Name one state that borders Canada.

Why this is the answer

Thirteen states share the border with Canada, and any one of them is a complete answer: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington or Alaska. Alaska belongs on the list even though it sits apart from the others, far to the northwest. The border is long, stretching more than 5,000 miles from Maine to Alaska, and it dates to the close of the Revolutionary War. The fighting stopped in 1781, but the war only ended officially with a treaty in 1783, in which Great Britain accepted that the United States had won and was independent. Benjamin Franklin, serving as a diplomat, helped negotiate it. That Treaty of Paris also set the official boundary between the United States and Canada. Land disputes came up in later years, and each one was settled by another treaty. Today an International Boundary Commission maintains the line, led by two commissioners, one American and one Canadian. The number thirteen is easy to remember because it matches the count of original states, though the two groups are far from the same. Only New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania appear on both lists; the other ten border states were not among the original thirteen. On interview day, "Washington" can cause a moment of doubt. The answer means the state, in the far northwest. The capital, Washington, D.C., sits between Maryland and Virginia and has nothing to do with Canada. Some states feel northern but are missing from the official list, such as Wisconsin, Oregon or Massachusetts, and none of them counts. Ohio and Pennsylvania are the opposite case: they are easy to forget because they do not seem like border states, yet both are accepted. When you study, it may help to trace the line across a map from Washington eastward to Maine, and then add Alaska at the end as its own separate stop.