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:

  • The Aftermath of the War

    • At that point, Lincoln had succeeded in getting the support of the border states, War Democrats, emancipated slaves, Britain, and France.
    • Lincoln's eloquence was also important in rationalizing the national purpose and his skill in keeping the border states committed to the Union cause.
    • Slaves in the border states and those located in some former Confederate territory occupied prior to the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by state action or (on December 18, 1865) by the Thirteenth Amendment.

  • Final Efforts at Compromise

    • With the seven states of the Deep South already committed to secession, the emphasis for peacefully preserving the Union focused on the eight slaveholding states in the Upper South.
    • Hopes were high, especially in the Border States, that the lame duck Congress could reach a successful resolution before the new Republican administration took office.
    • Fourteen free states and seven slave states were represented.
    • Furthermore, Southern leaders in the middle and border states refused to agree to the compromise without full endorsement from the Republicans.
    • Instead, Washington and the United States looked to president-elect Lincoln for action against disunion.

  • Pinckney's Treaty

    • Primarily, it defined the boundaries between the United States and the Spanish colonies and guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
    • After the American Revolution, Spain claimed the British border at the day of the Treaty of Paris, while the United States insisted on honoring the old boundary.
    • Rather, their growing fear of an alliance between the United States and the British—prompted by the signing of Jay's Treaty in 1794—spurred Spain to negotiate with the United States.
    • With the signing of the treaty in 1795, the border between the United States and the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida became what is now the line through the present-day states of Georgia and Florida, respectively, and the territory extended from the northern boundary of the Florida panhandle to the northern boundary of that portion of Louisiana East of the Mississippi.
    • When France then sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803, disputes arose again between Spain and the United States regarding which parts of West Florida Spain had ceded to France.

  • 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

  • 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.

  • Tyler and Texas

    • In 1842, Secretary of State Daniel Webster negotiated the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain, which concluded where the border between Maine and Canada lay.
    • The resolution declared that Texas would be admitted as a state as long as it approved annexation by January 1, 1846, that it could split itself into four additional states, and that possession of the Republic's public land would shift to the state of Texas upon its admission.
    • Prior to annexation there was an ongoing border dispute between the Republic of Texas and Mexico.
    • Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its border, while Mexico maintained it was the Nueces River, and did not recognize Texan independence.
    • President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to garrison the southern border of Texas, as defined by the former Republic.

  • 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.

  • The Breakdown of Sectional Balance

    • The Mexican–American War was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846-1848 (following the U.S. annexation of Texas), which ended in U.S. victory.
    • In 1836, a group of American-born Texans led a revolution against Santa Ana's Mexican government and declared Texas an "independent republic," while simultaneously applying to the United States for annexation.Mexico, torn apart by civil war, refused to recognize Texan independence and threatened war with the United States if annexation occurred.
    • In 1840, territorial expansion became a priority for President James Polk, as Texas was annexed shortly before his inauguration.Believing in the "Manifest Destiny" of the United States to expand to the Pacific, Polk supported "Texans in their efforts to seize all land to the Rio Grande and claim the river as their southern and western border, in spite of the fact that Mexico claimed the Nueces River as the Texan border.With the annexation of Texas and the growing conflict between Mexicans and Texans, the Mexican government broke diplomatic relations with the United States.
    • With the conflict over the Texan border escalating, Polk sent Zachary Taylor and American troops into Texas to defend the Rio Grande boundary, provoking the outbreak of war.The American public largely supported the war and was eager for news of conquest and war stories disseminated from newspapers and magazines.The war also held romantic appeal for Americans who believed that it was the destiny of the United States to possess the North American continent and to expand "progressive democracy" to new territories acquired from backward nations.
    • -Mexican border of the Rio Grande River, and ceded the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico; most of Arizona and Colorado; and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming to the United States.In return, Mexico received $18,250,000, and the U.S. agreed to assume $3.25 million in debts that the Mexican government owed to U.S. citizens.The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was a source of controversy among U.S.

  • 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.