Border states (Civil War)

The term border states refers to five slave states that were on the border between the Northern Union states and the Southern slave-states that formed the Confederate States of America. In some of these states there were both pro-Confederate and pro-Union factions and men (sometimes even from the same family) from these states fought as soldiers on opposite sides in the war.

Related Topics:
Slave states - Northern - Union - Southern - Confederate States of America - War

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The five border states were Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia (the District of Columbia is sometimes included for geographical convenience). West Virginia was formed in 1863 from the northwestern counties of Virginia that had seceded from Virginia after Virginia seceded from the Union. In the cases of Kentucky and Missouri, the states had two state governments during the American Civil War, one supporting the Confederacy and one supporting the Union.

Related Topics:
Delaware - Kentucky - Maryland - Missouri - West Virginia - District of Columbia - 1863 - Virginia - Seceded - American Civil War - Confederacy

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In addition, two territories not yet states—specifically the Indian Territory (now the state of Oklahoma), and the New Mexico Territory (now the states of Arizona and New Mexico)—also permitted slavery; yet very few slaves could actually be found in these territories despite the institution's legal status there. During the war, the major Indian tribes in Oklahoma signed an alliance with the Confederacy and participated in its military efforts. Residents of New Mexico Territory were of divided loyalties, the region being split between the Union and Confederacy at the 34th Parallel. Oklahoma is often cited as a "border state" today, but Arizona and New Mexico are rarely if ever so characterized.

Related Topics:
Indian Territory - Oklahoma - New Mexico Territory - Arizona - New Mexico

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With geographic, social, political, and economic connections to both the North and South, the border states were critical to the outcome of the war and still delineate the cultural border that separates the North from the South. After Reconstruction, most of the border states adopted Jim Crow laws resembling those enacted in the South, but in recent decades some of them (most notably Delaware and Maryland) have become more Northern in their political, economic, and social orientation, while others (particularly Kentucky and West Virginia) have adopted a predominantly Southern persona. Even today many disputes exist as to the logical boundaries of the Northeast, many Northeasterners proclaim Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, even Virginia to be part of the Northeast. In actual practice the Northeast likely consists of the undisputed states of Vermont, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island, along with Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia itself, and the District's suburbs in West Virginia and Virginia. Kentucky too is divided, the more rural and Southern areas of the state are clearly Southern in character while more urban areas like the areas around Louisville and across the Ohio River from Cincinnati are very Midwestern and in the case of Cincinnati both Midwestern and Northeastern in character.

Related Topics:
Reconstruction - Jim Crow - Delaware - Maryland - Kentucky - West Virginia

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Today, the phrase is also sometimes applied in common usage to the states of the upper South that formed the northern tier of the Confederacy, such as Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Related Topics:
Arkansas - Tennessee - Virginia - North Carolina

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