US Postage Stamps
// Philatelic Project
// The Federal States
Territorial Evolution of the United States
US Territorial Acquisitions
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Republic of Texas
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On March 2, 1836 the Republic of Texas declared independence from Mexico, claiming a Rio Grande boundary encompassing present-day West Texas, the majority of New Mexico, and portions of Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. Actual control extended over approximately the eastern half of present-day Texas. Miller County in Arkansas Territory now intruded on the borders of Texas, and the people there began to take a Texian identity, leading to both governments having representatives from the county.
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 US States
 US Territories
 Disputed areas
 Other states
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Texas Statehood
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On December 29, 1845 the Republic of Texas was admitted as the 28th state, Texas. The United States Congress passed the joint resolution of annexation on March 1, 1845, but Texas did not agree to join the union for some time after. Although the annexation resolution avoided specifying Texas's boundaries, the U.S. inherited Texas's unenforced claims to South Texas, West Texas, over half of New Mexico, a third of Colorado, and small parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. With Texas joining the union, Arkansas finally gave up its claim on Miller County.
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US States
 New Statehood
US Territories
Other states
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Texas Cessions
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On September 9, 1850 the Compromise of 1850 divided the Mexican Cession and land claimed by Texas but ceded to the federal government in exchange for taking on its debts. The western portion was admitted as the 31st state, California, most of the rest was organized as Utah Territory and New Mexico Territory, and a small portion became unorganized land. New Mexico Territory consisted of most of present-day Arizona and New Mexico, as well as a southern portion of Colorado and the southern tip of Nevada. Utah Territory consisted of present-day Utah, most of Nevada, and portions of Colorado and Wyoming. A peculiarity appeared at this time, when a small strip of land north of Texas was not officially designated as part of any state or territory (Texas gave up this land due to a United States federal law based on the Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery above the 36°30' parallel of North latitude). This came to be called the Neutral Strip or "No Man's Land", which corresponds to the present-day panhandle of Oklahoma.
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US States
US Territories
Texas cessions
Neutral strip
Other states
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Texas Claim
On February 8, 1860 Texas began claiming Greer County,
controlled at that time by the federal government
as unorganized territory.
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On May 4, 1896 a Supreme Court ruling officially
assigns Greer County to Oklahoma Territory.
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US States
US Territories
Texas claim solved
Disputed areas
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Texas Confederacy
On February 8, 1861 the Confederate States of America was created.
Texas seceded from the Union on February 1, 1861 and joined the CSA on March 2, 1861.
Texas war readmitted to the Union on March 30, 1870.
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US States
 CSA States (Confederacy)
US Territories
Disputed areas
Other states
The American Civil War (1861 - 1865) began on April 12, 1861 with the attack of the Confederate Army
on the Union Fort Sumter, located in the harbor of Charleston, SC.
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