CartoCuriosity - The Jeffersonian States

What if the United States had grown into a patchwork of states you've never heard of? In this episode of CartoCuriosity, Kevin Brown joins Michael Buehler of Boston Rare Maps to explore Thomas Jefferson's bold plan for ten western states and the political battles that reshaped it. From a nearly bankrupt republic and competing land claims to Indigenous resistance and congressional fears of frontier self-government, they trace the tensions behind the Ordinance of 1784 and its replacement by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. It's the story of a nation deciding how to expand, who would govern, and whether new states would stand as equals, and a reminder that the map we know was never inevitable.

Featuring Kevin Brown and Michael Buehler

Produced by Cory Choy and Christian Cuciniello

Edited by Yoni Cohen

Music by Luke Allen and El Buru

Sound by Silver Sound