Is North Dakota Really A State?

They're not taking any chances- so they're going to fix the issue. And just what is the issue, you ask?

Get a load of this:

The misunderstanding stems from one word that was omitted in the state constitution that was written up in 1889, Rolczynski told msnbc.com.

Rolczynski, who was born in North Dakota and taught history there for years, was offered the chance to write a book on his state. It was during research for the book, in 1995, that Rolczynski found the error.

"When I found the flaw, I was having dinner with a friend. I called him over and said, 'Look at this! They forgot the word executive!'" Rolczynski told msnbc.com from his Grand Forks elder care home. "The next morning, we made an appointment and we drove 70 miles to Fargo to talk to the U.S. attorney there."

Article XI, Section 4 of the state constitution declares each official in the "legislative assembly and judicial department" must take an oath before starting office.

But the U.S. Constitution, Rolczynski said, mandates that senators, representatives, state legislators and "all executive and judicial officers" take an oath to uphold the Constitution. By not including that line, North Dakota defied the U.S. Constitution, according to Rolczynski.

So in other words, they missed out one tiny word and North Dakota might not have been a state all this time? We've been living in a fantasy land, people- we've had 49 states this whole time!

Interestingly enough, the Beeb picked up on this as well- and also incorrectly identified Fargo as the setting for the movie 'Fargo.' (True story, kids- if you watch the movie, only the first scene in the bar actually takes place in Fargo. The rest is in Minnesota. A fact I helpfully pointed out to the Beeb via email. They haven't responded yet- I'm sort of crushed by that.)