How America Came to Be

I unabashedly love American History and Geography!  I must be ignorant, though, because I always learn so much in these National Geographic Magazine articles!  How the United States Grew, authored by McFall Kerbey, May, 1933, details the development of the states' boundaries and acquisition of various large territories.  This accompanies a separate large map of the United States included with the magazine. Of course, we were only 48 states at that time, Hawaii and Alaska having been added in 1959.

After mentioning the first permanent settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, Mr. Kerbey details the growth of the villages on the east coast: New York, Plymouth, Boston, Charleston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Savannah.  Next came the original 13 states on the east coast, followed by new states of Vermont and Ohio, with Kentucky (formerly a part of Virginia) extending the country to the Mississippi River.

Here is a very interesting intrigue: The U.S. Minister to France, Robert Livingston, was sent to France in 1801 to buy "The Island of New Orleans" to gain control of the mouth of the Mississippi River.  "Negotiations dragged on for two years, when suddenly war was declared on France by Great Britain.  More to embarrass Great Britain than to accommodate the United States, Napoleon decided to sell the entire Louisiana Territory," (p. 631).

Livingston and special commissioner James Monroe, who had joined him, were authorized to offer between $2,000,000 and $10,000,000 for New Orleans.  The French wanted $15,000,000 for the immense Louisiana Purchase.  What to do?

"The two Americans were aghast.  Cables and steamships did not exist.  To get word to America and an answer back would require many weeks.  Napoleon was in a hurry.  So the two envoys figuratively threw their instructions out the window and signed the agreement.  President Jefferson and Congress approved the contract and on December 20, 1803, the Stars and Stripes were run up over New Orleans," (p. 632).  Final price of the real estate: $23,213,567.73.

The addition of the western states involved dealing with Great Britain and Mexico - except for Texas.  "The Texas addition was unique.  Texas had existed for nearly ten years as an independent republic, with diplomatic representatives in Washington and at European courts and with foreign ministers in its own capital.  A separate nation entered the union, the only case of its sort in United States history," (p. 633).

FYI: "In contrast to the map of Europe, where almost every country is surrounded by the crooked lines of natural boundaries, the map of the United States shows numerous straight lines as the boundaries of States. . . Not a single state is outlined wholly by natural boundaries.  New Jersey comes nearest, with the bulk of its bounds formed by rivers and the waters of the Atlantic Ocean," (p. 645).

We moderns of 2014 take accuracy in our maps (and GPS systems!) totally for granted.  It was not always as easy as satellite surveillance!  "Absolute accuracy is so difficult to attain that probably a single marked surveyed line used as a State boundary is marked out on the ground exactly where statesmen and surveyors intended it to be.  Some of the errors are easily discernible on a map," (p. 647).

There's one fact I actually remember that was not in this article: our first United States President, George Washington, started out his illustrious career as a surveyor!  I love our United States map, from sea to shining sea!