Is there an explanation why The states get smaller in size...?

Question

as we move toward the north/east?

Answer 1

The King of England was responsible. He was the one that split things in the east when we were just colonies of England.

Answer 2

That's an interesting question. It depends on the history of the area.

When the USA was first settled by the English, the maps of the areas were not very good. The King and his advisors gave permission to some of his friends to settle in the new land, but because the maps were inaccurate, some of the directions for the settlers got messed up.

Then, the people wanted to have their own settlements. They didnt want to have to obey the laws of their neighbors. Sometimes they were quite angry or jealous of each other. So they all fought about where the borders were between the states.

After the American Revolution, there were some meetings that set the borders for the states in the new country, the USA. Some states that were made small got special permission to settle some of their people in good areas to the west, like people from Connecticut got special permission for settling in nice areas in what was going to become Ohio.

At the same time that the borders for the eastern states were set up, there were some laws set up about how the western states were going to be divided.

Generally, the states that were set up later were bigger. Part of this had to do with improvements in transportation. In the early days, in the 1600s, there was a custom that each county in a state had to be small enough so that any person in the county could go to the capital city of the county (the "County Seat") in order to visit the courts or the county offices. When people mostly had to walk, that meant that a county could only be about 20 miles across - a good walker could walk ten miles to town and ten miles home in a day. But later when there were trains, people could travel 100 miles or more in a day, so the counties could be much larger and people would still be able to travel across them in a day. Rhode Island, the smallest state, is only about 50 miles tall and 40 miles wide. There are lots of counties, or even towns in the west that are larger in area than Rhode Island.

Answer 3

Inferiority Complex Syndrome

Answer 4

The eastern part of the US is more densely populated. The definition of what qualifies a territory to become a state is based on population.

Answer 5

Hi. Your going in the wrong direction! They started small (in the Northeast) and got bigger.

Answer 6

first populated and hence densest (per square mile basis)