Everyone’s going on about this Texas case, but forget about the “Honey War” case of 1839, which almost led to armed conflict between Iowa and Missouri. State of Missouri v. State of Iowa, 48 U.S. (7 How.) 660 (1849), is a 9-to-0 ruling by SCOTUS which held that the 1/7

Sullivan Line of 1816 was the accepted boundary between the states of Iowa and Missouri. According to @wikipedia Missouri tried to seize parts of agriculture-rich southern Iowa (of course they did! Jerks!) This territory was agriculturally valuable, and was 2/7

known for its exceptional honey production. In late 1839, the sheriff of Van Buren County, Iowa, arrested the sheriff of Clark County, Missouri, after the latter twice attempted to collect taxes on Iowans living north of the Sullivan Line. 3/7

Missouri STOLE 3 trees (presumably with attached bee hives) and spirited them back to Missouri. (Again, we wonder why Iowa still has a beef with Missouri....) SCOTUS had original jurisdiction and after examining evidence, determined that the Sullivan 4/7

Was the correct boundary. Among other sources, Justice Catron noted that the federal government had signed more than 15 treaties with various Indian tribes, all of which recognized the Sullivan Line as the northern border of Missouri.” (Take THAT!) But wait! There’s more! 5/7

By the 1890s, a 20-Mile section of the marker stones that Justice Catron had ordered be surveyed and placed ... HAD DISAPPEARED. So both states again approached SCOTUS in 1896 & another commission re-surveyed and set the boundary line. 6/7

So we’ve now had 124 years of boundary peace with Missouri. But I’m sure they still look upon Iowa’s rich agricultural heritage and beehives with envy. Although Honey was shed, SCOTUS made sure blood wasn’t. Fin. #appellatetwitter #scotus