What states make up the Mid-west?

[arcadian]

Poll question: What states make up the Mid-west?

In your mind. I'll state what I think are the core group.

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnnesota, Iowa, Missouri.

[norepubsin08]

1. All those you mentioned except Missouri

they didn't vote blue so I don't consider them a part of the US

[harun]

35. I usually don't consider Missouri as part of it either.

I am from Wisconsin.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I'd basically agree with your list, except...

I think of the middlewest as east of the Mississippi River...

I dunno!

:shrug:

[Cleita]

3. I once had a boyfriend who arrogantly informed that there was

no such thing as the Middle West, but only Middle America. Oh he was a doctor in Geology, so maybe he had a slightly different twist to it.

[Poiuyt]

42. I had a geography professor who called states like Ohio and Indiana as "mideast."

When you look at a map, it's hard to argue with him.

[wuushew]

4. The Dakotas and Nebraska are clearly in the Great Plains

I view the Mid-West as bounded by the Great Plains and the Ohio River.

[JVS]

6. The great plains are part of the midwest.

You can't be bordered by a plain, it would extend right into the other plain. The midwest is bordered by the mountains out West. Once you get to the mountains, you're out of the Midwest

[wuushew]

10. how about borders defined by climate?

[silverojo]

20. I should know--I was born and raised in Nebraska and Kansas

This is part of the Midwest. "The Great Plains" is a geographical feature, not a group of states. The west begins just west of Nebraska, the Dakotas, etc.

[JVS]

5. Those plus the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas according to the US Census Bureau

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwest

[ornotna]

44. What you said.

According to the US Census Bureau.

[vanderBeth]

7. +ND, SD, KS

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. The old Northwest Territory

which included all or portions of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Added to that would be Iowa and possibly Missouri. Arkansas and Oklahoma are considered upper South by those who live there, and KS, NE, SD and ND are Plains States.

[book_worm]

9. IA, NE, KS, SD, ND are the farm belt; MI, WI, IL, MN, OH, IN are the industrial MW

but all in all they are considered midwestern states. MO some think it's a midwestern state and others consider it a border state along with TN, KY, WVA, MD and OK. I fall into that group.

[eleny]

11. Colorado is often considered a midwestern state

Eastern CO is half the state and is the breadbasket with winter wheat farming as well as corn and other crops like potatoes, onions and greens.

Eastern CO looks a lot like western Kansas.

[book_worm]

12. I consider it a Rocky Mountain state.

[eleny]

13. And the people who live on its plains consider it a Plains state

Here's a map that shows that half the state is plains.

[happyslug]

14. Pittsburgh is a Mid Western City, in an Eastern State.

Buffalo has the same problem. The biggest problem in defining the mid-west is that Rivers and lakes unite people for such systems encourage trade by water, then along the flat sides of those lakes and Rivers. Thus you can make a claim that the Mid-West includes not only Pittsburgh and Buffalo, but Quebec and New Orleans. The Mississippi River system is the largest commercial water way in the world. The Nile and the Amazons are longer, but neither is up to the amount of area drained by the Mississippi. Furthermore the distance between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Drainage area is often less then 20 miles (and some places the distance is measured in feet). Thus the Great Lakes transportation system is fully integrated into the Mississippi River System, making the combination the largest area of interconnected transportation in the world. The French learn this early and made the whole area "New France" by 1700 (Through lost it to the British in 1759 and the Mississippi part of it, legally in 1783 and effectively in 1815).

It has been traditional to divide this area into three area, Canada, north of the Great Lakes, The Midwest, south of the Great lakes but north of the Ohio, and the American South, South of the Ohio (The Missouri River is a less clear divide, west of the Mississippi). The problem with this divide is it uses what is bringing people together as borders (i.e. the Rivers and the Lakes). Is Cincinnati and Mid-Western City or a Southern City (It has influences from both areas)? Is Cairo Illinois a Mid Western City while St Louis to its north a Southern City? What is Memphis?

The problem is the term "Mid-West" has come to mean an area that was subject to the Northwest ordinance of 1783 that forbade Slavery OR an area where many settlers from the old Northwest came from AND used techniques from the old Northwest (i.e. East of the point where people clearly had to adopt the "Western Water Rule" as opposed to the "Eastern Water Rule".

The "Western Water Rule" is that the first person who uses a water source has prior claims to it, even to people upstream. The "Eastern Water Rule" is the old English common law rule that upstream users of water has claim to any water flowing through their land, even if that means cutting off downstream users from use of that water. As you go further West you go dryer and dryer (Till you hit the Pacific Northwest where it return to wet conditions). The Divide Between Eastern and Western Rule.

This divide Clearly excludes Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and all states west, the areas are generally to dry for farming without irrigation and the Western Water Rule is well Established in these states. The problem is the Western Water rule also is the law in North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas, but the rule is less applicable in these states for they generally get enough rainfall for regular farming as opposed to irrigation farming (And I know this is a arbitrary line but we are talking about STATES).

Thus you can include Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas in the Mid West without much problem (Except what do you do about Missouri, which is considered by many people a "Southern" state for it had Slavery till the Civil War).

Going back to the Civil War, what do we do about Kentucky which technically stayed loyal to the Union but had several people join the Southern Army? Technically Kentucky did NOT succeed and thus NOT part of the Southern Confederacy, but also it is along the Ohio River (And what about Tennessee that did succeed, but whose Senator was elected as Lincoln's VP in 1864 as he brought Tennessee back into the Union a year before the rest of the South?).

No the best solution is to understand that the country grew along its rivers first and that is what unite regions. The Great lakes and the Mississippi drainage system makes one huge regions. The Deep South do to its tradition of Slavery and Cotton has a different outlook but it is concentrated in the Black Belt of those states. Thus by the time you get to Tennessee you are running across people of a clearly different outlook.

My point is I would include the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas, through using the Western Rule on Water, it is NOT issue it is further west. I would Include Missouri for it is otherwise Surrounded by the Midwest. The heart is the old Northwest (I.e. Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois's. Wisconsin and most of Minnesota). I include the rest of Minnesota and Iowa as expansion of the Midwest. I include Kentucky for it is along the Ohio. Tennessee and Arkansas are a more difficult case, both have heavy influence of the South, but not part of it either I throw them both in the Midwest. I have not mentioned West Virginia for like Pennsylvania it is in Appalachian in addition to the Mid West, but I have to go with Ralph Waldo Emerson, that "Europe ends at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains" (A paraphrase not an exact quote) and go with them into the Mid-west but have to exclude anything east of the Appalachian (Not a problem for West Virginia but a huge problem for Pennsylvania).

More details on Western Water Law:
http://www.bandersnatch.com/water.htm

[DainBramaged]

15. Any stste where flat and corn are seen while driving

[rebel with a cause]

16. Then Illinois is definately there. ;)

We have always been refered to the mid-west, and not until lately have I heard us excluded from that group.

[DainBramaged]

17. 'bout a decade ago I drove from St. Louis to Chicago in the Summer

and ALL I remember was flat and corn. :hi:

[rebel with a cause]

19. If it weren't for corn and soy beans

there would be not be much to see on the highways of Illinois. ;) :hi:

[ProfessorGAC]

46. Well, There's Always Billboards!

I love living in Illinois, but i gotta say: It's not the most beautiful looking place.
GAC

[rebel with a cause]

50. There are certain areas that are good to look at.

But it is pretty boring hitting the highway and facing mile after mile of flatland. Of course the most boring state I think I ever drove across was Pennsylvania due to there only being rest areas and no towns close to the highway. So we are not quite the worse to drive through as far as I am concerned. ;)

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Well, Geez We're Practically In The Middle!

Iowa and Indiana have plenty of corn too, and Iowa is just as flat as we are!

Indiana has a lot more of those of those rolling glacial hills, especially in the northwest. So, it's a little hillier (not much, let's not get nuts) than we are.

But, i think most of the lists here in this thread are pretty accurate. I think you've got to include the Dakotas, if we include Minnesota and Iowa.

GAC

[rebel with a cause]

18. According to the wikipedia map of the Midwestern states..

"The region consists of twelve states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin."

<snip>

"Chicago is the largest city in the region, followed by Detroit, and Indianapolis. Sault Ste. Marie is the oldest city in the region, having been founded in 1668."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States

I rest my case.

[Radical Activist]

21. arkansas is the south

no doubt about that.

[WildEyedLiberal]

22. You are correct

Those are the only states which constitute "the Midwest." Farther west are the plains states, farther south is, well, the south, and farther east is the Mid-Atlantic.

[TransitJohn]

23. None of those

The midwest is Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, that area. You're confusing it with the Great Plains.

[Ms. Toad]

24. Now you hit on my pet peeve...

Having grown up in Nebraska in a community that was approximately 70 miles EAST of the center of the country. Virtually all of the states traditionally identified as midWEST are actually eastern states, being located EAST of the center of the country.

I'm tired of our language reinforcing the screwed up geography of too many (North) Americans, in which the western edge of Pennsylvania is imagined to be somewhere in the middle of where Wyoming actually is.

[arcadian]

29. Well, by that...

Wouldn't Nevada or Utah actually be the only "mid-west" states?

[Ms. Toad]

34. I'd go for anything in that column of states

since you can be a northern or southern and still be in the middle of the western half of the United States.

I'd even go for anything east of California/Seattle/Oregon and west of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas.

[surrealAmerican]

31. These are predominately historical designations.

When the US became independent western PA and NY were "the west". By the time of the Louisiana Purchase the added territory became known as "the mid-west". Anything west of that was the "far west". "Eastern" states were defined as those along the Atlantic coast.

[Ms. Toad]

36. Not my point.

Far too many U.S. citizens have virtually no geographical knowledge.

When I moved from Nebraska, pretty much dead center of the country from east to west, to Ohio for college (a point only 1/6 of the way from the east coast to the west coast), my east coast classmates were certain, for the most part, that California was right next door. These classmates were bright enough to be among the approximately 1 in 4 students who survived the competitive application process. If the best and brightest don't even have a clue about basic geography, perhaps we ought to rethink using geographically inaccurate descriptors to identify regions of the country.

[blue_onyx]

25. I voted for just the states you menitoned

I'm a little iffy on whether Missouri belongs though.

[RoadRage]

26. I Live in NE

We're very commonly referred to as living in the "Mid west".

[ThomWV]

28. Everything between the Ohio Valley and the Rocky Mountains

That is how I would describe it, everything betwen the Ohio River valley and the rockey mountains and I'd probably go south until I hit I-70 and include every state touched.

[RB TexLa]

30. Guess I'm the first vote for +Ark and Okla

Been to both, they're midwest.

[ipfilter]

33. Oklahoma is not the Midwest

or South, or Southwest. Oklahoma is OK, or at least that's what our license plates used to say. But seriously, we are part of the Great Plains, or flyover country. I always considered the Midwest to mean states that are mid way to the west with the west defined as anything west of the Mississippi river.

[Terran]

32. Don't include Missouri

We're too much of a patchwork of cultures. I'm thinking maybe the northwest corner of the state, up near Iowa, might qualify, but not the rest...especially not the eastern and southern parts.

[liberalpragmatist]

47. St. Louis and Kansas City seem like Midwestern Cities to Me

Although Southern Missouri is very much "the South" -- similar to Arkansas and Tennessee.

[Terran]

49. KC, somewhat, but St. Louis, not really

St. Louis is more of an eastern city with a mid-west twang, maybe. Just my opinion.

[liberalpragmatist]

51. That's true...

... St. Louisans do think they're Easterners, don't they? (Most East Coasters I know just laugh.) It's probably a legacy of the 19th and early 20th c.'s when St. Louis was the big Midwestern city and an outpost of the East in the center of the country.

I dissented because I thought you were implying that St. Louis was a Southern city, which it doesn't seem like at all.

[yurbud]

37. the flat ones

you know you are in the Midwest if the tallest thing you can see in any direction is man made. If it is a hill or mountain, you are some place else.

[Pharlo]

48. Not necessarily. WI is considered Midwest

and, while there are 'flat areas' to the state, it also includes the Kettle Moraine region - areas where ice blocks scooped out 'kettles' during the last ice age. One thing you cannot call that region is 'flat'.

[yurbud]

52. I thought you were going to count the cheeseheads as natural mountains

[Romulox]

38. The Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas have virtually NOTHING in common with the other states

The "midwest" is like a verbal junk drawer--things thrown in there that nobody else wants.

[SoCalDem]

39. As a Jayhawk, we were taught in school that midwest was:..(map)

Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri




1..The Northeast
2..Great Lakes States oops..MN should be there too
3..The South
4..The Midwest
5..The Northwest
6..The Mountain States
7..The Dakotas (MN belongs in the GL.states)
8..The West
9..The Southwest

[boomerbust]

40. This one leads the way

<<<<<<<<<<<<

[SoCalDem]

41. You are a Great Lakes Stater

:)

[Dukkha]

43. I call your listed states the rust belt

and the central/mountain range the fly-over states. A term coined by the political parties because they never campaign there.

[slackmaster]

45. Midwest = "the Breadbasket" from classic book The Nine Nations of North America

It extends north into Canada and south into parts of Texas.

[TXDemGal]

53. Interesting poll

I never would have considered Kentucky part of the midwest. Missouri's kind of iffy, too.

[CreekDog]

54. I'm from California, so you could go farther west and still call it Midwest

:hi:

but not Arkansas :wtf: