Growth Of United States

[Thomas Promise]

Since the Constitution took effect on March 4, 1789 until the U.S. added the 50th state of Hawaii in 1959, a quick look at this gif shows us how a nation was formed.

http://gif-explode.com/?explode=http://i.imgur.com/yPov2.gif

http://i.imgur.com/yPov2.gif

Edited May 19, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Doug]

Wish I could slow it down.

[Randy W]

Wish I could slow it down.

 

 

I thought that was worth going to a little bit of trouble for, since I had done it myself the last time it was posted.

 

You can scroll through each of the images on the above link (a little awkward) - http://gif-explode.c...r.com/yPov2.gif

 

Here it is in mp4 (movie) format - you should be able to pause, reverse, and replay all you want. It's 10 frames per second, with each image held for 15 frames (1½ sec., which almost gives you enough time to focus in on where each change occurs).

 

http://s1232.photobucket.com/user/walserrjw/media/USExpansion-1789totoday_zps4374478f.mp4.html

 

The download link - http://vid1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff367/walserrjw/USExpansion-1789totoday_zps4374478f.mp4

Edited May 19, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Some interesting facts about our border with Canada

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Hyder_AK.jpg/800px-Hyder_AK.jpg

 

The border crossing where British Columbia Highway 37A ends at Hyder, Alaska is unmanned by United States Customs, though Canadian Customs does maintain a presence in the area.

 

 

A Not-So-Straight Story

But zoom in close enough and it turns out that the straight line running along the 49th parallel north is not really on the 49th parallel north. And it isn’t straight. Like, at all. Marked by a 20-foot strip of clear-cut forest, the border may seem straight as a ruler. But as it zigzags from the first to the last of the 912 boundary monuments erected by the original surveyors, it deviates from the 49th parallel by up to several hundred feet.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/11/28/opinion/borderlines_49parallel/borderlines_49parallel-blog427-v2.jpgJoe Burgess/The New York Times

The border was fixed in different stages during the 19th century by teams of American, Canadian and British surveyors. Back then, the seemingly simple task of drawing a straight line across a continent implied hardship and heroism, as demonstrated in “Arc of the Medicine Line,” the Canadian archivist Tony Rees’s book about the final survey, from 1872 to 1874, which mapped the border between Lake of the Woods and the Continental Divide. As Mr. Rees documents, the men lacked the benefit of roads, electricity or the digital precision allowed by satellite technology; as a result, on average, the markers are three arcseconds (i.e. 295 feet) north or south of the 49th parallel.

 

Edited May 19, 2014 by Randy W (see edit history)

[dnoblett]

If you have an Apple TV, or other device that carries the History Channel, there is a sub channel called H2, I have been watching one show on it "How The States Got Their Shapes" it covers what this map is showing, a lot of fascinating stuff.

 

http://www.history.com/shows/how-the-states-got-their-shapes

[NUWORLD]

If you have an Apple TV, or other device that carries the History Channel, there is a sub channel called H2, I have been watching one show on it "How The States Got Their Shapes" it covers what this map is showing, a lot of fascinating stuff.

 

http://www.history.com/shows/how-the-states-got-their-shapes

Yes indeed Dan.

We have Apple TV and been watching the H2 Chanel for some time now.

Very interesting.