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

Despite his comparative obscurity, Agnew will have wide appeal in the crucial Border States and possibly even in the Deep South.

From Time Magazine Archive

In another statement last week, Secretary Bennett announced that six Southern and Border States had yet to comply fully with a 17-year-old court order to desegregate public colleges.

From Time Magazine Archive

Senator from Kentucky, as the vice-presidential prospect most likely to help the ticket in the Border States and the South.

From Time Magazine Archive

He owed his victory to Illinois, most of the smaller states in the West and Middle West, and particularly to the South and the Border States.

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)