How did West Virginia get its name?
Some say it’s the best Virginia, but West Virginia might once have been known as Westsylvania, or as the more grandiloquent Vandalia. So what happened? Find out here, with West Virginia native Catherine Moore. Also explore Franklin, other American states-that-could-have-been, and fictional American states.
Laboratories of Democracy: The State of the States
In its early years, the US wasn’t so much “United” as “States.” Power has steadily shifted to the federal government, but states have continued to assert independence on important issues. If we’re all Americans, why do states still matter?
The Sweeter Side of Federalism
Throughout American history, the relationship between the federal government and the states has taken various forms, leading historians to coin creative (and culinary) metaphors to describe the different distributions of power. Think you can do better than the examples below? Cook up your own metaphorical descriptor and post it below. (Click here for a Federalism [...]
