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Sea to Shining Sea
In “Sea to Shining Sea,” Episode #262, Meredith Curtis shares our exciting story of 13 British colonies transformed into a nation spanning from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It didn’t happen overnight. We grew little by little as our history played out. Eventually, we added places beyond the continental USA. Did you know that today, we have territories in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean?
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Show Notes
When was the last time you got on a US Interstate? I-4 is close to me, and I-95 is about an hour away.
Before the American Revolution
The French were mostly fur traders and often intermarried with the Native Americans. (Midwest, Canada)
The Spanish established large settlements with plantations, gold mines, churches, and forts. They always brought monks and priests along. (Florida, SW, West)
French, Spanish, English, Swedish, and Dutch all established settlements and left their strong influence, but England conquered, and by the American Revolution, there were 13 colonies and land beyond the Appalachian Mountains that Americans couldn’t settle in (Proclamation Line of 1763).
After the American Revolution
Land doubled in size as Americans moved west. Daniel Boone led settlers to Kentucky.
1803 – France sells the Louisiana Territory to the US. America doubled in size again. President Jefferson sends Lewis and Clark to explore new territory.
1800s – Growing Even More!
1818 – Land Swap with Britain along the 49° Parallel, Sharing Oregon Country.
1819 – Land Swap with Spain. USA signed the Adams-Onís Treaty. Spain gave the US Florida, a small portion of present-day Mississippi, and the US gave Spain a tiny bit of present-day Colorado and Louisiana.
1836 – The Republic of Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836.
1846 – Texas was admitted to the US as a state, and gave portions of her land to Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico.
1846 – England and the USA divided Oregon Country at the 49° Parallel and renamed it Oregon Territory.
1848 – Mexico lost Mexican-American War and ceded over 55% of her land to the US, including present-day CA, NV, AZ, UT, and NM in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
1859 – Midway claimed by the US.
1853 – The US purchased 30,000 square miles of land from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase to build a southern transcontinental railroad.
1867 – The US purchased Alaska from Russia.
1898 – Hawaii annexed.
1898 – The US acquired Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico by winning the Spanish-American War. The Philippines became an independent nation, and the other two elected to remain territories.
The 1900s
1900 – After 30 years of protected Samoa in exchange for operating a military base there, Samoan chiefs turned some islands over to the USA to become a U.S. territory.
1917 – The US purchased the Danish Virgin Islands from Denmark.
1947 – Japan ceded the Northern Mariana Islands to the US after World War II.
Territories
America has 16 territories in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Five 5 of those territories have people living on them. The others are small uninhabited islands. Residents of our territories are US citizens and can travel and live anywhere in the US. However, they do NOT have to pay federal income taxes on income earned in the territories. They elect a governor and legislature. They cannot vote for President, but they have autonomy and US military protection. Many folks living in territories reject statehood, preferring their independence and freedom from paying federal income taxes.
A District
Washington, DC (also known as the District of Columbia) was set aside by the Constitution as a district no bigger than ten square miles to be the seat of government under the authority of Congress. This was done in 1790 with land given by Virginia and Maryland.
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