Ever looked at a map of United States in 1787 and wondered if the printer just forgot half the lines? It’s a mess. Honestly, if you were to show a modern GPS-trained teenager a map from that specific year, they’d probably think it was a fantasy world or a weirdly distorted version of the East Coast.
There were only thirteen states. Well, sort of.
The year 1787 was the pivot point. It's when the Constitutional Convention was happening in Philadelphia. People were arguing in sweltering heat about how to run a country that, frankly, didn't really know where its own borders ended. You have to realize that back then, the "United States" was more of a loose collection of roommates who barely liked each other, let alone a unified superpower. The map was a chaotic reflection of that uncertainty.
The Massive Void West of the Appalachians
If you find an authentic map of United States in 1787, the first thing that hits you is the sheer emptiness. Or rather, the "Western Lands."
Today we see Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In 1787? That was the Northwest Territory. It was a giant, vaguely defined block of woods and river valleys that the federal government was desperately trying to figure out how to sell. They needed the money. The Revolutionary War had left the country basically broke.
But here’s the kicker: several states claimed that land for themselves.
Connecticut thought it owned a "Western Reserve" in what is now northern Ohio. Virginia? Virginia was acting like it owned everything from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, including what we now call Kentucky and West Virginia. It was a cartographic nightmare. These "sea-to-sea" charters from the old colonial days meant that on paper, a state could theoretically extend forever until it hit the Pacific Ocean, though by 1787, the Treaty of Paris had at least capped the western border at the Mississippi River.
The Missing Pieces: Vermont and Florida
You won't find Vermont as a state on a map of United States in 1787.
It’s weird, right? Vermont was basically a rogue republic at the time. They called themselves the Vermont Republic, and they weren't one of the original thirteen. New York claimed Vermont belonged to them. New Hampshire also claimed it. Meanwhile, the people living there—the Green Mountain Boys and their kin—essentially told both states to kick rocks. They functioned as an independent country for fourteen years before finally joining the union in 1791.
Then look south.
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Florida wasn't American. Not even close. In 1787, Florida was firmly back in Spanish hands. After the British lost the Revolutionary War, they had to give Florida back to Spain. If you were standing in Georgia in 1787, looking south meant looking at a foreign empire. The border wasn't some neat line; it was a swampy, contested zone where runaway slaves, Creek Indians, and Spanish soldiers created a complex geopolitical soup.
And the Gulf Coast? Forget about it. Alabama and Mississippi didn't exist. That was mostly "Old Southwest" territory, heavily populated by the Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Cherokee nations, with Spain hovering over the edges near New Orleans.
Why the Northwest Ordinance Changed Everything
In the middle of the Constitutional Convention, the Confederation Congress (the old government) passed the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. This is arguably one of the most important documents in American history that nobody remembers from high school.
It created a blueprint for how to turn "territory" into "states."
Before this, there was a real fear that the West would just become colonies of the East. Imagine Virginia having its own colonies in Ohio. That would have been a disaster. The Ordinance said no. It mandated that once a territory hit a certain population, it could apply for statehood on equal footing with the original thirteen.
It also did something massive: it banned slavery in the Northwest Territory.
When you look at a map of United States in 1787, you are looking at the exact moment the "North" and "South" began to be defined by more than just climate. The Ohio River became a jagged, liquid border between two entirely different social and economic systems.
The Overlapping Mess of the "South"
The southern portion of the map was arguably even more confusing than the North. North Carolina claimed everything all the way to the Mississippi, which we now know as Tennessee. Georgia was even more ambitious. In 1787, Georgia claimed a massive swath of land that stretched all the way to the river, covering most of modern-day Alabama and Mississippi.
They called these the "Yazoo Lands."
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It eventually led to one of the biggest real estate frauds in American history—the Yazoo land scandal—where the Georgia legislature was bribed to sell millions of acres to private companies for pennies. This chaos is why the borders in the South took so much longer to settle than those in the North. The map of United States in 1787 shows Georgia as a giant, horizontal rectangle that doesn't look anything like the Peach State we know today.
Maine: Just a "District"
Check the Northeast. If you see Maine on a 1787 map, it’s usually labeled as the "District of Maine."
It belonged to Massachusetts.
Imagine living in Portland, Maine, and having to deal with laws made in Boston, with a whole other state (New Hampshire) sitting right in the middle of your commute. It was a logistical headache that wouldn't be resolved until the Missouri Compromise in 1820. In 1787, the residents were already getting annoyed, but for the time being, the map just showed Massachusetts as a fragmented state with a giant northern appendage.
Mapping the Unknown
Mapping technology in 1787 was... optimistic.
Cartographers like Abel Buell, who produced the first map of the new nation by an American in 1784, relied on a mix of old British surveys and "best guesses." Longitude was still notoriously hard to calculate accurately on land. This is why many of the internal borders on a map of United States in 1787 look like straight lines that suddenly stop or veer off into "unexplored" territory.
They knew where the coast was. They knew where the major rivers were. Everything else was a bit of a toss-up.
Specific details on these maps often included "Indian Towns" or "Forts" rather than cities. Chicago? A swamp. Atlanta? Not even a dream yet. The centers of power were Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Charleston. If you weren't on the coast or a major navigable river like the Hudson or the Delaware, you were basically off the grid.
The Mississippi River: The Edge of the World
In 1787, the Mississippi River was the absolute edge of the American universe.
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Anything west of that river was Spanish Louisiana. This wasn't just a border; it was a wall. The United States didn't have the right to use the port of New Orleans freely, which was a huge problem for farmers in Kentucky and Tennessee. They couldn't get their crops to market easily without that river.
When you study a map of United States in 1787, notice how the western border is a jagged line following the river's curves. It represents the limit of American ambition at that specific moment. The idea of "Manifest Destiny" hadn't been coined yet. Most people in 1787 thought the country was already too big to be governed effectively.
How to Read an Authentic 1787 Map
If you’re looking at a reproduction or an original (lucky you), keep an eye out for these specific markers to verify its "1787-ness":
- The Northwest Territory: It should be labeled as such, or perhaps as "Western Lands," but definitely not yet broken into states.
- The Proclamation Line: Some older maps still showed the 1763 British line along the Appalachians, though by 1787, Americans were ignoring it and pouring over the mountains.
- Spanish Florida: It must show Florida as separate from the U.S.
- The "Seven Ranges": You might see a small grid in what is now eastern Ohio. This was the very beginning of the Public Land Survey System—the start of the "grid" that defines the American West today.
What This Means for History Buffs Today
The map of United States in 1787 is a snapshot of a country in its "awkward teenage years." It was growing too fast for its clothes, it had no money, and it was arguing with its neighbors.
Understanding this map helps you realize that the United States wasn't an inevitability. It was a series of compromises and land deals. The straight lines we see on modern maps are the result of decades of surveys, wars, and treaties that hadn't happened yet in 1787.
To truly grasp the scale of the changes, it's worth comparing a 1787 map side-by-side with one from 1803 (after the Louisiana Purchase). The difference is staggering. But in 1787, the dream was much smaller, much more fragile, and much more eastern-focused.
Practical Steps for Further Exploration
If you want to get your hands on high-resolution versions of these maps without spending a fortune, there are a few "must-visit" digital archives.
- The David Rumsey Map Collection: This is the gold standard. You can overlay historical maps onto Google Earth to see exactly where 1787 borders would lie in your backyard today.
- Library of Congress Geography and Map Division: They have the digital scans of the Abel Buell map. It’s the closest thing to seeing the world through the eyes of a 1787 citizen.
- The Newberry Library's Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: If you want to get really nerdy, this shows how internal state lines shifted almost year-by-year.
Stop looking at the 1787 map as a finished product. Look at it as a draft. It was a work in progress, much like the Constitution that was being written at the exact same time. The lines were blurry because the future was blurry.
Check the digital archives at the Library of Congress to see the high-resolution scans of the Buell map. Compare the "Western Reserve" claims of Connecticut to modern-day Ohio city layouts to see how colonial footprints still exist in 21st-century property law. Verify the 1787 boundary of your own state to see if you would have been "American," "Territorial," or "Foreign" in the eyes of the Founders.