Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
For those of you who are fans of The History Channel, you no doubt have watched the series "The States" which explains the history of how each state came into existence.
But the most fascinating part of the series are the stories about the "lost states," the state names of proposed states that may have even been put to paper on a map once upon a time before disappearing into history.
Michael J. Trinklein is the author of "Lost States: True Stories of Texlahoma, Transylvania, and Other States That Never Made it." He also writes the Lost States Blog http://loststates.blogspot.com/, and posts short videos about the lost states on his YouTube channel. YouTube – loststates's Channel.
Did you know that all of what is now Arizona (North of the Gila River border with the country of Mexico) was part of the Mormon state of "Deseret" once envisioned by Mormon leader Brigham Young? (Before a subsequent name change to a less ambitious Utah Territory). Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqOO0hSICOQ.
Did you know that when Arizona was part of the New Mexico Territory, when Arizona was considered for statehood (Pre-Gadsden Purchase), many proposed combining what is now Arizona with New Mexico to create a super-sized state called "Montezuma"? Lost States: Montezuma's Revenge.
Did you know that when Arizona was still part of the New Mexico Territory during the Civil War that the territory divided in half, North and South, with the Southern half (Arizona) siding with the Confederacy — not because Arizona wanted slavery but because the Confederacy promised to deliver the mail? Lost States: Arizona's previous split:
Arizona's been talking a lot lately about splitting into two states: dividing north-south. In the Civil War era, Arizona (and New Mexico) went through a similar north-south division. When the Union failed to keep mail service going, the southern part of the Arizona territory got miffed and decided to slice itself off and align with the Confederacy. (Northerners apparently weren't so outraged.) Southern Arizonans didn't want slaves, they just wanted somebody to deliver the dang mail–which the Confederacy promised to do.
Mr. Trinklein likes the idea of the new state of Baja Arizona. Lost States: Baja Arizona is fresh:
Southern Arizona is getting a little fed up with politics in Phoenix—and rekindling the quest for the 51st state. Call it "South Arizona" or "Baja Arizona," the idea is the same—splitting off the more liberal south from the more conservative north. In the last few days, a new committee has been formally created in Pima county, and leaders are working to get the topic on the ballot for the next election. Like most statehood proposals, this isn't a new idea—I documented past efforts in Lost States. While cleaving the 51st state from Arizona seems unlikely… so did ousting Hosni Mubarak. And you'd think the folks in the north would love this idea, since adding a "buffer state" would mean they'd no longer have a border with Mexico (kind of like the imagined Southwest of the infamous Peggy West).
The point is that territory and proposed state boundaries were fluid and changed frequently in our history. Many state names were proposed and then faded into history.
There are several other "partition and separation" movements for statehood elsewhere, not just here in Baja Arizona. List of U.S. state partition proposals. This is a long American tradition.