American Boundaries
eBook - PDF

American Boundaries

The Nation, the States, the Rectangular Survey

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

American Boundaries

The Nation, the States, the Rectangular Survey

About this book

For anyone who has looked at a map of the United States and wondered how Texas and Oklahoma got their Panhandles, or flown over the American heartland and marveled at the vast grid spreading out in all directions below, American Boundaries will yield a welcome treasure trove of insight. The first book to chart the country's growth using the boundary as a political and cultural focus, Bill Hubbard's masterly narrative begins by explaining how the original thirteen colonies organized their borders and decided that unsettled lands should be held in trust for the common benefit of the people. Hubbard goes on to show—with the help of photographs, diagrams, and hundreds of maps—how the notion evolved that unsettled land should be divided into rectangles and sold to individual farmers, and how this rectangular survey spread outward from its origins in Ohio, with surveyors drawing straight lines across the face of the continent.   
 
Mapping how each state came to have its current shape, and how the nation itself formed within its present borders, American Boundaries will provide historians, geographers, and general readers alike with the fascinating story behind those fifty distinctive jigsaw-puzzle pieces that together form the United States.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access American Boundaries by Bill Hubbard,Bill Hubbard, Jr. in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & North American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Dedication
  4. Introduction: Boundaries in the United States as the Manifest Division of the Nation’s Lands
  5. PART 1: ASSEMBLING A NATIONAL DOMAIN
  6. Overview; The Maps in the Book
  7. 1: The Colonies Stake Claims to Land in the West
  8. 2: The Idea of a National Domain Emerges
  9. 3: The National Domain Expands
  10. PART 2: APPORTIONING THE DOMAIN INTO STATES
  11. Overview
  12. 4: A Method of Forming New States Emerges
  13. 5: The Evolution of the Territories and States
  14. PART 3: APPORTIONING THE STATES INTO RECTANGULAR PARCELS
  15. Overview and Recap
  16. 6: Inventing a Rectangular Survey in the Ordinance of 1785
  17. 7: Putting a Rectangular Survey on the Ground in Ohio
  18. 8: The Rectangular Survey Evolves into Its Final Form
  19. 9: The Survey Is Extended across the Public Domain
  20. 10: The Spread of the Survey across Montana
  21. Epilogue: Other Ways to Apportion a Public Domain
  22. Notes
  23. Bibliography
  24. Illustration Credits
  25. Index