Quote:
Originally Posted by edale
Connecticut owned most of Northeast Ohio back in the late 1700s-- the Connecticut Western Reserve. So, they did have lake access. What do you mean they were cut off by New York?
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They didn't have a contiguous land path west, which is what they wanted and were blocked from it by New York. Connecticut gave up claim to most of its territory west of New York following the Revolutionary War (Mass. claimed all territory directly west of it as well stretching into southern Michigan). The Western Reserve was the last piece of those territorial claims that Connecticut retained after they ceded claims to modern northern Pennsylvania. New York and Pennsylvania ended up as the only states with direct access to both the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes.
source: Wikipedia