border states

(noun)

In the context of the American Civil War, slave states that did not declare their secession from the United States before April 1861. Four slave states never declared a secession: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. Four others did not declare secession until after the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter: Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia—after which, they were less frequently called "border states."

Related Terms

Examples of border states in the following topics:

  • Immigration and Border Security

    • Immigration and border security are two important issues for United States policy.
    • Immigration and border security are two important issues for U.S. policy.
    • Illegal immigrants are those non-citizens who enter the United States without government permission and are in violation of United States nationality law or stay beyond the termination date of a visa, also in violation of the law.
    • Border security includes the protection of land borders, ports, and airports and after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, many questioned whether the threat posed by the largely unchecked 3,017 mile Canadian border, the 1,933 mile Mexican border, and the many unsecured ports.
    • Rate of immigration to the United States relative to sending countries' population size, 2001–2005

  • Illegal Immigration

    • A common means of border crossing is to hire professionals who smuggle illegal immigrants across the border for pay.
    • Those operating on the US-Mexico border are known informally as coyotes.
    • A smaller number of unauthorized migrants entered the United States legally using the Border Crossing Card, authorizing border crossings into the U.S. for a set amount of time.
    • Border Crossing Card entry accounts for the vast majority of all registered non-immigrant entry into the United States – 148 million out of 179 million total – but there is little hard data as to how much of the illegal immigrant population entered in this way.
    • Describe the nature and scope of illegal immigration in the United States

  • New State Spaces

    • States are not necessarily the same as nations.
    • New state spaces are redefining borders, and they may not be ruled by national governments.
    • But states are not necessary the same as nations, and state boundaries will not necessarily always be the same as national boundaries.
    • Recent sociological work has argued that, with globalization, relevant political borders are changing.
    • State power is not restricted to the national level.

  • The Mexican Borderlands

    • In 1845, the United States of America annexed the Republic of Texas and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state.
    • The U.S. thus inherited Texas' border dispute with Mexico.
    • There was an ongoing border dispute between the Republic of Texas and Mexico prior to annexation.
    • Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to garrison the southern border of Texas, as defined by the former Republic.
    • Examine how land disputes ultimately led to the territorial expansion of the United States

  • Devolution

    • The District of Columbia in the Unites States offers an illustration of devolved government.
    • The District is separate from any state and has its own elected government, which operates much like other state with its own laws and court system.
    • In the United States, local governments are subdivisions of states, while the federal government, state governments and federally recognized American Indian tribal nations are recognized by the United States Constitution.
    • Theoretically, a state could abolish all local governments within its borders.
    • The governor of some states may also have power over local government affairs.

  • Intervention in Mexico

    • -Mexico border, but did not allow them to intervene in the conflict, a move which Congress opposed.
    • An increasing number of border incidents early in 1916 culminated in an invasion of American territory on March 8, 1916.
    • This event, however, further damaged the already strained United States–Mexico relationship and caused Mexico's anti-United States sentiment to grow stronger.
    • -Mexican border from 1917 to 1919.
    • Summarize the Ypiranga intervention and the border clashes between the U.S. and Mexico.

  • The Politics of Expansion

    • National politics of the nineteenth century were divided on whether the new territories should become slave states or free states.
    • Americans asserted the right to colonize vast expanses of North America beyond their country's borders, especially into Oregon, California, and Texas.
    • President Polk (a Democrat) negotiated a compromise that gave half the area to the US, along the line of the current border with Canada.
    • In May 1846, Congress declared war on Mexico after a border incident.
    • Texas and Florida were admitted as slave states in 1845, and California was added as a free state in 1850.

  • Bleeding Kansas

    • Bleeding Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent political confrontations involving anti-slavery Free-Soilers and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements.
    • At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free state or slave state.
    • The principle of popular sovereignty stated that inhabitants of each territory or state should decide whether it would be a free or slave state.
    • As Kansas was neighbors with slave-state Missouri and free-state Iowa, many pro- and anti-slavery settlers began to pour into the territory with the intent of voting for or against slavery as a state-sanctioned institution.
    • During the elections for a territory legislature in 1855, thousands of border Missourians called "Border Ruffians" invaded the polls and rigged the ballots.

  • Crisis in Berlin

    • With the closing of the Inner German border officially in 1952, the border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers.
    • The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which East Bloc citizens could still escape.
    • The United States, United Kingdom, and France replied to this ultimatum by firmly asserting their determination to remain in West Berlin and to maintain their legal right of free access to that city.
    • On Saturday, August 12, 1961, Walter Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall.
    • At midnight the army, police, and units of the East German Army began to close the border, and by morning on Sunday August 13, 1961 the border to West Berlin had been shut.

  • September 1, 1939

    • In the aftermath of the invasion, a collective of underground resistance organizations formed the Polish Underground State within the territory of the former Polish state.
    • The Battle of the Border had begun.
    • The main axis of attack led eastwards from Germany proper through the western Polish border.
    • Despite some Polish successes in minor border battles, German technical, operational and numerical superiority forced the Polish armies to retreat from the borders towards Warsaw and Lwów.
    • Soldiers of the German Wehrmacht tearing down the border crossing between Poland and the Free City of Danzig, 1 September 1939.