The state cessions are those areas of the United States that the separate states ceded to the federal government in the late 18th and early 19th century. The cession of these lands, which for the most part lay between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, was key to establishing a harmonious union among the former British colonies. Download high resolution version (923x1200, 90 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This law-related article does not cite its references or sources. ... A rainy day in the Great Smoky Mountains, Western North Carolina The Appalachian Mountains (French: les Appalaches) are a vast system of North American mountains, partly in Canada, but mostly in the United States, extending as a zone, from 100 to 300 miles wide, running from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada... This article is about the river in the United States. ...

Background

Most of the British colonies on the east coast of North America were established in the 17th and early 18th century, when geographical knowledge of North America was incomplete. Many of these colonies were established by royal proclamation or charter that defined their boundaries as stretching "from sea to sea"; others did not have western boundaries established at all. These colonies thus ended up with theoretical extents that overlapped each other, and conflicted with the claims and settlements established by other European powers.

By the time of the American Revolution, the boundaries between the various colonies had been for the most part surveyed and agreed upon in the eastern part of the country, where European settlement was densest. (The one notable exception to this trend was the ongoing dispute between New York and New Hampshire over the land that would eventually become Vermont.) The British government's Royal Proclamation of 1763, while not resolving the disputes over the colonies' trans-Appalachian claims, sought to cool them by placing significant restrictions on white settlement in the region. The proclamation was largely ignored on the ground, however, and various frontier settlement enterprises, owing allegiance to conflicting colonial governments, continued. The American Revolution was a revolution that ended two centuries of rule of the Thirteen Colonies by the British Empire and created the modern United States of America. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 46th 24,239 km² 110 km 305 km 3. ... Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 24 923 km² 130 km 260 km 3. ... The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763 by the King George III following the assumption of certain French colonial territories under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763) that ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years War. ...

The claims of the colonies corresponded in varying degrees to the actual reality on the ground in the west at the eve of the Revolution. Kentucky, for instance, was organized into a county of Virginia in 1776, with Virginia serving as practical sovereign over the area right up until its admission into the Union as a separate state in 1792. Massachusetts' claims to land in modern-day Michigan and Wisconsin, by contrast, amounted to little more than lines drawn on a map. Official language(s) English Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 37th 104,749 km² 225 km 610 km 1. ... Kentucky County was formed in Virginia in 1776. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 35th 110,862 km² 320 km 690 km 7. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 44th 10,555 mi²; 27,360 km² 183 mi; 295 km 113 mi; 182 km 13. ...

The resolution of the claims

The Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution established American sovereignty over the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi; the jobs of determining how that land should governed, and how the conflicting claims to it by several of the states should be resolved, were one of the first major tasks facing the new nation. Painting by Benjamin West depicting John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. ...

The potential for trouble arising from these claims were twofold. One problem was obvious: in many cases more than one state laid claim to the same piece of territory, but clearly only one would be ultimately recognized as the owner. The other conflict also threatened the peace of the new union. Only seven of the thirteen states had western land claims, and the other, "landless" states were fearful of being overwhelmed by states that controlled vast stretches of the new frontier. Virginia in particular, which already encompassed 1 in 5 inhabitants of the new nation, laid claim to modern-day Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, and the smaller states feared that it would come to completely dominate the union. Official language(s) English Capital Indianapolis Largest city Indianapolis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 38th 94,321 km² 225 km 435 km 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 25th 149,998 km² 340 km 629 km 4. ...

In the end, most of the trans-Appalachian land claims were ceded to the Federal government between 1781 and 1787; New York, New Hampshire, and the hitherto unrecognized Vermont government resolved their squabbles by 1791, and Kentucky was separated from Virginia and made into a new state in 1792. The cessions were not entirely selfless -- in some cases the cessions were made in exchange for federal assumption of the states' Revolutionary War debts -- but the states' reasonably graceful cessions of their often-conflicting claims prevented early, perhaps catastrophic, rifts among the states of the young Republic, and assuaged the fears of the "landless" states enough to convince them to ratify the new U.S. Constitution. The cessions also set the stage for the settlement of the Upper Midwest and the expansion of the U.S. into the center of the North American continent, and also established the pattern by which land newly acquired by the United States would be organized into new states rather than attached to old ones. Page I of the Constitution of the United States of America Page II of the United States Constitution Page III of the United States Constitution Page IV of the United States Constitution The Syng inkstand, with which the Constitution was signed The Constitution of the United States is the supreme... The Upper Midwest is a region of the United States with no universally agreed-upon boundary, but it always lies within the US Census Bureaus definition of the Midwest and the states of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as at least the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...

Georgia held on to its claims over trans-Appalachian land for another decade, and this claim was complicated by the fact that much of the land was also disputed between the United States and Spain. When Georgia finally sold the land west of its current boundaries to the United States for cash in 1802, the last phase of western cessions was complete. The areas ceded comprise 236,825,600 acres (958,399 km²), or 10.4 percent of current United States territory, and make up all or part of 10 states. United States territory is any extent of region under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, including all waters (around islands or continental tracts). ...

Details of the cessions

Landed states

New York

Date ceded: 1781

Claims, cessions and dispute resolutions: Ceded claims west of Lake Ontario, sold Erie Triangle to Pennsylvania, stopped squabbling over what would become Vermont.

Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... 1781 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Lake Ontario seen from near Wolcott, New York Lake Ontario (French: lac Ontario), bounded on the north by Ontario and on the south by Ontarios Niagara Peninsula and by New York State, is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. ... Black line indicates southern border of Erie Triangle within Erie County The Erie Triangle is a tract of American land that was the subject of several competing colonial-era claims and which was eventually acquired by the U.S. federal government and sold to Pennsylvania so that the state would... Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 33rd 119,283 km² 255 km 455 km 2. ... Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 24 923 km² 130 km 260 km 3. ...

Virginia

Date ceded: 1784

Claims and cessions: Ceded its territory north and west of the Ohio River (and east of the Mississippi), the land which was to be come the Northwest Territory. The land south and east of the Ohio was not ceded and was then called Kentucky County, Virginia. It was organized and admitted as Kentucky in 1792, after multiple attempts to agree upon a state constitution that was also acceptable to Virginia and the Congress.

Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 35th 110,862 km² 320 km 690 km 7. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and the Territory North West of the Ohio, was a government and region within the early United States. ... Kentucky County was formed in Virginia in 1776. ... Official language(s) English Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 37th 104,749 km² 225 km 610 km 1. ...

North Carolina

Year ceded: 1784

Year accepted by Congress: 1790

Claims and cessions: Ceded what became the Southwest Territory, quickly transformed and admitted as Tennessee (1796).

Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 28th 139,509 km² 805 km 240 km 9. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1790 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... The Southwest Territory, also known as the Territory South of the River Ohio, was an organized territory of the United States formed on May 26, 1790. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 36th 109,247 km² 195 km 710 km 2. ...

Massachusetts

Date ceded: 1786

Claims and cessions: Ceded swath between present north and south border-latitudes across present-day Michigan and Wisconsin, to which it was entitled by its interpretation of its original sea-to-sea grant from the British crown.

Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 44th 10,555 mi²; 27,360 km² 183 mi; 295 km 113 mi; 182 km 13. ... 1786 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Official language(s) English de-facto Capital Lansing Largest city Detroit Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 11th 96,716 sq mi  250,494 km² 239 miles  385 km 491 miles  790 km 41. ... Official language(s) None Capital Madison Largest city Milwaukee Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 23rd 169,790 km² 420 km 500 km 17 42°30N to 47°3N 86°49W to 92°54W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 18th 5,453,896 38. ...

Connecticut

Dates ceded: 1787

Claims and cessions: Ceded land from western border to Mississippi River, but held back Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio Country.

Official language(s) English Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 48th 14,371 km² 113 km 177 km 12. ... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the river in the United States. ... The Connecticut Western Reserve was land claimed by Connecticut in the Northwest Territory in what is now northeastern Ohio. ... The Ohio Country, showing the present-day U.S. state boundaries The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake...

South Carolina

Date ceded: 1787

Claims and cessions: Claimed narrow 12-mile strip from western tip to Mississippi, running above Georgia and what would later become Mississippi and Alabama. Surrendered land to Georgia and U.S. gov't. Note that the claim was for land between the headwaters of the Savannah River and the North Carolina boundary; in fact, later surveying showed that the Savannah headwaters actually began in North Carolina, which meant that the strip did not exist in reality.

Official language(s) English Capital Columbia Largest city Columbia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 40th 82,965 km² 320 km 420 km 6 32°430N to 35°12N 78°030W to 83°20W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 26th 4,012... 1787 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The headwaters of a river are small streams that create it. ... For the Department of Energy facility, see Savannah River Site The Savannah River is a major river in the southeastern United States, forming most of the border between the states of South Carolina and Georgia. ... Official language(s) English Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 28th 139,509 km² 805 km 240 km 9. ...

Georgia

Date ceded: April 26, 1802, 15 years after all other cessions made

Claims: Yazoo lands, between 31 to 35 degrees north latitude to Mississippi River

Cost to U.S. government, unique among the "cessions": $1.25 million

April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). ... --69. ... The Yazoo lands were the sparsely populated central and western areas of the U.S. state of Georgia, when its western border stretched back to the Mississippi River. ...

Landless states

Note: These states may have had western (or other) land claims during their colonial eras, but by the 1780s, were generally out of the expansion business.

1. Pennsylvania: Original grant land between 39th and 42nd north latitude for 5 degrees; had claims to Erie Triangle, which was ceded 1781-1785 to the federal government by New York and Massachusetts. The U.S. government, in turn, sold it back to Pennsylvania in 1788.
2. New Hampshire: Claimed New Hampshire Grants/Vermont, but had no legal standing.
3. Rhode Island
4. Delaware
5. Maryland
6. New Jersey

Official language(s) None Capital Harrisburg Largest city Philadelphia Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 33rd 119,283 km² 255 km 455 km 2. ... Black line indicates southern border of Erie Triangle within Erie County The Erie Triangle is a tract of American land that was the subject of several competing colonial-era claims and which was eventually acquired by the U.S. federal government and sold to Pennsylvania so that the state would... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... Official language(s) English Capital Boston Largest city Boston Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 44th 10,555 mi²; 27,360 km² 183 mi; 295 km 113 mi; 182 km 13. ... Official language(s) English Capital Concord Largest city Manchester Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 46th 24,239 km² 110 km 305 km 3. ... The New Hampshire Grants or Benning Wentworth Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the provincial governor of the New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. ... Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 43rd 24 923 km² 130 km 260 km 3. ... Official language(s) None Capital Providence Largest city Providence Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 50th 4,005 km² 50 km 65 km 32. ... Official language(s) None Capital Dover Largest city Wilmington Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 49th 6,452 km² 48 km 161 km 21. ... Official language(s) None Capital Annapolis Largest city Baltimore Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 42nd 32,160 km² 145 km 400 km 21 37°53N to 39°43N 75°4W to 79°33W Population  - Total (2000)  - Density Ranked 19th 5,296,486 165... Official language(s) None defined, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 47th 22,608 km² 110 km 240 km 14. ...

Texas

Map of Texas, illustrating the area under de facto control of the Republic of Texas (yellow area), the full extent of the Texan claim (diagonal striped area), and the eventual border of the US state of Texas (black lines)

Later in the 19th century, there was one other case of a state ceding some of its land to the U.S. federal government. Before the Republic of Texas was annexed to the U.S., it claimed a significant portion of land that was not under the de facto control of the Texan government. The border dispute with Mexico that the U.S. thus inherited upon Texas' annexation was one of the major causes of the Mexican-American War; after American victory in this war, the Mexican government recognized U.S. sovereignty over the disputed area and ceded much more land in addition. Republic of Texas © 2004 Matthew Trump File links The following pages link to this file: Republic of Texas Texas Declaration of Independence Texas Annexation Categories: GFDL images | Historical maps of the United States ... Republic of Texas © 2004 Matthew Trump File links The following pages link to this file: Republic of Texas Texas Declaration of Independence Texas Annexation Categories: GFDL images | Historical maps of the United States ... Official language(s) None. ... Combatants United States Mexico Commanders Zachary Taylor Winfield Scott Stephen W. Kearney Antonio López de Santa Anna Strength 60,000 40,000 Casualties KIA: 1,733 Total dead: 13,283 Wounded: 4,152 25,000 (Mexican government estimate) The Mexican-American War was fought between the United States and...

Nevertheless, the Republic of Texas' maximalist claims did not ultimately define the borders U.S. state of Texas. Texas ended up ceding much of its western claims -- including portions of the current states of New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas -- to the federal government. Official language(s) None; English and Spanish de facto Capital Santa Fe Largest city Albuquerque Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 5th 315,194 km² 550 km 595 km 0. ... Official language(s) English Capital Denver Largest city Denver Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 8th 104,185 sq mi  269 837 km² 280 miles  451 km 380 miles  612 km 0. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 20th 181,196 km² 355 km 645 km 1. ... Official language(s) None Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 15th 82,277 mi²; 213,096 km² 211 mi; 340 km 400 mi; 645 km 0. ...

See also

• Thirteen Colonies
• Sea-to-sea grants
• Yankee-Pennamite Wars
• Yazoo Lands
• Mason-Dixon Line
• Northwest Territory
• Ohio Country
• Illinois Country
• Historic regions of the United States
• United States territorial acquisitions

Betsy Ross purportedly sewed the first American flag with 13 stars and 13 stripes representing each of the 13 states. ... ... The Yazoo lands were the sparsely populated central and western areas of the U.S. state of Georgia, when its western border stretched back to the Mississippi River. ... The original Mason-Dixon Line The Mason–Dixon Line (or Mason and Dixons Line) is a line of demarcation between states in the United States. ... The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and the Territory North West of the Ohio, was a government and region within the early United States. ... The Ohio Country, showing the present-day U.S. state boundaries The Ohio Country (sometimes called the Ohio Territory) was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake... French settlements and forts in the Illinois Country in 1763, showing U.S. current state boundaries. ... These are historic regions of the United States, meaning regions that were legal entities in the past, or which the average modern American would no longer immediately recognize as a regional description. ... A government map, probably created in the mid-20th century, that depicts a simplified history of territorial acquistions within the continental United States. ...

External links

• Map of state claims (1)
• Map of state claims (2)
• Map of state claims (3)
• Map of state claims (4)
• Map of state claims (5)