Comments on: 248 - Friends, Polypotamians, Countrymen!

By: James M.

James M. — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:03:35 +0000

I agree with Jonathan in Québec. If we’d grown up with these names, they’d seem natural. Think about the name “Virginia,” for instance. A state named after a virgin? (Well, Elizabeth I liked to call herself one, anyway.) Wouldn’t it sound awfully strange if we weren’t so used to it?

By: James

James — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:58:59 +0000

One correction: the Northwest Territory was formally ceded to the United States in 1783 at the end of the war (although the British refused to actually vacate some of their military posts until 1796). The Northwest Ordinance did not involve any annexation of territory, but rather the division of the newly-acquired territory into functional units.

By: Against the Singularity : Mormon Metaphysics

Against the Singularity : Mormon Metaphysics — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:50:30 +0000

[...] Against the singularity aka “the rapture of the nerds.” (HT: Gene Expression) [...]

By: Constantine

Constantine — Sat, 10 May 2008 02:43:55 +0000

Most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula would have been the state of Chersonesus, which is simply the Greek word for ‘peninsula’.

I need to chime in and add that the Byzantine empire did have a province called “Chersonesus” (normally written as Cherson), which made up part of the modern-day Crimean peninsula.

Byzantium was way out of fashion in Jefferson’s time, so I’m pretty sure this wasn’t what he was paying homage to, however.

By: JimJJewett

JimJJewett — Thu, 08 May 2008 20:35:58 +0000

I think the population of Metropotamia (including Detoit) would actually be about a third larger than the population of Michigan.[1]

Detroit’s most intense arguments are with its own neighboring cities — places that the rest of the state sees as part of Detroit. And Toledo could probably be more independent than Grand Rapids (the current second largest city and still in Metropotamia).

[1] Based on the congressional maps from

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sos.state.oh.us%2FSOS%2FElectionsVoter%2FOEcongressDist.pdf&ei=jV8jSKKyG4ii8gTg_qCJDA&usg=AFQjCNETAbY51p6xRnaZNa437ilmZ7KZbw&sig2=zOzQ4NZK_koiho87bp1OjA
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.michigan.gov%2Fdocuments%2FCongress_state_16757_7.pdf&ei=_kojSJPbD6Ci8gSs47iMDA&usg=AFQjCNEDZDSy5AwzsIhNmace6Bbk4bRfxA&sig2=bH-FWLTpxI0dQ1X8U0fO7Q

It looks like Metropotamia would get the entirety of 9 Michigan Congressional District, and much of four others — only two would be entirely in Chersonesus.

Meanwhile, it looks like Metropotamia would pick up about 8 districts from Ohio and parts of 3 from Indiana.

By: paytonc

paytonc — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:50:37 +0000

interesting how the map, even though it simply follows latitude lines, presages many of the intra-state political battles of our time. Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Milwaukee have long fought with their respective out-states, but would have easy dominance over such smaller states. of course, such huge cities would also have mooted Jefferson’s original point of keeping population somewhat equal.

only Sylvania makes sense as an ecological region: it encompasses the vast north woods.

By: Jonathan in Québec

Jonathan in Québec — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:41:20 +0000

It only seems absurd to us now because it never came to pass. If we had been living with these names for the past 200 years, they would perfectly natural to us now.

By: David Carlton

David Carlton — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:50:58 +0000

Some years ago a southern historian, Thomas Alexander, used this proposal in a paper called “The Civil War as Institutional Fulfillment,” in which he pointed out that had Jefferson’s plan prevailed, and the resulting states had had the electoral votes dictated by their hypothetical populations in 1860, Lincoln would not have won. His votes were heavily concentrated in the upper parts of the lower Midwestern states, which could overwhelm the southern parts and capture the entirety of the states’ electoral votes under the winner-take-all practice. Under Jefferson’s scheme, though, he would have lost the electoral votes of the Ohio Valley states, and thus the election.

By: Don Hargraves

Don Hargraves — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:05:54 +0000

err…that was 1847 for the Britain Invasion worry comment.

By: Don Hargraves

Don Hargraves — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:05:30 +0000

JimJ:

Let’s not forget a couple other requirements:

1: Away from Detroit, so that the state capital wouldn’t be vulnerable to immediate invasion from Britain (still a worry in 1947), and
2: North of the Michigan Central railroad, so that SOME attention would be paid to the northern counties.

And just so you know, I may live in Indiana, but I wasn’t born or raised there. The “useful for farming” comment was something I read/heard as a kid in Michigan.