Throughout American history, many are only familiar with the 50 states that make up the United States. It is, however, interesting to know that the USA would have had several other states, as we shall see. Unfortunately, they never saw the light of day.
The first thing that will likely come to mind at the mention of Transylvania is Dracula. But no, we are not talking about the movie today. Transylvania is the name of a colony that was the brainchild of Richard Henderson in 1775.
Transylvania would have been located in eastern and central Kentucky if it existed today. For the sake of curiosity, the state of Transylvania was nipped in the bud by powers that weren’t buying into the idea.
Westsylvania was a product of political aggrievement. This state proclaimed its independence in 1776 during the American Revolution. The western regions of Virginia and Pennsylvania were feeling marginalized at the time. So, settlers in those locations asked for autonomy. Unfortunately, Congress never recognized them.
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Franklin is the name of yet another state that never materialized. Franklin was a breakoff of North Carolina because the constituents alleged corruption. So, they chose John Sevier to be governor of the provisional state.
Congress refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Franklin, which reverted to North Carolina in 1789. Today, a large portion of Franklin makes up the State of Tennessee.
In 1799, William Augustus Bowles officially proclaimed the creation of the Muskogee nation. Note, not just a state, but a nation. Bowles was inspired to create a nation for Native American tribes. The support of the Muscogee and Miccosukee tribes is true. However, the new nation remained unrecognized and died with its founder.
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Deseret was the idea of a religious body—the Latter-Day Saints. In 1849, church members designated some portion of present-day New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming. The provisional state of Deseret existed up until 1850, when Congress created the State of Utah.
Unlike most of the previous states we have considered, the next one was the idea of Congress. However, it still did not materialize. In 1845, Congress came up with the idea of breaking up Texas into four separate territories.
The proposal came up with four states: Matagorda, West Texas, Jacinto, and Texlahoma. The idea was eventually shelved.
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Scott is currently a county in Tennessee but was a state some time ago. During the American Civil War, Tennessee was loyal to the Confederacy, making Scott break away. Scott’s provisional state became a Union seat and proclaimed independence in 1861. After the War, Scott remained part of Tennessee but did not officially revert its declaration of independence until 1986.
Similarly, during the Civil War, a pro-Confederate state was founded by Fernando Wood in 1861. Wood was the mayor of New York at the time. He carved out Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island to form what he called Tri-Insula.
These are just a few of the American states that lost footing. Would you create a new state if you had the opportunity?
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