@_maxgray
For those wondering about "the rule of splitting states" - that's a reference to Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, which prohibits making a new state out of the territory of another without the consent of the state's legislature.
@slopehoke1277
America, circa 1845: “Okay, so we won’t admit Texas as multiple states, but let’s keep some of those names in our back pocket in case we ever need them.”
@Nikkidafox
Fun Fact. The federal government did not take on ALL the debt. About 10% of it was paid of by a single individual named James Bisonette
@johnlienhart2717
Okay, follow up question: Why was the federal government so insistent on naming something Colorado? Every proposition had something going to something called "Colorado" even though there was very little territorial overlap. The one at 1:36 doesn't have any Colorado on the area called Colorado.
@timmccarthy9917
Fun fact, the western stretch of Texas was retained largely because it let Texas keep the strategically important city of El Paso. By all rights El Paso should be in New Mexico, which it is historically, culturally, and geographically part of, but Texans managed an eleventh-hour nab. The same tactic failed in Santa Fe and that's why it's now the capital of New Mexico.
@ClementinesmWTF
You actually missed a key part in why there was often that straight line cutting across the top, including in modern Texas’ pans handle: that was the Missouri Compromise line (36°30'N). In theory they could’ve just lopped it off there, but the federal government didn’t think that was enough land to repay the debts (and fair enough, neither did the Texians, which is why they agreed to also lopping off the western portions extending to the Rio Grande as a way of ensuring their debt was gone and they’d be admitted).
@itzadam9359
Video idea as a loyal Patreon supporter: Why was Finland 🇫🇮 given autonomy in the Russian Empire?
@RayGetardo
One of my favorite things about Pueblo, Colorado is the row of flags on the riverwalk bridge. It shows all of the countries who have claimed part of Pueblo as their territory; Spain, Mexico, France, Texas, and the United States.
@superbrownbrown
Everything is bigger in Texas, including original Texas.
@unbindingfloyd
Im a Texan and the current borders are aesthetically pleasing. That extra bit going north doesn't look nice on a map. There's no way you could make a tortilla chip function in that shape either.
@hudg9022
As a Texan, with roots in the state going back to the 1830s, I have to say this was a great video! The proposed divsions of Texas were interesting to see, those proposed divisions do map generally speaking to cultural and geographic differences that continue to this day. If you travel around the state, especially outside the major cities, you'll hear different accents from different regions. Yes, there's a general Texan culture and identity but it varies widely throughout the State.
@fletchbg
Major bonus points to History Matters for the graphic at 1:22. They got it historically correct depicting the old (dark) dome of the Capitol, before the current (white) one was built from 1855 to 1866
@anomalyldn
The fact you guys are CONSISTENT and ALWAYS COVER ‘INTERESTING’/RELEVANT TOPICS is why I’ve watched your whole catalogue and INSTANTLY watch any new-uploads when I get the notification I would go as far as saying YOU GUYS are “carrying” the WHOLE ‘history’ community (and creators) on YouTube (and I don’t say that lightly)
@robertlarson7224
I watch these so often that I usually happen to be rewatching one when a new video drops lol. Every time a new one releases I end up clicking onto it from the annotation in a prior video
@Zeruel3
Fun fact: Upon annexation there was a provision that the state of Texas could be split into as many as five states, that provision was never removed and is still in effect, so Texas could still be split up into five states even today
@joedellinger9437
A lot of the “arbitrary” boundaries in the US are not so arbitrary. The Eastern and Western limits of the Texas panhandle resulted from two midway cuts, dividing an empty stretch of buffer zone land into equal halves. The anchor on the West end was the very old mixed Mexican/Native settlements along the Rio Grande in New Mexico (the Spanish/Mexican territory of Nuevo Mexico). Santa Fe, etc. Those people emphatically did NOT want to be ruled by Texans and would have caused trouble if they were forced into that state against their will. (El Paso was more just a regular Mexican settlement and less hostile, which is why it could be forced into Texas. Mexicans along the river boundary with Mexico also had the option of just moving to the other side, which is why a Nuevo Laredo in Mexico popped up opposite Laredo, Texas.) The Eastern boundary of the Texas panhandle is the old Adams-Onis line, negotiated as the boundary between New Spain and the US. It split the distance between the Western part of Arkansas, which was getting populated by Americans already, and the Eastern edge of the population centers of Nuevo Mexico along the Rio Grande. (That Eastern Anchor line is now the Arkansas / Oklahoma border… and its precise location was determined by putting it just West of where the Red River turns from going East to SouthEast.) The Western edge of the panhandle just halves the distance again, this time with the Eastern edge of the panhandle as the Eastern anchor. This info is from a book “how the states got their shapes”. Something not in the book is why so many North-South boundaries in the Western US are displaced slightly Westward from having a nice round number as a longitude. It is because sometimes instead of using Greenwich longitude, they used a system that put longitude zero at the center point of the original territory of the District of Columbia, which happens to be about .05 degrees West of an integer degree of Greenwich longitude. For the Eastern edge of the Texas panhandle they snapped the line to an integer Greenwich longitude, but for the Western edge they used an integer DC longitude! The Western edge of the Oklahoma panhandle, which SHOULD line up with the Western edge of the Texas panhandle that it used to be a part of, instead uses Greenwich… which is why in fact it does not quite line up. Which is why there is a strip of New Mexico wrapping three quarters of the way around the NW corner of Texas. Now you know. :-)
@airraverstaz
Fun fact: During Texas' independence, they asked to join the British Empire and were politely turned down. It's interesting to imagine Britain accepting the deal.
@Aldo_raines
Part of the consideration was the Missouri compromise. In order to enter the union as a slave state, Texas couldn’t have any land north of the 36th parallel. And Texas very much wanted to keep their slaves.
@penningmeestercgkdelft9159
The book "How the States got their Shapes" by Mark Stein does actually comment extensively about the relation between the 1821 Missouri Compromise and the present-day shape of Texas. A really fun book to read 🙂
@KonigGustavAdolph