Border States

[Dave Wilton]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Dan Goodman
> Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 11:34 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Border States
>
> > > I think it's the border between North and South.
> >
> > Yes, the "border states" are Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and
> > Missouri. These were slave states, but voted not to secede from the
> > union in 1861.
> >
> > McCarver is from Tennessee, which is not a border state. Although he
> > did play much of his career for St. Louis in Missouri.
>
> I'm fairly sure it _was_ a border state.  I'm certain it was a slave
> state.

No, Tennessee was never considered one of the "border states." It seceded
from the Union and joined the Confederacy in 1861. After the war, Tennessee
did, however, quickly ratify the 14th Amendment and was readmitted to the
Union before the Radical Republicans took control of Congress in 1867. It
therefore escaped the penalties of Reconstruction that were visited on the
other states of the Confederacy.

Of course none of the this has anything to do with linguistics (aside from
the definition of "border state").