That was an area of immense wealth. Later on it was organized in whole or in part as the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.
So, yeah, "equal footing".
Whatever did you imagine that meant?
The former Spanish territory of Carolana entered the Union in whole or in part as North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. The unincorporated territory, including a Sea to Sea territorial claim, was handed over to the United States of America.
After some difficulty with Mexico, who had a competing claim, much of the former Carolana (Carolina) land claims became California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, parts of Florida, Arkansas, and Utah.
So, yeah, "equal footing".
Exactly who did you think you people were?
According to the chart at this site Virginia has only 8.940% of it’s lands owned by the Fed.
http://www.blm.gov/natacq/pls98/98PL1-3.PDF
I know the list is out of date as they show Nevada at only about 80%, while I know it is now closer to 87%!
The Fed keep taking more, despite claiming to already own nearly all of it to start with.
So Virginia has lost only a tiny fraction of the land in it’s current boundaries to the fed compared to Nevada.
Lose/give up another 70% and lets see how YOUR economy fares!
I’m sick of east coast hypocrites dictating policy from three thousand miles away to placate their “Business interest”, liberals and eco-nuts.
Turn your own state into one big “Wilderness reserve” or Fed waste dump, and leave Nevada the %%%% alone!