Articles Containing Tag: U.S. states

Nevada became the 36th state of the Union on October 31, 1864. It was during the campaign to re-elect Abraham Lincoln, and the Republicans wanted the extra three electoral votes the new state would bring to the table. There wasn’t… Read More

By the time Thomas Jefferson became the third U.S. president in 1801, the United States stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. Jefferson knew that gaining access to the river and the Gulf of Mexico would greatly strengthen… Read More

Nebraska, the Cornhusker State, didn’t join the Union until two years after the Civil War. It became the 37th state on March 1, 1867. Its name came from the Otoe Indians and means “flat water,” referring to the Platte River,… Read More

Montana entered the Union as the 41st state on November 8, 1889. Many of the U.S. states got their names from the indigenous tribes of the region; however, Montana is a Spanish translation from “montaňa” which means “mountainous region.” This… Read More

Missouri, the “Show Me State,” was named after the tribe Missouris. The first European explorers showed up in 1673 when Father Jacques Marguette and Louis Joliet visited and provided the first written accounts of the area. It would be nearly… Read More

Mississippi joined the Union in 1817, becoming the 20th state. “The Magnolia State,” so named because of its many magnolia trees, was first explored in 1540 by the Spanish, but since they could not find any gold, they abandoned the… Read More

Minnesota became the 32nd state to join the Union on May 11, 1858. Its nicknames include “Land of 10,000 Lakes” (although it actually has more than 11,800), “North Star State,” and “Gopher State.” It got its name from the Dakota… Read More

Michigan became the 26th state to join the Union in January 1837. Known by several nicknames such as the Wolverine State, Great Lakes State, and Water Winter Wonderland, its history is steeped in Native Americans and cars – an odd… Read More

On Feb. 6, 1788, Massachusetts became the sixth state to join the Union. The Bay State, as it’s known today, was the stage for both the beginning of the colonization of the New World and the fight for America’s independence… Read More

Maryland became the seventh state to join the Union on April 28, 1788. The English King Charles I gave a man named George Calvert a charter to found the colony in 1632 but he ventured to the new land. Instead,… Read More

Louisiana became the 18th state to join the Union on April 30, 1812. For generations before the Europeans stepped foot in the area, the land was home to several indigenous tribes including the Choctaw, Chitimacha, Atakapa, and the Natchez. The… Read More

Indigenous people roamed this area long before it became known as the state of Kentucky. For many generations, the Woodland people lived here, and then later those who were known as the Fort Ancient people. These tribes built mounds in… Read More