I sometimes wonder whether it was ever possible for the initial Colonies to properly fully on the land that they claimed, and thus end up with a most of the original states controlling strips of land half-way across the continent, as opposed to the OTL thing where territories formed were held as under the control of the US government in general (I know there were some exceptions to this, mainly in the south, but they generally ended quite early). Ultimately I'm curious as to whether the idea of states owning territories could extend much further (possibly even to the present day) though I suspect that the idea of every man having representation in government, which was (sort of) the essence of the rallying cry during the ARW probably means that it's implausible for an alt-USA to not give statehood to territories as soon as possible.
That tiny, somewhat pathetic strip that South Carolina has in the map above, for instance, is particularly interesting. I wonder if it's possible that they could have controlled that land and held it long enough to actively seek to extend their claims further westwards...and if they could, perhaps it could have eventually made the most ridiculously thin state ever.