Tennessee has 96 counties. By makding each county a state, we would have 192 senators and 96 congressional representatives. Then other states could follow suit and end up with over 1000 senators and the county by county red and blue map could be reflected in the makeup of the senate and house....
In all seriousness, where would such gerrymandering end?
The provision for up to 5 states was a condition of adding Texas to the United States. This was because they thought that such a land mass may not be accurately represented.