Q. Name three states that were independent countries prior to petitioning Congress to join the Union. Were any states ever carved out of existing states?

A. Texas, California, and Hawaii. Yes: during the Civil War, those western counties of Virginia that had remained loyal to the Union applied for and received statehood as West Virginia. Although some of today's states comes from territory originally considered to be parts of the original colonies, in fact the western boundaries of the thirteen colonies were not completely defined.