America's Forgotten Countries
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- Опубликовано: 24 янв 2021
- The United States have not always been so united. This is the story of America's forgotten countries: the more than a dozen self-proclaimed sovereign states in what is now US territory. Learn the history of the well known lost countries like Texas and Vermont, as well as some obscure ones like Indian Stream, the State of Muskogee, Madawaska, the Republic of the Rio Grande, and more. Let's explore!
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Image Credits:
North America: "Color line contacts in North America" by color line is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
CSA: By Keepscases - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Indian Stream: By The original uploader was Citynoise at English Wikipedia.Later versions were uploaded by AnonMoos at en.wikipedia. - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 2.5, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Rough and Ready: Photo courtesy Orange County Archives
West Florida: By Wolfmaster2 for original raster - Vectorisation of File:West Florida Flag.png, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
East Florida: By ArnoldPlaton - Own work, vetorization after source, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
The overview map containing the names and flags of the self-declared countries is hereby licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Texas Embassy: By Moonik - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Mexican Revolts: By © Giggette / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
RRG location: By Keepscases - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Lake Champlain: By Champlainmap.png: Kmusserderivative work: Pierre_cb - Champlainmap.png, CC BY-SA 2.5, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
The modified versions of the Indian Stream map are hereby licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Cross of Burgundy: By FDRMRZUSA (talk · contribs) - This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this file: Bandera cruz de Borgoña 2.svg. >> But without border and different aspect ratio., CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Green Cross of Florida: By Zscout370 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
McConaughey: By All-Pro Reels from District of Columbia, USA - Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Watauga: By Brian Stansberry - Own work, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
The single white star on a blue background of West Florida was actually a popular symbol in the nineteenth century. Such a flag eventually took the title "Bonnie Blue Flag" and became a Confederate symbol, but its meaning was completely different: The single white star represented an open invitation to the United States to annex the republic in question and add its star to the Constellation in the blue canton of the U.S. flag. This is also the meaning of the single star of the Texas Republic, and of the Cuban flag, whose American supporters sometimes sought to annex Cuba to the U.S. as another slave-holding state, or by clever Cuban expatriates who fought against Spanish rule. The Cuban patriots hinted they might be willing to join the U.S. in exchange for liberation from Imperial Spain, but knew that if this happened, the Americans would simply grant them complete independence in the end -- which is exactly what happened in 1898. (It goes without saying none of this had anything to do with Somalia.)
Nice history! It's funny how the same symbol was used for joining the USA and for seceding from the USA.
Puts a complete flip on what it means for Texas to be the Lone Star state!
@@tylerhawley4012 Yup. They chose it as an homage to West Florida, seeing themselves as being in a similar (but much more long-term) situation.
Wow that’s a lot of words, to bad I’m not reading all of them
@@andrewmcbride999 That's ok. I appreciate you taking the time to point out that you're lazy ;)
British and Americans: **musters militia**
Bears: Yes...they are distracted. Now is the time to strike.
Glad you did this, thank you! I used to live in "The Lost State of Franklin" for a couple years, which got me intersted in these kinds of things.
Since you didn't mention Franklin, here's the deal: The State of North Carolina couldn't pay a debt to the new US government, so they insisted that the US just take some land in the unoccupied west end of the state as payment. The US didn't want it, so it effectively became a no-mans land, with no one willing to take responsibility for it.
Settlers moved in, claimed all of it, and some land beyond the border in what is now northeastern Tennessee, and called themselves "The State of Franklin," after Benjamin Franklin, whom they asked to come live in their new unrecognized state. He politely declined. Also, they could never quite agree on a name, occasionally referring to the place as "Frankland." "Franklin" was most common, though. They applied to the US for statehood, and the US just really didn't want to open that can of worms, so they just ignored them, as did North Carolina.
After a few years of this, The State of Franklin appealed to several European countries as recognition as an independent nation, at which point the US had had quite enough of this nonense, went in, knocked over the government (Bloodlessly), gave half the land back to North Carolina, and created the new state of Tennessee, which contained about half of the "Franklin" lands. As a concession prize, some of the Frankliners were given positions in the new state government.
You mentioned "The Watauga Association," which is *probably* in some way related to this, given that Lake Watauga is right in the heart of Franklin, but I've never heard it called that by anyone.
People in "Upper Eastern" Tennessee take some pride in their status as an historical footnote, and there's a fair number of businesses that use "State of Franklin" or "Lost State" in their names.
Thanks for sharing! I didn't know that the State of Franklin ever acted as an independent government, I had thought they just wanted statehood. Looking it up, it seems like one John Sevier was heavily involved in the the governments of both Watauga Association and the State of Franklin, and later of Tennessee, so there is some connection there.
@@SignoreGalilei Yeah, I don't remember the particulars, but there was a "Sevierville' near where I lived, and it was named after him, and I do recall he was one of the Frankliners that was given a job in the new state government.
Anyway, happy to help! I love this kind of stuff!
I was born and raised in the Florida Keys and I still have my Conch Republic flag and Passport somewhere with family after moving out of the islands to North Carolina but I still think that the Keys is culturally extremely distinct from the rest of the state and I like to think that makes the place a little bit more interesting than the rest of the state.
Like yeah, we broke off as a joke, but the people down there are a very distinct breed compared to the rest of Florida according to my biased opinion, and for the few people born and raised there you get a sort of siege mentality about the islands and the fact that the entire chain is basically just a place for the rich and famous now as well as the encroaching threat of climate change. It's a damn shame.
That's really interesting to hear, thanks for sharing that part of your life with everyone.
Unlike the soycialists in the North West you guys actually did it right. All without rioting, and you did it while chugging down copious amounts of beer.
Fun fact: in south of brazil theres also a rio grande (rio grande do sul) that declared independence and was a republic for 10 year
That is a fun fact!
as someone who lives in coahuila it kinda amazes me how coahuila, nuevo leon and tamaulipas actually were independent for almost a year as the republic of the rio grande.
Laredo flew the Rio Grande republic flag back in the 2000s. I don't know if they still do. I remember seeing it at the info center at US 83 & IH 35.
@@puppiesarepower3682 yes
ayyy im part of the rio grande (not mexico but usa) really cool to see people mention us considering our part of southern texas doesnt get mentioned often
I wished it lasted
I am from Durango and I respect el rio grande
El Guerrero Inmortal de Zempoala te repudia con todo su corazón.
El Álamo es nuestra victoria.
Same
Tejano pride mate!
Fun fact: there was a Mexican territory that declared independence called the republic of baja California during the William Walker war and later became the Republic of Sonora.
Cool!
Cool
False.
This dude actually mentioned Laredo. Thank you so much, I feel so special.
You're welcome!
Laredo
Franco-Mainer here, I'd definitely say that the whole Madawaska thing still has an effect on the geopolitics of Aroostook county. Because of the climate and geography of the area (winter temperatures sometimes drop down to -50 degrees and the trees grow so dense in some places that it's impossible to build), most of the major settlements are located along the border with southwestern New Brunswick, with only a few towns located within central Aroostook county and absolutely none in Western Aroostook, an area almost half the size of Connecticut with a population of 12, the connections to Canada are often more important than the US as far as business and economics goes. Keep in mind that in Maine, especially in the county, a landmark "city" could have a population as low as 700. In many of these towns, French is the dominant language, rather than English. While native French speakers of different dialects, including myself, can be found across the state, only in Aroostook county will you find towns where it is the first language, including the town of Madwaska itself, which has the largest proportion of habitual French speakers in the US at around 90%. Because of this, these border towns are often used as weekend retreats by Acadians, as easy ports of entry into the US, and many businesses accept CAD as well USD. A lot of people in the county want to secede to Canada just because of their town's proximity to the border, and because the US government tends to neglect border towns like theirs.
Very interesting, thanks for telling us!
I live down in Augusta, but most of my family is from Millinocket, Crystal, Sherman, and Island Falls. I've grown up learning about all this stuff and it has always been very clear that Northern Maine and Southern Maine are very different places hell, my great grandfather Henry Joy often mentioned breaking the state in two while serving in the state house of representatives and running for governor. What you said just backs all of this up, I know people from the Portland area who've never seen a deer, meanwhile I don't know a single person in the county who doesn't hunt.
Hostage negotiator: “Just release the hostages and we’ll hear your demands.”
Freedom Fighter: “Not until the Free State of Jones is liberated from American imperial tyranny!”
Hostage negotiator: “… The what?”
I knew most of them ( either from seeing the flag or hearing about them ) but some were very interesting to learn about!
The ones I didn't know were the New England disputed territories (aside from Vermont), West Florida and the Floridas
this deserves more attention
Love these forgotten countries videos!
very underrated channel, nice work!
I LIVE in New Brunswick and I'd never even heard of the Republic of Madawaska.. while it sounds more like someone who just went a bit wacko and a minor incident rather than say, the legitimacy of Texas, the Californian Republic or the Indian Stream Vermont Republic, it's still shocking an actual nation was declared in my province and I never knew about it
Do you speak English?
me neither! i was born there and lived there for most of my childhood
Extremely underrated video! So good!
Thanks! I'm working on another "forgotten countries" video right now because of the great feedback I'm getting from people like you. In the meantime, you can check out my other videos if you'd like.
@@SignoreGalilei I just watched it and what an amazing video it was! I’ve subbed and turned on notifications and can’t wait to see what you come out with next!
Amazing video dude
Amazing!
Thanks for valuable information.
Loved this video, I think this is worth watching
*I found it interesting that two of the short-lived "countries" used the Nordic Cross, which is used by for the flags of all the Scandinavian nations, as well as Finland.*
Definitely. I think the Nordic Cross is specifically when it's offset from center a little though, and these are what's called a symmetric cross.
@@SignoreGalilei I can see that now, but on first sight, the flags for "The State of Muskogee" and "The Republic of the Floridas" bear quite a resemblance to the flags of Norway and Finland, respectively.
Oh yeah, they definitely do
very nice video actually good quality
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
Vermont Republic! Lets go.
Please do more of these videos!!
I'm planning to!
Very interesting, I had no idea about that. Tell us more , thanks
Working on the next one right now!
Muskogee kind of looks like the flag of Norway a bit.
It definitely does. I talked about this with some people on another comment - the modern flag of Norway is only from 1820, so it's probably unrelated.
Thank you for mentioning the Republic of Indian Stream. We may been annexed by the US but we ultimately got what we wanted, the dispute being settled and thus not being taxed twice.
Good content
Glad you're enjoying it
Interesting video
Glad you think so!
@@SignoreGalilei oh wow, if i knew youd see my comment i would've elaborated as to why i like it. Now i feel i left a souless statement
Don't worry about it. It still helps me get recommended more haha.
Another great video of history. Add to this a very brief life of a small nation in Colorado before statehood. In the early years about 1870. Colorado had an official mountain village that was legally titled, "The Kingdom of Breckenridge." And had a leader at the time. Didn't last very long. Mike
That's cool - I didn't know about that one!
Interesting
Cool
I've been to the Bear Flag monument in Sonoma..such a wonderful historic colonial city...
CONNECTICUT MENTIONED💪💪💪💪💪🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕 (I know you said Connecticut river but it’s still great to see the name of our little state said. Great video as always)
Don't forget that in 1969 there was a Black separatist movement for a independence of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgiaand South Carolina to become the Republic of New Afrika but the day they declared there goal for independence around 200 to 500 police shot at there building its call the battle of New Bethel I recommend the book Free the Land: The Republic of New Afrika and the Pursuit of a Black Nation-State
That's a cool piece of history, thanks!
If nothing else their flag looked really cool.
Kentucky was also a practical independent country for about a year in 1861. As it’s neutrality was largely respected. Though, it didn’t issue its own currency, and it was still run almost the exact same way.
The title could've been better. As is, it implies that this video covers the Americas, not just the US.
Exactly.
In US English, "America" (singular) unambiguously refers to the country. The region is "the Americas". WonderWhy has a great video on the topic.
The West Florida flag was actually used as inspiration by the Republic of Texas when designing its flag, the “Lone Star” state got its name from the flag of the West Florida Republic, and also it was used again as the official flag of the Confederacy in its infancy although called the “Bonnie blue flag” which is a different color then what you portray it as in this video, in this video it is very much like the Somalian flag which is a light blue where as the original west Florida flag and the Bonnie Blue Flag is a dark blue almost navy blue color, there was actually a incident where court houses and government buildings that are located within the West Florida Republic have to fly the flag of the former country along side the American flag however they were not flying the flag of the WFR but instead flying the Somalian flag
Somalian immigrants would be hella confused when they go to West Florida
Interesting history!
@@redacted8983 *Somali
That Muskogee flag sure looks like the Norwegian flag. Wonder if there were some connection.
They do look similar. I don't know what the connection would be but it might be worth looking into.
Im Norwegian, most of the Norwegian started immigrate to america in 1820.. mostly in Northen part like Minnesota and Wisconsin... and towards the Dakotas, Iowa and also washington and oregon so those states on that rout are. So have no clue where this William would have seen the Norwegian flag.. so could have just been based on the american flag and maybe religion. Looks similar like you said just two small differencies..
@@bulkyize Yeah I just checked the Norwegian flag and it didn't exist until 1821. Maybe we got inspiration from him instead(Breaking free from an union and stuff).
@@GGdude i’m not sure, but i think the Norwegian flag was mostly inspired by the Danish one. This is just a wage memory that i have about the subject so i don’t know if it is true or not.
@@ugaboga9829 All of the Nordic flags are based on the Danish one since that's the origin of the Nordic cross, the Danish flag is also the oldest flag in continual official use by any state.
No one’s really talking about the florida country’s, that means technically, florida had independence 4 times! But it’s interesting that Texas had an embassy in France.
Imagine a world with four Floridas. That would certainly be interesting.
@@SignoreGalilei the Florida Man evolves into 4 different species.
There is a plaque on the wall of the former Texas Embassy in London. At 4 St. James's Street. On vacating the Embassy they forgot to pay the £160 rent that was owed. It was finally paid at a special ceremony in if I remember correctly 1984.
Nice story! Reminds me of the time that a radio station paid NASA's littering fine to a town in Australia a few decades after some little pieces of Skylab fell on them.
Louisiana was an independent country for a month in 1860 I think before joining the Confederacy. Also, I think South Carolina may have briefly been independent too, either during the Nullification crisis, the Civil War (they were first to secede), or both.
Yep, you can check out the other comments on this. Lots of southern states were briefly independent, I just lumped them in with the CSA as a whole.
@@SignoreGalilei ah ok.
You should do a video on the republic of molossia
It's definitely showed up a lot in the comments haha
While never wanting to be a sovereign nation-state, I do think an honorable mention would be the state of Jefferson, which would be the 51st state, taking most of northern California and some of southern Oregon to create a new state.
I also remember in 2015 hearing the possibility of Washington splitting east and west, leading to West Washington and East Washington as two different states, although, if that were to ever occur, I think renaming the eastern regions into the state of Adams just makes sense.
We could have Washington, Adams, and Jefferson as states right next to each other!
Should do one about "England's Forgotten Countries"
You missed the Free State of Winston. Winston county, Alabama succeeded during the civil war. There’s a plaque noting this in front of the Winston County Courthouse.
As a Floridian, I am proud of the many attempts to be independent, save for the East Florida sellouts. The Republic of the Floridas would have been a perfect name had East and West Florida (at it’s original territorial heights under British rule) united into one republic to liberate themselves from American and Spanish rule. That would have been nice. But I will just have to settle for the current state of the state.
Edit: The Couch Republic is loved dearly and even “won” a “war” against the US coast guard I think in the 1980s or 1990s. It was a training exercise but it counts!
does that mean there could’ve been different breeds of Florida Man
@@perhapsitsnoelle they already exist my dear friend. I am of the South Florida variant, there is the North, Central, and Conch variants as well.
@@Chaotic-po8oj i have two friends from orlando, which florida man breed is that?
@@perhapsitsnoelle definitely Central
@@Chaotic-po8oj there’s also the gulf coast subspecies of the Central Florida Florida Men
I live in the area today that was once east florida and the republic of florida.
Nice!
Don't forget the Republic of Hawaii, formed after American settlers like the Dole fruit family overthrew Queen Lilioukalani.
Yep, I didn't include Hawaii or the Native American nations because they predate the US itself.
@@SignoreGalilei The Kingdom of Hawaii doesn't predate the US though.
ER WILL NEVER FORGET GREAT TEXAN REPUBLIC
🇬🇧 ♥️ *TEXAS*
Forgot about Van Zandt
Just looked it up, interesting!
Please add The Free State of Winston. During the civil war, Winston County AL officially declared independence and set up their own government.
I unfortunately can't edit videos that are already up, but I appreciate the additional information.
5:06 Gregor McGregor.... what a name
Yep, one of history's more fun names
New England used to be a Dominion / Constituent Country of The UK!
Now all if has is an official football team to let you know any hint of that states existence (generic form of state).
I mean New England as a region is pretty well known at least in the USA, not just for the football team. The fact that it was all a single colony at one point (including NY and NJ as well) is certainly less well known, though I think I remember briefly hearing about it in AP US history.
All too many keeps overlooking the Kingdom of Hawaii (1795-1893), the Provisional Government of Hawaii (1893-1894), and the Republic of Hawaii (1894-1898). These three governments at their various times administered a more legitimate sovereign country than most of the other listed territories.
That's true. I omitted the Pacific Island nations (and the native ones) because they didn't seem to me at the time to really be "America's" countries, since they existed before the US did.
Long Live Hawaiian Kingdom!!
What about Molossia? It briefly stopped existing during an invasion wherein it was occupied, formally renamed, and held for a brief period.
Well if it's back it isn't really forgotten is it ;)
I don’t like the states but America’s history is truly interesting
That's fair
What about The Republic of Molossia in Dayton Nevada?
I hadn't heard of it before! Though I suppose since it's still around it might not be a "Forgotten Country" ;)
Though two Militia men were attacked by bears
Bears won the war
Fun fact : texas use to have an embassy in Washington D.C.
Cool!
What about the kingdom of hawaii?
I put Hawaii's coat of arms up on screen toward the beginning, but I made a choice to skip Pacific Island nations like Hawaii or the Chamoro on Guam, as well as Native American nations. I don't entirely remember my line of reasoning, but I think that it's because they existed prior to the US itself and so they didn't really feel like "America's forgotten countries."
@@SignoreGalilei Okay, understood.
Vermont was a kingdom and Ethan Allan declared himself as the first king, that why to this day its referred as the Northeast kingdom.
You forgot Van Zandt
There were a few of those mini secessions related to the Civil War. I definitely missed some there.
Anyone know where the state of muskogee got its Norwegian flag from? Since the leaders name isnt really Norwegian and I have never really hear of Norwegians emigrating to Florida. Thx 👍🏻
I think it's just coincidentally similar looking. Muskogee existed before the modern Norwegian flag was adopted.
conch republic is my favorite
Why did you use Somalia’s flag for West Florida and not the Bonnie Blue
I used the version of the flag used by sources like Southeastern Louisiana University. The darker Bonnie Blue flag you might be more familiar with came later on.
Are there any areas of Canada or Mexico that were once independent?
100% - the Republic of the Yucatan comes to mind, for instance.
@@SignoreGalilei I remember hearing about it now.
Canada also wasn't a single dominion throughout much of British rule.
The star on the California flag was inspired by the star on the flag of Texas
Cool!
Omg galeilieo
The flag with the white star and blue background looks like the Somalia flag 🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴🇸🇴
It does, yeah.
What about the republic of molossia and all those other microstates
Those are definitely cool, but if they're still around then maybe they're not forgotten countries
like wdym forgoten countries amarica is 1 country not 50. its states u mean
Shocked California was a country omfg. I thought the Florida Republics & Muskogee were Spanish states so this is a lot to take in God damn.
Never forget the Alamo
I wonder how many people there are where the only thing they know about the Alamo is that you're supposed to remember it
When the false texans got rekt, remember that awesome victory over the traitors!
@@SignoreGalilei being European I have no idea what happened but I've seen the phrase all over the place so that is really the only thing I know.
"hey it's tax season"
"I declare independence"
Nothing more American!
respect to those bears. our greatest defense against the threat from the north
You forgot to add 54-40 and Nova Scotia.
I think the Provisional Government of Oregon covers the 54-40 claims, or is there something else to it?
The strangest fact about these forgotten countries is that their flags where all designed with microsoft paint.
Lol. I did literally recreate the Madawaska flag in Paint based on its description because all the ones I could find online had copyright issues. All the other ones were either public domain or you can blame the people in the image credits.
this video is probably the only instance wherein bears were mentioned as wanting to intervene in politics #random #what
Haha, yeah. There's a lot of cases where bears are used as a metaphor (like Ronald Reagan's 'Bear in the Woods' ad) but actual, real life bears? Pretty rare.
This video would be taken down by the CIA once it gets attention
Dude, change your profile pic away from the swastika or I'll have to remove your comment
@@SignoreGalilei
Yeah pretty much I expected. Sorry I was trying to do some test on how the world is reacting today. Just changed my pfp an hour ago and I already got 6 people mentioning my pfp and 4 tried insulting me. Sorry I'll change it back
@@hunterofdarkness8329 You're good now, thanks for changing it back.
No mention of Hawaii?
I've answered this in another comment thread, but the gist is that I didn't feature Native American or Pacific Island nations in the video because they existed before the US so they didn't feel like "America's" forgotten countries. Hawaii's crest is toward the beginning of the video though.
Gregor McGregor is probably the most Scottish name that a Scott has ever scotted
Well, maybe Scott Manley gives him a run for his money.
Peteoria?
I live in a place that was under control by Russia, Spain, the U.S., and Britain.
Pacific Northwest?
@@SignoreGalilei specifically British Columbia but yes.
@@NotAKoenigsegg British Columbia was never under Russian control. There were only Russian CLAIMS
@@JohnSmith-sl2qc 0:08
@@JohnSmith-sl2qc same thing. they claim they own it. at least that's how it worked for the British. and yes they owned the north coast of the Americas (BC and Alaska)
We still call it the Conch Republic
Nice!
Indian Stream Republic will rise again!
Fun fact: no Texan is gonna forget that they were independent, and will gladly tell you so.
#texit
#texit #brexit
@@nitroxylictv but brexit was about leaving the EU, not a nation. Also there isn't majority support for independence in Texas, there is Scotland and the Basque regions of Spain though but they are very much being denied.
Don’t forget 1977 when Martha’s Vineyard declared independence from Massachusetts
Didn't know about that - might include it in a "forgotten states" video if I do that one!
Hawaii was an independent nation before it became a state
Yep. See my answers to other similar comments.
2:15 'The Republic of Ayahuasca'...
i do't know if this would count because it led to the confederacy but what about the republic of south carolina?
Another commenter (Mr. Pete) made this same point, lots of states seceded and were their own countries briefly before becoming the Confederacy. I guess I just lumped them all in with the CSA as a whole though.
its fine i just didn't see any comments about it so I just left this one
@@SignoreGalilei I feel like the more interesting story is about the states that did the opposite.
You forgot to mention Hawaii
I put Hawaii's crest on screen in the introduction when I mentioned Pacific island nations, but they definitely could have gotten their own section.
I'm officially renouncing my citizenship and seceding to join the Conch Republic.
Glory to the mighty Conch!
The way you said Rio grande makes me mad.
That's fair. I don't trust my Spanish pronunciation as much as some other languages, so I kinda just phoned that one in.
Don’t forget New Orleans!
before 1492 there used to be even more nations
True, but those were from before the US so I didn't include them. Definitely could have though.
Sabine Free State - disputed land between Spanish Texas and Louisiana Purchase.
That's another weird one. It didn't really have a government, since it was neutral territory. I don't remember if I missed it when researching this video, or if I saw it and decided not to include it. Definitely an interesting bit of history though.
Hawaii...?
I didn't include it because it predated the USA, so it didn't seem like one of "America's forgotten countries"