42nd Parallel North - United States

United States

The parallel 42° north forms most of the New York-Pennsylvania border, although due to imperfect surveying in 1785–1786, this boundary wanders around on both sides of the true parallel. The area around the parallel in this region is known as the Twin Tiers.

The 42nd parallel became agreed upon as the northward limit of the Spanish Empire by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with the United States, which established the parallel as the border between the Viceroyality of New Spain of the Kingdom of Spain and the western territory of the United States of America from the meridian of the headwaters of the Arkansas River west to the Pacific Ocean. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 then ceded much of what was then northern Mexico to the United States; as a result, the northernmost U.S. states which were created from Mexican territory (California, Nevada, and Utah) have the parallel 42° north as their northern border, and the adjoining U.S. states of Oregon and Idaho have the parallel as their southern border.

The parallel passes through the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and passes through (or near - within one-half degree of latitude) the following cities in the United States:

  • Crescent City, California
  • Yreka, California
  • Hartford, Connecticut
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Des Moines, Iowa
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Springfield, Massachusetts
  • Worcester, Massachusetts
  • Detroit, Michigan
  • Kalamazoo, Michigan
  • Albany, New York
  • Binghamton, New York
  • Cleveland, Ohio
  • Toledo, Ohio
  • Medford, Oregon
  • Erie, Pennsylvania
  • Providence, Rhode Island

Read more about this topic:  42nd Parallel North

Famous quotes related to united states:

    “Yesterday, December 7, 1941Ma date that will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

    “On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.”
    —William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    “The United States is the only great nation whose government is operated without a budget. The fact is to be the more striking when it is considered that budgets and budget procedures are the outgrowth of democratic doctrines and have an important part in developing the modern constitutional rights.... The constitutional purpose of a budget is to make government responsive to public opinion and responsible for its acts.”
    —William Howard Taft (1857–1930)

    “A sincere and steadfast co-operation in promoting such a reconstruction of our political system as would provide for the permanent liberty and happiness of the United States.”
    —James Madison (1751–1836)

    “In the larger view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United States, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by these outside forces.”
    —Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)