Disputed Land

As the country kept growing, it became obvious that several states were trying to claim some of the same areas. This resulted in many land disputes. Today, there are very clear boundaries between the states. But at that time, there was a lot of open territory that hadn't been mapped or explored, so it was easy for people to get confused. Imagine having to divide up this huge country and figure out who could own which piece of land!

In the 1780s, both Georgia and South Carolina claimed the areas that are Alabama and Mississippi today, and both New York and North Carolina claimed the area that is Tennessee. Connecticut and Virginia claimed northern Illinois, and New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia all said they owned southern Michigan. New York, Connecticut, and Virginia claimed eastern Ohio, and both Connecticut and Pennsylvania tried to take control of northern Pennsylvania.

There was a large area of land west and north of the Ohio River and west of Pennsylvania that stretched as far as the Mississippi River. This was called the Northwest Territory, and it included what is now Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and southern Minnesota.