How Spite and Coin Flips Ordered America

In this episode, we delve into the topic of How Spite and Coin Flips Ordered America. {"transcription":"WEBVTT\n\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.279\nIn 1889, the United States government essentially\n\n00:00:03.279 --> 00:00:06.160\nflipped a coin on the alphabet to decide the\n\n00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.400\ndestiny of two entirely new states. Right. The\n\n00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:12.179\nwhole Dakota situation. Yeah, exactly. Congress\n\n00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:14.419\nhad finally agreed to split the Dakota territory\n\n00:00:14.419 --> 00:00:17.019\nin half, bringing North and South Dakota into\n\n00:00:17.019 --> 00:00:19.920\nthe union at the exact same moment. But there\n\n00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:25.620\nwas this fiercely petty rivalry over who actually\n\n00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:28.179\ngot to be admitted first. Oh, heavily petty.\n\n00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:31.500\nTo avoid showing favoritism, President Benjamin\n\n00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:33.939\nHarrison ordered the statehood papers to be completely\n\n00:00:33.939 --> 00:00:35.960\nshuffled. He just signed them blindly, didn't\n\n00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:38.100\nhe? He did. And the documents were intentionally\n\n00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:40.939\nnever recorded in order. So --> 00:08:12.939\nslowly, heavily distracted by the impending civil\n\n00:08:12.939 --> 00:08:16.699\nwar. But out west, these miners need laws. They\n\n00:08:16.699 --> 00:08:18.839\nneed infrastructure. Exactly. They need mining\n\n00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:21.360\nclaims legitimized, property rights enforced,\n\n00:08:21.620 --> 00:08:23.879\nand criminal courts. They couldn't wait years\n\n00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:26.339\nfor Washington to organize a territory. So they\n\n00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:29.300\njust invented a government out of thin air. Precisely.\n\n00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:32.399\nThey drafted a constitution, elected a governor,\n\n00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:34.799\nestablished the legislature, and began passing\n\n00:08:34.799 --> 00:08:37.700\nlaws and collecting taxes. That is incredible.\n\n00:08:37.779 --> 00:08:40.919\nThey functioned as a completely extralegal, unrecognized\n\n00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:43.200\ngovernment because the vacuum of authority demanded\n\n00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:45.740\nit. And was total chaos. A nightmare for scheduling.\n\n00:19:52.390 --> 00:19:53.869\nAnd it wasn't the government that fixed it. It\n\n00:19:53.869 --> 00:19:56.410\nwas the railroad companies. They invented the\n\n00:19:56.410 --> 00:19:58.869\nconcept of time zones just so their trains would\n\n00:19:58.869 --> 00:20:01.029\nstop crashing into each other on the same tracks.\n\n00:20:01.170 --> 00:20:03.750\nIt's wild to think about. How did the very concept\n\n00:20:03.750 --> 00:20:06.650\nof time have to be wrangled, standardized and\n\n00:20:06.650 --> 00:20:09.230\ncorporately legislated just to make a chronological\n\n00:20:09.230 --> 00:20:11.690\ntimeline of a continent spanning nation possible\n\n00:20:11.690 --> 00:20:13.930\nin the first place? It's something to think about.\n\n00:20:13.869 --> 00:20:15.069\nthe next time you look at a clock.\n","format":"vtt","status":"published"}