Why DC's Shaped Like That

Use code HAI60 to get 60% off your first Factor box at bit.ly/3Fm8ooV
Get a Half as Interesting t-shirt: standard.tv/collections/half-...
Suggest a video: halfasinteresting.com/suggest
Follow Sam from Half as Interesting on Instagram: / sam.from.wendover
Follow Half as Interesting on Twitter: / halfinteresting
Discuss this video on Reddit: / halfasinteresting
Video written by Corinne Neustadter
Check out our other channels: kzbin.info...

[@Stratelier]

Fun fact: The constitution did not define Washington DC's area as "100 square miles" but "10 miles square", and THAT is why its overall shape is not just any old 259-square-km rectangle, but in fact a _square._

[@cringeSpeedrunner]

This deserves a comment for the number of likes it has. Here.

[@najrenchelf2751]

Why would you ever phrase it like that? XD

[@HenryLoenwind]

@@najrenchelf2751Because putting the "square" in front of "miles" when writing it in letters instead of superscript numbers is a modern fad. Back then, it still was "miles²" and "miles squared". Give it another hundred years, and we'll be writing "²miles", too.

[@atroll9996]

​@@HenryLoenwind miles tetrated? What?

[@object-official]

​@@atroll9996exactly

[@caseclosed9612]

DC was very specifically told to be there or be square

[@thefuzzman]

"and" be square lol

[@jamiesinclair9227]

😆

[@MyBelch]

Squares are rayciss!

[@UncommonElevators]

2:30 is slightly inaccurate. When DC was created, all of the Virginia side was Alexandria County. In 1870, Alexandria City was seperated from the county when Virginia amended their constitution to make cities not part of counties (this is an oddity among our state laws). In 1920 the remaining part of Alexandria County was renamed to Arlington County.

[@foiledthrice]

the dimensions also say 249 sq km, a double mistake for the next video

[@legoyoda256]

🤓

[@ardentvibe6917]

AND Arlington is a county, and NOT a city - despite having the largest collection of sky scrapers in the entire Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

[@guatemalantomcat]

I guess that wasn't as catchy as "they separated because racism"

[@nataliegrn17]

To one reply: The reason for the split, stated as racism in the video, isn't changed by this comment correction.

[@gotnomoney6779]

If stock images didn't exist, Half as Interesting wouldn't exist.

[@Bacopa68]

Good thing there's Storyblocks, a subscription-based stock photo and video resource.

[@TheElusiveReality]

way back in the day they had an animator but as soon as sam got that storyblocks subscription they took him out back like old yeller

[@mikeymike9926]

No half as interesting would just be half as interesting with just audio

[@tweezerjam]

Its kinda lazy and lame, imo

[@archerelms]

@@tweezerjam eh, I've seen it done a lot worse. I'm here more for the education and humor than the visuals anyway, and the stock photos sometimes add a lot to the humor

[@elduderino007]

1:06 I love using stock footage of Minneapolis for this segment because not only is it not Washing D.C. it's not even the capital of Minnesota.

[@counterfit5]

And that followed Amtrak being represented by the Rhaetian Railway in Switzerland

[@elduderino007]

@@counterfit5 I honestly feel like there are so many meta jokes on this channel if you pay attention.

[@Cheppy44]

Stone arch bridge!

[@lucase.2546]

Was just about to comment this. Is there something HAI knows that we don’t?

[@DVSDoge]

Minnesota mentioned

[@bababababababa6124]

Crazy how this would not even be the smallest state by population if it became a state

[@endermeap6488]

Vermont gang

[@bababababababa6124]

@@endermeap6488 Wy***ng gang

[@Koblac]

@@bababababababa6124 (almost) Alaska gang It’s only like 20k behind! fun fact: alaska has more coastline than the rest of the us combined.

[@jakkakasunset5485]

@@Koblac Are you also Alaskan?

[@TrollGarlic]

The great wyoming void(wyoming is fake)

[@martythestines]

Fun fact: 🤓 I live in York Pennsylvania. It's just West over the river from Lancaster. There are sooo many businesses here that use the phrase First Capital. Why? Because somebody supposedly did a rough draft of something called The Articles of Confederation, where the Country was referred as The United States of America for the first time. Yet technically, it was the "forth" capital when congress met here.

[@mikemotter3685]

Imagine my surprise when I left York and literally nobody knew about the whole First Capital thing

[@johnnessuno6515]

Imagine my surprise when I lived in an adjacent county my whole life and just learned this

[@tatianachichilla2974]

Ayy fellow York resident. At least we got the marquis de Lafayette

[@AndrewPonti]

Imagine my surprise leaving New Cumberland and now live in Southern MD an hour south of DC and and people have no idea about how to correctly say "Lancaster" LOL

[@nuclearbanana1631]

dang i dont care

[@danielgreen1557]

I live in Arlington and I live near the old corner stone of the original stone that marked the corner border between Virginia and DC. today, it just serves as the marker between Arlington (OG DC) and Falls Church.

[@King-kw1mo]

If Va took its land back it should’ve destroyed the stones 👀 seems weird to Keep them up

[@CrackShotCleric]

Also part of the retrogression deal was Virginia gave all rights to ownership of the Potomac River to Maryland, instead of the existing 50/50 split till that point. To this day, Virginia regrets that decision.

[@jk484]

How does it effect them in real life though?

[@CrackShotCleric]

@@jk484 Rights to the Potomac include taxes on anything harvested from it. Fishing and water processing chief among them.

[@bandzdmv]

VA gets the economic stimulus back from DoD. Benefits more off than DC MD. I bet you MD wishes we would have took our land back

[@taoliu3949]

That's not true. Ownership of the Potomac was determined by the original colonial charters.

[@User31129]

Yep, as soon as you step off the Virginia coast of the Potomac and both feet are in the water, you're officially in Maryland (or DC) now.

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

I never knew it was originally a full square, I always thought it was a weird shape because that's just how they do things 🤷🏿‍♀️

[@marmac83]

I see. Did you ever look at a map? Hmm...

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

@@marmac83 No. No I did not. Not ever in my life.

[@marmac83]

@@TS_Mind_Swept clearly

[@TS_Mind_Swept]

@@marmac83 Come to think of it, you should probably try it sometime yourself, instead of those girly magazines all the time

[@marmac83]

@@TS_Mind_Swept misogynistic and geographically illiterate... you're hitting all the nails on the head 🤣

[@Fortzon]

3:40 It's amazing how little foresight the federal government had when making this restriction. Did they really think that Washington never grows enough to need all the land it was given? No wonder Alexandria City and Arlington County wanted to rejoin Virginia (on top of the slave thing) if you restrict new buildings only to the north of the Potomac and don't allow them anything new.

[@timmccarthy872]

You make a good point, BUT, 100 square miles was ludicrously large by 1700s standards. For most of its history, most of the District, even the Maryland part, was forest and farmland, with a small city in the center. Then the automobile made sprawl possible and DC filled out.

[@AaronOfMpls]

@@timmccarthy872 "Then the automobile made sprawl possible and DC filled out." -- Well, mass transit like trains and streetcars allowed it to a lesser extent even before widespread car ownership. But yah, in the 1700s, pretty much every city -- including super-populous ones like London or Istanbul -- was still small enough to walk across. The "10 miles square" the Constitution allowed probably seemed like a more-than-reasonable city-state.

[@Fortzon]

@@timmccarthy872 Yeah I get that 100 square miles was massive in 1700s but why give all that land if you aren't going to use it to its full potential? Maybe they gave that much land because 100 is a nice round number? 😁

[@timmccarthy872]

@@Fortzon Well, George Washington, land speculator that he was, thought it WOULD fill out the district and become the economic center of the United States. Which was, shall we say, fanciful.

[@zerg539]

@@timmccarthy872 it probably could have been if it was allowed to grow and the hamstringing of potential growth on the Virginia side by blocking building for nearly half a century hurt things as well. If you look at everything inside the Beltway it is an economic center

[@tomthedespoiler]

LOL at 2:17: VA being shown as a sno radar blockers' sign while MD gets the Domino Sugar billboard in Baltimore is highly accurate to the DMV.

[@insertchannelnamehere8685]

Yeah, There's a reason PG county has 120 road fatalities every year while Fairfax County has just 40 despite a larger population. The speed enforcement here is no joke.

[@SkylineFTW97]

@@insertchannelnamehere8685 It's probably more to do with the roads themselves. I have enough coworkers who live in Fairfax county who have seen all the ways to circumvent the speed enforcement. Virginia actually takes care of it's roads. Montgomery and PG county really don't. Just this past Friday, I saw a car flip between Poolesville and Gaithersburg because he hit a nasty bump while trying to avoid hitting a deer at night. The driver only suffered minor injuries, but the car was totaled and it could've easily been worse. Another thing to note is that no matter how strict Virginia cops are, they can only react to what they see. Maryland arguably has more speed enforcement in terms of frequency of patrols (this is admittedly anecdotal, but I have been across the Potomac in Fairfax county enough to make a somewhat educated observation), plus Maryland also makes extensive use of speed cameras while Virginia has very, very few. People will always circumvent speed limits some way, the best you can do is account for that in terms of road maintenance. Seriously though, Montgomery county roads suck. PG's too. I blew a tire and bent a rim about 4 years ago due to a deep pothole at night along Old Gunpowder road near Laurel, and it took them a YEAR to fix it after I reported it. And I know I wasn't the only one to report it.

[@HurtsEnd]

@@SkylineFTW97 couldn’t have said this better, especially the cameras in md vs actually speed patrolling in VA

[@samiam619]

@@SkylineFTW97 We are in Michigan. MD tried to nail my Dad with a speeding ticket once. We sent a letter that said, yes we own a car with that number, but it’s not a 2004 Ford Focus but a 1931 Ford Victoria. Plus my Dad hadn’t been to MD in fifty years plus had been dead for five years! Never heard from them…

[@mattguey-lee4845]

Fun fact I grew up in the South Arlington neighborhood of Fairlington. Behind one of my friend's house there was a mile marker for the Washington DC boundary.

[@miconis123]

I forgot about Farlington and misremembered both sides of 395 being Shirlington. I spent a lot of years in Clarendon before all the sky scrapers took over.

[@MyBelch]

May be a fact. Decidedly not fun.

[@davidnotonstinnett]

Virginia later outlawed cities from absorbing surrounding counties, which was a practice the metropolitan areas did in response to white flight to try and keep their tax base. This ultimately hurt the state as a whole because now Richmond and Petersburg can never reach their full economic potential. Richmond is a little tiny city, but if you include the surrounding counties it rounds out to become a much more respectably sized entity. Which is all a part of the story of how Virginia went from mother presidents and capital of the south to the one with the Pentagon.

[@applesyrupgaming]

i dont want fairfax and arlington counties to be stolen by a city because sovreignty is needed for the most economically productive counties and not imperialism by evil cities. They outlawed it because city aggression in the hampton roads region had extinguished the counties.

[@james_giant_peach]

True, but hey at least they got their land back what did Maryland get?

[@heyvsauce8444]

Everyone knows old compromises never have gone bad

[@hhiippiittyy]

Maybe about 3/5ths of the time.

[@Name-qj9ql]

@@hhiippiittyy 🤣

[@mikemotter3685]

Tom Scott next year: why these stones are all around DC

[@beckikennedy12]

OMG that would be so cool! I have one in my backyard basically

[@krallja]

they’re actually bricks

[@petematthews9346]

I believe the term is Retrocession, not retrogression. The former means to give back, whereas the latter means to move backewards (hence your pun 😂).

[@OrangeDied]

At least its better than most town borders, which looks like somebody drew a reasonable border with powder then snorted it.

[@icantthinkofaname8139]

“Wow, let’s see how Sam can stretch a single sentence in a 6-minute video”

[@Maxime_K-G]

Always

[@mahadaalvi]

0:01 Then why do people still call it “a capital carved out of two different states”? It’s clearly only carved out of Maryland now.

[@dylanf3108]

We don’t want them. Most MD residents would vote against it.

[@bandzdmv]

@@dylanf3108 doubt it. Do you know the economic value of DC? Billions

[@dylanf3108]

@@bandzdmv And that was your first mistake right there. You didn’t consider the social and cultural implications and made it seem as though most cared about the economics.

[@toahero5925]

@@dylanf3108 Can confirm. Rural Illinois residents would give anything to kick Chicago out of their state.

[@MasonGreenWeed]

I think large enough city like Chicago or NY should be made their own City-states like Bristol or Frankfurt

[@yellowlarch]

As someone from Washington state, I describe DC as the place I’m not from. “No not *that* Washington, the other one!”

[@elifuentes7070]

Ah the only state that has to say that it is a state.

[@krashd]

Imagine being from Washington, UK then, the Washington family's ancestral estate. American tourists who stumble upon it often enquire as to why we Brits named a town after a famous American who "kicked our asses" completely oblivious to the fact that the founding fathers of their nation were British up until 1776 and the more prominent founders (governors, generals, diplomats, etc) came from British nobility and had family and lands here.

[@elifuentes7070]

@@krashd when people talk of Washington, they refer to the district, the state or the man himself. Not the podunk British town his ancestors came from.

[@miconis123]

Working outside of Washington DC for two decades, I never heard a local call it anything but DC or The District.

[@Ceruleansquid-lo3iv]

As someone who moved to a different state, I have to say "no, not that Washington," then I have to say "yes, but no, not by Seattle" and cry a little inside because thats the only city anyone knows about. The amount of people who think it's the capital is kind of insulting.

[@xp_studios7804]

"DC East was thriving!" is probably a sentence that nobody has uttered for 150 years

[@MyBelch]

Much like post-apartheid South Africa is much better off than before.

[@five12man]

I'm from Alexandria so this is very interesting to me! Also lived all around DC Metro, it's cool but it's incredibly crowded.

[@zian01000]

So the next side of the river is the united state capital

[@samiam619]

I’m in upper Lower Michigan. We’re visiting BIL and family over Turkey Day in Chantilly, you ain’t whistling Dixie about TMP! Too many people. A week for good food and I’m ready to go home to Peace and Quiet…

[@Kraken9911]

Lived 3 years in old town Alexandria while I was stationed in DC. Most interesting years of my life. Got to see so many things and places I'd end up recognizing in movies often.

[@five12man]

@@Kraken9911 you know about the ice building on the diagonal? Good times, but that town is so different...

[@TheRandomguy06]

I grew up on the border of Alexandria, and an original stone marker was on my street.

[@SkylineFTW97]

I grew up around downtown Silver Spring, near one of them, the one off of East West highway.

[@rhino5551212]

Me too. Belle View

[@KevinWindsor1971]

The old boundary stones can still be found in Virginia.

[@nazamroth8427]

"Why DC's Shaped Like That" Amusingly rare in the case of the US, the answer is "Historical reasons"

[@KaitouKaiju]

Not really rare The US is one of the few developed countries whose entire history is well documented

[@nazamroth8427]

@@KaitouKaiju Yeah, because they have so little of it, half of it is still in living memory.

[@greatsageequaltoheaven8115]

@@nazamroth8427 Cry more brit.

[@danielbishop1863]

@@nazamroth8427 : 123 years is a bit longer than "living memory".

[@teotab4293]

This video feels much more savage than usual

[@relhen30]

My thoughts exactly.😂

[@marlonmoncrieffe0728]

Leftists do not like America. It is just and always an [insert X here]-ist country.

[@Bob1923Dobbs]

"Are women real people or just fun, decorative objects you can put in your house?" 🤣

[@MyBelch]

Wimmin are rayciss!

[@curlyparmesan]

Oof the Amtrak comment. This one was full of heavy hitters, nice.

[@Scwarzkop]

3:23 Washinton County seems like a a cool county to me!!!

[@AndrewPonti]

It's crazy because there is a Washington County, Maryland already, although I suspect it came in a decade after this..

[@Scwarzkop]

@@AndrewPonti The highlight was the spelling mistake

[@schris3]

4:15 Think about it, slavery cheapened labor costs, so in their minds the cost of leaving would be offset in the long term.

[@qprx]

As a non-American, I’ve always wondered why nearly every US state has perfectly square edges.

[@bababababababa6124]

Yeah looks weird Americans were high asf when drawing state borders and just though fck it imma use a ruler

[@zachryder3150]

The reason is because they made them the *F* up!

[@KitsuneRogue]

I mean when you own it all anyways why bother making them complex?

[@yeahnoway111]

@@bababababababa6124 But doesnt using a ruler make way more sense than drawing a line by hand that just goes where ever

[@sokonek1]

The actual reason is that the US surveyed out the entire country in 1 mile squares, then combined 36 of those into townships six miles by six miles and then kept going up from that.

[@archerelms]

Sam, I need you to pull a Hank Green and make way more channels so I can watch your channels even more often. Ben and Adam wouldn't have any problem with that, right?

[@carsonswitalski9098]

Is that not what Jet Lag is?

[@gamespotlive3673]

Arlington used to be called Alexandria county. It only changed to Arlington (after the name of the house Robert E. Lee owner there) to create some distinction between it and Alexandria after they split some time later.

[@Starius65]

Hang on, all this information seems strangely familiar... as if I had seen it on a similar channel a little over a month ago...

[@snitzer05]

Wait where did you see a similar video?

[@MushroomMan64]

hmm

[@MichelleD2023]

The RealLifeLore video was a much longer video that addressed potential DC statehood. This is a goofy six minute video about why DC isn’t shaped like a square. Joseph doesn’t own the exclusive rights to all facts about DC, and you can’t claim plagiarism unless Sam lifted his video word for word, which he didn’t. If you’re going to vaguebook and make handwavy accusations about two guys who are friends off of KZbin, try again with more substantial proof.

[@Starius65]

@@MichelleD2023 hey now I'm not calling plagiarism here, just a... _spooky coincidence..._

[@Gizmote]

I'm from Arlington and sometimes jokingly refer to it as "the rest of DC's square" or "the least southern part of the South". Also, DC statehood for the win!

[@EliF-ge5bu]

Eh that will never happen. Do you think republican states would allow another Democrat stronghold state?

[@King-kw1mo]

Arlington is still shaped like a percent square corner piece, if you join Dc, Arlington and Alexandria together it’s still a perfect square 👀

[@King-kw1mo]

Also the original boundary stones are still up in Va and Md, it’s like 35 out of 40 still standing

[@applesyrupgaming]

​@@King-kw1mo Alexandria's west end makes it not a square

[@King-kw1mo]

@@applesyrupgaming true but the original boundary stones are still in Alexandria currently… Actually 35 out of the 40 original boundary still surrounds Dc… I’ve seen about 10 so far Jones point is my favorite…

[@pummer]

So basically DC is in the south because racism… and DC is not in the south because racism.

[@MarloSoBalJr]

"Perfectly balanced. As all things shall be..."

[@danielbishop1863]

It was right on the border during the Civil War.

[@aidanaverbakh8296]

1:10 got so excited when i recognized MY minneapolis in thr stock footage

[@hazeldejesus]

It’s Lank-ister not Lan-caster. We use the Dutch pronunciation:)

[@tejaswoman]

Interesting. That's also true for the Dallas suburb of the same name, a fact I found out when we were heading to canvass it earlier this year and were cautioned to say correctly.

[@TheHylianBatman]

And that decision went on to bother geography nuts for hundreds of years.

[@timothyhart4269]

1:07 stock footage of Minneapolis was an interesting choice

[@theodoresmith3353]

I have a $5 amtrak trip coming up. It was BY FAR the cheapest option.

[@moolikethecow1172]

Ah yes, my hometown. This is one of my back pocket fun facts 😂

[@mirzaahmed6589]

2:07 sounds like Bir Tawil.

[@kestekrafts1580]

do a video on why maps are oriented with the north upward (or forward if said map is laying on a tabletop)

[@jackielinde7568]

Whoo Hoo!!! Phoenix AZ Represent! (00:19 Although, we're a bit cockeyed in that shot.)

[@jscheunemann]

Sam, at 1:09 you use a stock city clip for Minneapolis, not DC. I know because the Stone Arch Bridge is a landmark and the skyline from it is my fav spot for photos

[@samiam619]

Not to mention that DC doesn’t have many grain storage facilities in it…

[@CarsMutley1995]

4:38 Has it actually grown exponentially? Or are do you just mean "a lot"?

[@bobbyhamm4865]

I still cannot figure out what the 109th word is supposed to be, when I counted I got "the"

[@davidroddini1512]

I think that the number was slightly off. He mentioned the constitution right around that point (although it was not the 109th word)

[@AiNaKa]

@@davidroddini1512 i tried counting 109 words and didnt come up with constitution either. in hindsight though i just realized at 4:58 there's an asterisk in the bottom right clarifying the word is constitution

[@ABomb1972]

There was also the matter of The War of 1812. When the British sailed up the Potomac, Alexandria's citizens asked that they not the city's docks as this was really their only source of revenue. The British agreed and instead went to the District and set fire to it instead. After the War, Congress was vindictive and limited spending to turn Alexandria and the surrounding county, into a forgotten backwater. When Alexandria finally prevailed on Virginia to take them back, Congress basically said good riddance.

[@mattcat65]

Does anyone know why Congress didn't take back Alexandria and Arlington during or after the Civil War? It would seem to make sense!

[@nicholasbelardo4273]

Almost like ACT in Australia. Although, not "half as square", but does have one side of its border as just a perfect straight line

[@arwon2227]

That's a surveying quirk, the borders were to be defined by water catchments so for the rest of the way they follow the ridges of mountains. The two ends of the straight line were two known points, trigonometry stations from which they then mapped out the entire rest of the way. It's also going to stop being a single straight line in a few years when a small piece of land is transferred to ACT so they can build a new suburban development spilling out from West Belconnen.

[@adrianrafaelmagana804]

Sam why did to bless us with a clip of someone biking the stone arch bridge in Minneapolis when talking about the Capitol ...I absolutely love it but it's not even the capitol of our state, even though most people do assume Minneapolis is Minnesota's Capitol....anyways i love your work, especially when it has a clip of the city i live in :)

[@highway2heaven91]

St. Paul is Minnesota’s Capital

[@room34]

Me at 1:06 : Ooh! Minneapolis! But why? Oh well, can't wait to watch the rest of the video. Must post now!

[@room34]

OK, after having watched the rest of the video (except the ad, sorry Sam & Co.), the answer is clear (and predictable): stock footage!

[@jamesbarton1969]

Alexandrea lack Plantations but they did recognize that growing would be far more profitable that 20,000 in taxes. Not everything was about slavery

[@laurin4405]

I enjoy the Humor you intersperse within the Educational aspect... Short snippits are easy to understand and retain... Thanks

[@anneonymous4884]

The "rest of the square" should really be added back since it's all federal offices.

[@IkeOkerekeNews]

Probably not going to happen unless the status of DC changes.

[@SkylineFTW97]

Federal offices go well past that on the Maryland side too. There's several large federal campuses well into Montgomery and PG county. For example, the FDA campus in White Oak, the USDA campus in Beltsville, the NASA campus in Greenbelt, and the HHS campus (NIH) in Bethesda. And there's plenty more of them. There's lots of offices too. Like the NRC office between Bethesda and Rockville, the NIST office in Gaithersburg, and the NOAA office in downtown Silver Spring (granted this one is less than 10 minutes walking distance from the DC border).

[@marmac83]

If DC absorbed the rest of the square, Virginia would become a red state again.

[@noahshowalter9277]

At 4:07, I’ve always heard that called retrocession. Is retrogression the same thing?

[@mrtank2010]

1:27 As a Pennsylvanian it is pronounced lane-kist-er and not lan-cast-er.

[@davepatton7932]

Being from Arlington VA it was neat to relearn

[@kaisercortex4115]

I only clicked on this video because as a Marylander I yearn to be relevant and this video mentions Maryland.

[@terrapin6826]

You sound kinda like the guy from Wendover.

[@wesdemers258]

this is their second channel its the same guy

[@terrapin6826]

@@wesdemers258 yes I know chill it’s a joke

[@wesdemers258]

@@terrapin6826 never know with people

[@warriorson7979]

He's also the guy from RealLifeLore...😌

[@NonTwinBrothers]

2:28 why did you guys animate the 100 mi² at the side of the square? That makes it looks like a length measurement, which the unit is not.

[@jsonr]

It's the best place to put it and the average viewer of this channel knows what a square mile is

[@Blaster_Unity_UB]

I have a feeling that this video will go up high.

[@CEOdawg]

As a DC native, thanks for enlightening me on the finer points as to the why D.C. is the why it is now, as I already knew that it happened.

[@jasonhaven7170]

Sorry the Whites were so racist.

[@natenae8635]

Is it just me that wants DC to be whole again.

[@breeze9819]

Anyone from the Virginia side really does not want that to happen

[@EdgeDC]

I live in Virginia, and I’d like to see this happen (along with DC statehood, but that’s another matter). If nothing else, than to annoy smug Arlingtonians. 😁

[@dcseain]

Arlington County was Alexandria County at the time. Alexandria County became Arlington County in 1920.

[@rbzw4787]

YESSSSSSS A HAI VID ABOUT MY HOME

[@432leumas]

"Snuck isn't a word Conan. And you've been to Harvard and you should know that."

[@EdgeDC]

Since the standard way to present maps is having North pointing up, DC is more commonly (and accurately, IMO) referred to as diamond-shaped, not square-shaped.

[@blue9multimediagroup]

Diamonds are longer on 2 sides. This was equidistant on each side

[@EdgeDC]

@@blue9multimediagroup The only requirement to be defined as a diamond, also known as a rhombus, is that the shape have 4 sides that are the same length. It does not in fact require that they are different lengths on any side - in fact, that is not a diamond at all (strictly speaking). Put it this way - a square is a special case of a diamond, but not all diamonds are square. The city of Washington D.C. is divided into 4 quadrants, centered on the Capitol - Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest - by drawing lines between the corners - lines which run North-South and East-West. Obviously the Southeast quadrant is significantly smaller than the others, due to Arlington being reclaimed by Virginia on the other side of the Potomac. In any case, I submit that due to its orientation, and the way that it is divided, DC is more commonly referred to as a diamond (at least, it used to be, with Arlington). Think of the bases in baseball - what shape is that area called? A baseball diamond.

[@kiosk5595]

Clearly slavery was the prime driver of secession but it’s interesting he brought up how the Virginia side wasn’t allowed to build buildings, especially since Rosslyn is way more developed than DC proper today and has a skyline that overlooks the capitol rather than the other way around

[@Hibbs4Prez]

No one goes to Roslyn and thinks its more developed than DC. The place has an okay downtown that isn't distinguishable from a hundred other small city downtowns in the nation. And DC has Always had a limit on how tall buildings can be and most of us residents prefer it that way. Its part of what makes the city unique.

[@KellyWu04]

I didn’t know Factor is owned by Hello Fresh. I thought you jumped ship 😂

[@glennhower9265]

Okay, granted the Compromise of 1790 does occur after the intermission, however the Constitutional Convention occurs during "Non Stop" BEFORE the intermission. Yes, this is completely pedantic, and yes, I will definitely take the opportunity to be technically correct, Sam!

[@parallax_review]

@4:06 retrocession?

[@arimarismacon]

Things you learn that add to your that list of things that seem like they would have been so simple to fix in the beginning, but somehow it didn't happen that way.

[@davidlandry8621]

at 3:23 you misspelled Washington County ... forgot the G spot ! oups ! 😆

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

The G spot is a myth

[@CompuBrains27]

Lancaster with two long As is how you pronounce the town outside of Buffalo, NY. The place with the Amish outside of Philly is pronounced "Lan-kiss-ter." Also the constitution specifies DC is to be 10 miles squared, not 100 square miles. What's the difference? Well the way the constitution puts it, you can't have a DC that's 1 by 100 miles, whereas that would still be OK the way you said it.

[@MrKioder]

Two places with the same name in the US, are not only both pronounced differently to each other, the pronounciation is also different to the place in England where the name originates. .....

[@boarbot7829]

We pronounce it with single a which is correct. Lamkisster is ridiculous

[@thefareplayer2254]

Everyone in PA: “it’s pronounced ‘LAN-castirr’”

[@flodnak]

LANG-kisstir, thank you very much. At least he got the "ng" part correct. (signed, grew up on Cabbage Hill)

[@Dmazza99]

0:07 is that a Bob Ross shirt!

[@Raisinininin]

Yes

[@TastyChubz]

What's the 109th word!? I'm to sleepy to count. This was the first video I watched when I woke up

[@jonasgrenild]

Constitution

[@TrollGarlic]

This is quite a random comment Nevermind i finished the video

[@TastyChubz]

@@jonasgrenild appreciate it man 🙏

[@VEVOJavier]

@@jonasgrenild thanks king

[@jonasgrenild]

np fam

[@scottgoebl6194]

Love it. Don’t hold back. 😊

[@Parry.Hotter]

Out of bounds map, but we might go there by using the console.

[@musicaleuphoria8699]

D.C.: Arlington, Alexandria, we have to square.

[@TheKewlPerson]

Rumor has it, that no one else was in the room where it happened

[@andrefreeman7025]

1:00 The reason for creating D.C. was reasonable concerns of state jurisdiction over the federal government. If that district were in some state, or even self-become a state it would have devastating aftermath on the independence of the federal government. Imagine if congress, the senate, and the white house were under the jurisdiction of California or Texas. That district is for the federal government body, not for a permanent resident. This small district is not a state for a very good reason.

[@adammoldover8769]

I think if DC becomes a state, the federal government buildings would remain in their own jurisdiction. Correct me if I'm wrong

[@minutemansam1214]

@@adammoldover8769 You are right.

[@smooooth_]

DC statehood legislation proposed has excluded the section of the city that contains federal buildings. This fear is antiquated and imaginary

[@andrefreeman7025]

@@adammoldover8769 Those who found that districk and separate it from Maryland was not worry about the buildins itself, but they was worry about the goverment body, thats means the whole district.

[@arwon2227]

It's funny how little this ended up mattering in every federation that formed after the US and which had capitals where people had voting rights and representation.

[@ardsam6922]

Havre de Grace also nearly became a capital!

[@daveharrison84]

I'm imagining an America where the northeast urban corridor stops at Baltimore and Virginia is a completely southern state with no major cities north of Richmond.

[@jasons8479]

I'm pretty sure DC's geography is the least of its problems.

[@Blake-jl8lh]

Let's not forget the North was also still VERY racist they just had the wacky idea that maybe you shouldn't own people. Though they still joined into the human zoo craze later on so I guess they weren't very firm in that belief either...

[@mister_i9245]

Its called retrocession not retrogression

[@earthandmore1385]

Nice video, keep it up ! 😊

[@ilajoie3]

I'm too lazy to count the words. What's the 109th word?

[@jonahs92]

1:33 1. Texas was not part of the United States during the events covered in this video. 2. Texas is not a Southern state. This is a common misconception. Texas can be considered either Southwestern or Western.

[@minutemansam1214]

Texas is considered a southern state.

[@jonahs92]

@@minutemansam1214 Nope. You clearly have never been to Texas.

[@loganhaynes9176]

@@jonahs92 it was apart of the confederacy so that’s why people say it is in the south

[@typeofguyto]

To answer the most important question if the video: They are indeed just fun decorative objects

[@alexwalker5716]

I was gonna report this, but I figured your just trying to be funny (keyword:trying) At least I hope this is sarcastic.

[@typeofguyto]

@Alex Walker so did you report the video then? you cracked a smile when he made the joke in the video but not when I made the same damn joke in the comments? Makes sense

[@PunnamarajVinayakTejas]

I counted and the 109th word is constitution. (actually I counted it as the 108th, and 109th is "specifically", but I'm gonna assume I forgot to count a word.

[@cogwheel42]

1:34 - Southern Delicates

[@deleted-something]

I love how Virginia couldn't accept that lol

[@biscoito1r]

DC should just give the land back to Maryland and a new capital should be established in Nebraska. It is in the middle of the country, it would develop the area, residents of DC would finally have their representation.

[@CEOdawg]

As a DC native, I am totally not with that. For one thing, Maryland doesn't want us back. Two, the identity of DC, Alexandria and Arlington, and the three Maryland counties are the DC Metro area. While having a Congresswoman that could vote on the floor would be nice, what about the Senators that we, a city with 700,000, should have as we have been, basically governing ourselves for over 100 years. The city itself has so much Federal land mixed in that Real Life Lore actually did a 20-minute video on why DC wants Statehood and what's holding that up.

[@d00vinator]

AND there's no swamp in Nebraska!

[@mhdibm7515]

Kinda like the story with ottawa and canberra

[@howiehall4622]

Hold on a second, at 1:32 - Texas was not an Original 13 Colony.

[@ichheissedamian]

I wonder if there was anyone else in the room, where this all happened

[@terrashiii3873]

As a DC citizen this makes me happy. Screw you government, we want representation 😡

[@brookeking8559]

You have proportionately better representation in the Electoral College than residents of any state other than Wyoming. It’s not everything, but it’s something.

[@WillmobilePlus]

You vote in either Virgina or Maryland. DC is not supposed to be a d@mn state. It is supposed to be neutral ground. Frankly there should have never been any residents.

[@AC-im4hi]

Move

[@brookeking8559]

@@AC-im4hi the pre-revolution colonists had zero representation in their national government and would have to undertake a dangerous, weeks long journey to move to where they would get representation. DC residents get a very strong voice in the election of the national executive, who must sign any federal tax or other act into law or veto it. DC residents often can relocate a few subway stops away to get full representation (though less in the Electoral College) while keeping the same job. The colonists had no options that came close to the last.

[@AC-im4hi]

@@EnigmaticLucas If the gulag is your thing then go for it.