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While for historical reasons the original Thirteen Colonies differed dramatically both in size and population, this trend was not expected to continue. Indeed for generations the Congress of the young republic actively avoided any corresponding variety among newly created states. While population might be a figure largely outside their control, the dimensions of new states was another matter entirely. As early as the admission of Kentucky (1792), Tennessee (1796), and Ohio (1805) a clear pattern of rough equivalency had appeared; each of the new states falling between 40 and 45 thousand square miles.

With two exceptions, a roughly similar scale continued as a recognizable policy continued for 50 years. Both cases served only to prove the limits of the rule: The very first exception, Vermont in 1791, had de facto boundaries that were long-established and could not substantially be altered. The second, Michigan in 1837, was organized as a territory of more standard size, but compensated in the Upper Peninsula in exchange for losing a territorial dispute with Ohio known to history as the Toledo War. Between the admission of these two, newly admitted states were relatively uniform. Prior to Michigan, the largest disparity was 2-to-1 between Maine (35,000) and Missouri (70,000) - and the latter state was actually slightly smaller when first admitted.

It might have seemed that the smaller states of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic were destined to stand out as the one peculiarity on the otherwise uniform map of the United States. Instead, the orderly political traditions of half a century were brought to a jarring halt by the 1844 election of one James K. Polk. From the outset, the cornerstone of his candidacy had been annexation of Texas - what would at first [1] be America's largest state. In November of 1844, though, few could have supposed how quickly California - today the nation's fifth-largest [2] state - would join Texas in the union.


[1] As in our timeline, of course.
[2] !
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