Border States

American  

plural noun

1. U.S. History. the Slave States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, which refused to secede from the Union in 1860–61.

2. the U.S. states touching the Canadian border.

3. certain countries of central and northern Europe that border on the former Soviet Union and belonged to the Russian Empire: Finland, Poland (prior to 1940), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

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Example Sentences

They are the cornerstone, the bulwark, among which "bolts" and "splits" and outright transitions occur far less frequently than among the eleven Western States, the eleven Eastern States, the four Border States.

From Time Magazine Archive

Smith would have to carry most of the Border States to be within striking distance.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Solid South plus New York plus all the Border States would be 223 votes.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Old Confederacy and the Border States nominated the Republican ticket, and will shape its campaign.

From Time Magazine Archive

If we cannot have the aid of other sections, the Border States must take the subject into their own hands, and settle it for themselves.

From A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861 by Chittenden, L. E. (Lucius Eugene)