVideo Clip (3:10)
Video Clip (3:10)
Oil was once just a disposable byproduct of the water drilling process.
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The Rebels of South Carolina
The Rebels of South CarolinaVideo Clip (2:10)
Video Clip (2:10)
Did the American Revolution start in Charleston, South Carolina?
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The Quaker Pen
The Quaker PenVideo Clip (3:12)
Video Clip (3:12)
Quakers built Eastern State Penitentiary to reform prisoners through quiet introspection, but the results were surprising: Many inmates were driven insane.
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Texas Joins the Union
Texas Joins the UnionVideo Clip (2:52)
Video Clip (2:52)
Texans are known for their independent spirit, but joining the Union might have saved the state from disaster.
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State of Jefferson
State of JeffersonVideo Clip (3:28)
Video Clip (3:28)
In the 1940s, a group of Northern California residents planned to secede from the United States.
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Silicon Prairie
Silicon PrairieVideo Clip (3:33)
Video Clip (3:33)
The winters can be harsh, but North Dakota may be the next technological boom town.
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Puritans vs. Pilgrims
Puritans vs. PilgrimsVideo Clip (2:43)
Video Clip (2:43)
How did the differences between Pilgrims and Puritans help shape the states of New England?
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Shaping Washington D.C
Shaping Washington D.CVideo Clip (2:42)
Video Clip (2:42)
Washington D.C. was designed as a square before Congress gave Virginia back its portion in 1846.
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Setting Time Zones
Setting Time ZonesVideo Clip (3:27)
Video Clip (3:27)
Time zones regulated how towns kept time so railroads could stay on schedule.
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Ohio and the West
Ohio and the WestVideo Clip (3:07)
Video Clip (3:07)
Ohio was the first state to be carved out of the expanding western territories.
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North Carolina Gold Rush
North Carolina Gold RushVideo Clip (3:27)
Video Clip (3:27)
Though California is known for its gold rush, prospectors first struck it rich in North Carolina.
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Maine's Healing Springs
Maine's Healing SpringsVideo Clip (2:16)
Video Clip (2:16)
Are Maine's fresh-water springs the cure for what ails you. In the 1800s, some people were convinced they did.
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Hatfields & McCoys
Hatfields & McCoysVideo Clip (3:07)
Video Clip (3:07)
One of the country's most famous family feuds began over a simple case of a stolen pig.
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The Fur Trade Shapes the West
The Fur Trade Shapes the WestVideo Clip (2:44)
Video Clip (2:44)
Beaver furs were one of the first commodities settlers traded with Europe.
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Central Air
Central AirVideo Clip (3:11)
Video Clip (3:11)
The invention of air conditioning allowed settlers to move west into the country's hotter regions.
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Blue Laws
Blue LawsVideo Clip (3:19)
Video Clip (3:19)
Get the full story of Blue Laws, which restrict alcohol sales in certain cities.
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A Mormon State
A Mormon StateVideo Clip (3:23)
Video Clip (3:23)
After the Mexican-American War, the Mormon settlement of Deseret was claimed by the U.S. government.
