This Day in History November 21, 1789

By Alexrk2 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

North Carolina was one of the original thirteen colonies, but it was number twelve to ratify the constitution. It was on this date in 1789, that it became the twelfth state to enter the union.  Interestingly enough, North Carolina actually was the site of two colonies twenty years before Jamestown, Virginia (even though they survived only briefly).  It did take two sessions of meeting after the Revolutionary War to ratify the constitution.  They did not do things quickly because they had some issues and concerns over too much power from the federal government.

For more information, please check out:

http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/50/entry

http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/kidspg/history.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_North_Carolina

http://famousdaily.com/history/north-carolina-12th-us-state.html

This Day in History December 29, 1845

Well, this one is kind of interesting for me.  Since I lived, worked, and was a resident of Texas for a number of years, it was neat to discover that on this date in1845, Texas became the 28th state.  I did not know until I lived in Texas that it was the only state that actually was its own country--the Republic of Texas.  Then a lot of things made sense.  I understood why Texas did things so differently from other parts of the country!

It should come as no surprise that this move by President Polk angered Mexico.  And they were further angered when the Rio Grande was announced as the boundary.  It did require some military influence to "settle" the issue.  And is wasn't too many years later the Civil War broke out with Texas as a slave state.

For those of you who would like more information, please check out these links:
http://www.texasalmanac.com/topics/history/timeline/annexation-and-statehood
https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/annexation/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Annexation
http://timelines.com/1845/12/29/texas-is-the-28th-state-admitted-to-the-union

This Day in History November 2, 1889

Well, what a momentous day.  On this day in 1889, North Dakota and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th state.  I find this pretty amazing. I never thought two states would enter our union in one day.  Before 1803, the Dakotas were practically nonexistent except for fur-trapping.  The Lewis and Clark Expedition first explored it in 1804.

As you can imagine, the Dakota territory quickly increased in population, and a division occurred so that a petition for statehood could be made.  And it was February 22, 1889.  Although Cleveland was president at this time, it was his successor, Harrison, that signed the bills into law, thus making the territories states.

I have been to South Dakota--Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Wall Drug (so fun!).  I cannot remember right now if I have been to North Dakota.  I may have been, but I  really can't even recall driving through it.

So what about you?  Any memories about either of these states?  Maybe you live in one of these states.  Have a big celebration today if you do!

For more information, check out these sites:

http://timelines.com/1889/11/2/north-dakota-and-south-dakota-are-the-39th-and-40th-states-admitted-to-the-union

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/nd.htm

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/sd.htm