Why do more states border the atlantic ocean rather than the pacific ocean?

Answer 1

For some reason, a greater need was felt to divide up the colonies

Answer 2

Because the states that border the Atlantic have small land area / shorelines. The states on the pacific coast are larger. California takes up a huge chunk of the west coast.

Answer 3

The speed of travel and communication have increased vastly over time, causing the inefficiencies that required smaller managed areas to be erased or reversed.

When the country was first populated, effective governance could only be accomplished on small scale. Over time, as systems were put in place, technology and innovation made governance viable for large land areas.

Compounding this fact, as settlers moved West (Manifest Destiny... love it) there were fewer and fewer people over larger areas, so local governments had a de facto ability to cover a much larger land area because there were simply fewer people.

These reasons can help to clarify the phenomenon.

Answer 4

The thirteen colonies were on the East Coast. They were founded in a time of different spatial/time conception.
When founded, the time it took to travel was considerable.

When we took the West, we had gained a different spatial/time conception. Vast areas were unsettled, and it made no sense to break them up into small units (states).