Hello fellow historians, I am a bit interested in the history of the states that used to be independent but are now part of the USA. Micro-states, official or not, are welcolmed too. What I have in mind are the following but if you have more don't hesitate to give me some hints. My list is in order of interest:
*Republic of Texas
*the giant Louisiana Napoleon sold to the US
*Emperor Norton (but you can cross him out, I think there are not a lot of things about him and that everything is easily found)
*Republic (I think there were two of them?) of Vermont
*Deseret
*Conch Republic
*Republic of California
*Kingdom and Republic of Hawaii
What I would like to know about, mainly, is all about the evolution of borders, governemental and legal stuff and the links with other countries. Wars are an important part of these I guess, but I don't necessarily need detailed stuff about the fights. I'm also very interested in art related to these (maybe even more than everything else). I'm more interested in 18th and 19th centuries, but I exclude nothing. Even if I'd prefer books giving a good overview of these topics, as I know about nothing about them, don't hesitate to suggest other options, as long as they're either in English or French.
Thanks!
I am not sure it had a long enough history to rate an entire book, but the 1784-1789 existence of the State of Franklin surely should include it in your list. It was created from what was North Carolina territory, before the state of Tennessee was formed. In many ways, you could say it was simply a group of overly-ambitious land speculators who got ahead of themselves: they hoped to be admitted to the new USA as a state, but their land claims were blocked by North Carolina. Left in limbo, it became embroiled in a war with the Cherokee ( it was partly their land) and even negotiated briefly for being a part of Spain.
My favorite anecdote: they had no mint, to make a currency , so taxes were assessed and paid in racoon skins. At least one tax collector discovered he could falsify cheaper possum skins to look like raccoon skins, and so succeeded in debasing the currency to make a few dollars, er, hides.
Farr, J. (2011). A Glorious Failure: The State of Franklin and American Independence. Tennessee Historical Quarterly, 70(4), 276-287. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42628218