Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The U.S. States That Were Their Own Nations

Episode Date: August 16, 2020

Each of the 50 states in the United States has a unique history. 13 of them were originally British Colonies. Some of them were former Spanish or French territory. Most of them were officially US territories before they became states. A few, however, were actually independent countries before they joined the Union…..or at least they sort of were independent countries. Learn more about the states that were once countries on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each of the 50 states in the United States has a unique history. 13 of them were originally British colonies. Some of them were former Spanish or French territory. Most of them were officially U.S. territories before they became states. A few, however, were actually independent countries before they joined the Union. Or they at least sort of were independent countries. Learn more about the states that were once countries on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by G Adventures. These are very troubled times. Even though things are starting to get better and more countries are opening up, people are still hesitant to travel. and that is totally understandable. That is why Gadventures has announced its new Travel with Confidence Plus collection.

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and we'll be departing from October 2, 2020, to the end of 2021. For more information and to book your tour, click on the link in the show notes. The independent countries which have existed inside the territory of what is now the United States have a varied history, with some of them being nothing more than declarations by small groups, and others being full-blown legitimate countries with embassies in U.S. Europe. Eventually, all of them were assimilated by the Borg, which is the United States. Some of them were absorbed by hook, and some of them were absorbed by crook. I'll be going through them in order of perceived relevancy. First, the Republic of Fredonia. This short-lived republic consisted of the area

around what is today Nacadoches in East Texas. The rebellion was led by one Hayden Edwards, who was granted land by Mexico, if he would bring in settlers. The republic was very short-lived, barely lasting a month. It was declared on December 21, 1826, and the rebellion of squashed by Mexican and Texan forces on January 31, 1827. The word Fredonia was originally a term which was proposed as a name for the United States. It has been used as a name for fictional countries, most famously in the Marx Brothers comedy, Duck Soup. The Republic of Indian Stream Located in northern New Hampshire along the border with what is today Quebec, the Republic of Indian Stream was a quasi-independent.

Republic, which existed between 1832 and 1835. Unlike most of the republics on the list, Indian Stream wasn't trying to break away from anyone. Rather, they were caught between the United States and British Canada. The treaties signed by the U.S. and Britain were very ambiguous as to where the border was drawn in the region, so the people there truly didn't know what country they belonged to. Both the U.S. and British sent tax collectors, and this double taxation led to the citizens to declare their own republic. Indian Stream wasn't very big, but, There were only 300 people, so neither country felt it was an urgent priority, which is why it lasted three years. A hardware-stored debt by a British magistrate eventually sparked a riot which forced the issue.

Neither country wanted to go to war over something so trivial, so the British eventually ceded their claims on the region, and it became part of New Hampshire. The Provisional Government of Oregon This too came about because of people stuck between the British and Americans. The area covered by this government included what is today Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Western Montana. From May 1843 to March 1849, the provisional government of Oregon served as a placeholder government until the United States could extend its jurisdiction over the territory. Ambiguity with the border with Britain was again the culprit. The government had their own constitution, issued their own currency, and had their own militia.

They just had no intent on the setup being permanent, and it was dissolved with the creation of the Oregon territory. The Republic of West Florida. Despite the name, the Republic of West Florida consisted of the counties in what is today eastern Louisiana. It was a short-lived entity lasting only from September 23, 1810 to December 10, 1810. Here too, confusion over land rights was the origin of the Republic. The area saw an influx of Americans enter during the period after the Louisiana purchase. The question was if the area was part of the Louisiana purchase, or if it was part of what was then Spanish Florida. The maps and land claims were very ambiguous. There was a single battle fought in 1810 between the settlers in the region and Spanish forces

when the settlers took over Fort Carlos in Baton Rouge. American President James Madison used this as an excuse to send in the military and annexed the territory officially. The settlers there weren't upset with the Americans coming in so much as they wanted to join the country as their own state, not just part of Louisiana. The California Republic You'd think this would be a much bigger deal, considering that the phrase California Republic is still on the California state flag. However, the Republic only lasted a whopping 25 days from June 14th to July 9, 1846. When California was part of Mexico, it was very remote and distant from the centers of power and population in Mexico. Much of the land was owned by absentee landlords who didn't live in the region.

Most of the settlers either wanted independence or to join the United States. A rebellion against Mexico was encouraged by U.S. Army officers which entered the territory. What the revolutionaries in California didn't know was that the United States and Mexico went to war in April of that year. The American Navy used the revolt as an excuse to quickly annex what was then the province of Alta, California, and that was that. All five of the republics I just mentioned were all very short-lived, and none of them really had any intent on becoming actual countries. They were mostly placeholder governments, while they waited for border issues to be resolved, or for the United States to come in and establish authority. The next three, however, were in a very real sense independent countries,

much more so than the ones previously mentioned. The Vermont Republic Vermont was not one of the original 13 colonies. It was originally a French territory, and after the end of the French and Indian Wars, the land was ceded to the British by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The land was never formally created as a colony, nor was it formerly attached to another colony. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York all claim the territory.

With the outbreak of Revolution in 1775, Vermonters fought with the Americans. General Ethan Allen led a group of Vermont militia known as the Green Mountain Boys, who fought in the Battle of Saratoga and other campaigns in the Revolution. Not being a colony, they were not represented in the Continental Congress. They took matters into their own hands in 1777 and declared themselves independent, initially under the name New Connecticut. They earned themselves the nickname the Reluctant Republic because most residents wanted union with the United States, not independence. The Continental Congress did not recognize Vermont as an independent country and only recognized the region as the New Hampshire grants, which were lands sold by the colony of New Hampshire. In the early 1780s, while the war was still being fought, there were overtures by the British for Vermont to join the province of Quebec.

However, with the surrender of the British in 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown, the writing was on the wall. Vermont was surrounded on three sides by the newly independent United States. On March 4, 1791, Vermont was admitted as the 14th state and the first state that wasn't one of the original 13 colonies. The Republic of Texas Most Texans will be happy to tell you how Texas was its own republic. For 10 years from March 2, 1836 to February 19, 1846, the Republic of Texas existed as an independent country. The people of Texas, known as Texicans at the time, not Texans, revolted from Mexico and won their independence at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. There, the defeated General

Santa Ana agreed to remove the military and lobby for Mexican recognition of an independent Texas. Mexico never did recognize an independent Texas, but the United States did in 1833. and declined to annex the territory when presented the opportunity. France, Belgium, Russia, the Anteatic League, and the Netherlands all recognized Texas and exchanged ambassadors with the country. Texas' annexation became a major issue in both Texas and the U.S. almost immediately. The annexation of Texas was the major issue in the 1844 election, which was won by James Polk. After the U.S. passed the Texas Annexation Act, Mexico agreed to finally recognize Texas if the British determined the borders, but by this time it was too little too late. It should be noted that the Texas

Statehood Act allows for the Texas legislature to create four more states out of the current state of Texas. Legal scholars indicate that these states could be created without additional consent from Congress, as it was already given in the statehood act. The Kingdom of Hawaii For every country I just mentioned, becoming part of the United States was sort of in the cards from the beginning given the geography. This was not at all the case with Hawaii. It comes as a surprise to most people that Hawaii, as a unified political institution, came into its own after the creation of the United States. King Kamehamehamea I, the first, a very fascinating guy who is probably worthy of an episode all by himself,

united the major islands of Hawaii by force in 1795. The remaining islands joined voluntarily in 1810. The unification of Hawaii changed the rule of the island from traditional Polynesian government to a more European-style monarchy. Hawaii was recognized as an independent kingdom by the United States, Britain, France, and other European powers. In fact, Hawaii was the first non-European indigenous state to be recognized by European countries. As with most kingdoms, they eventually had a crisis of secession. In 1872, Kamehamea the 5th died without any legitimate heirs.

This led to two consecutive monarchs who were elected, both of whom died shortly after ascending power. The second of the monarchs, King David Kalakawa, died in 1891, and he was succeeded by his sister, Queen Lily Kulalani. She came to power at a very inopportune time. The 1890 McKinley tariff, named after then-representative William McKinley, hurt Hawaiian businesses. Hawaii had preferential trade agreements with the United States, but the McKinley tariff removed that. In 1893, a group of American and European businessmen led a coup which overthrew the monarchy and set up a committee of safety. July 17, 1893, Stanford B. Dole, namesake of the Dole Pineapple Company, took control of the government and declared the provisional government of Hawaii, which was to rule until annexation

by the United States, which was their plan all along. In Washington, President Grover Cleveland felt the overthrow of the Queen was an illegal act of war and did not consent to any annexation of Hawaii. Dole and the parties in charge decided to just wait until the Cleveland administration was over and created the one party, Republic of Hawaii. With the election of William McKinley as president, the United States did a reversal and started a very pro-imperialist policy, which included the Spanish-American War, and taking over many of the remaining possessions, including the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. Y was annexed as a U.S. territory on August 12, 1898, and later became the 50th state on August 21, 1959. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James McAula. I'd like to read a review from Apple Podcast.

This one is from Stachy Chat, who said, I love this podcast, I love the mix of topics, great nuggets of things I didn't even know I cared about. Thank you very much, Statue Chat, and I hope I pronounced your name right. And thanks all of you who've left reviews over on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts and who support the show over on Patreon.com.