A chronological listing of when each state joined the United States

Each of the fifty United States' constituent entities, known collectively as "states," shares sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word commonwealth rather than state.

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't given to or restricted to the federal government. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance are typically left to the jurisdiction of the respective state's government. There is a separate government in each state, with its own constitution based on republican ideals and its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Each state has two senators and at least one representative, with the size of each state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by the state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [4]

As stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. The United States' original 13 states have since doubled in number to 50. When a new state joins, it joins on equal footing with the others. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the 50 US states. The first 13 states accepted the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, and they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and joined the first Union of States between 1777 and 1781. (A separate table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) Each of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) United States of America. After that, each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Developed from 1   Delaware Monday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania During the 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Kingdom of Pennsylvania Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Crown Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut Time Period: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the British Empire 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony turned-property province 8   In the state of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Originally, South Carolina was a British colony. 9   State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte Tuesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) Province of the British Crown in North America 13   That place called Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Known as the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Including the nine counties that make up its District in Kentucky(d), Virginia. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Locations to the West 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana On this date in 1816, December 11
(admitted) Situated in the state of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) The State of Missouri and Adjacent Areas 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Friday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Michigan State 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) In the Florida Panhandle 28   Texas Saturday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa This day in 1846, on December 28th,
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Part of Wisconsin was once known as the 31   California The Nineteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Day of the Week: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) Part of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Regional Kansas 35   It's in West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) One hundred and fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Region of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) In the Colorado Territory1 39   State of North Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (South) The Date Was November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 41   Montana The Date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Region of Montana 42   Washington When: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Locale of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) This is the territory of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah As of today's date, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Location: Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) This is Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Sunday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Places in Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) The Hawaiian Islands' territory

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the states by the Second Continental Congress. By March 1, 1781, all 13 states had ratified the Articles of Confederation, making them legally binding. The Articles of Confederation, which governed the states, were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitution, which governs the federal level, was ratified. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this date in 1777, December 16 2 The State of South Carolina On this day in 1778 — February 5 — 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Dated: February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, February 26th, 1778 7 Element: New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Friday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• A set of laws passed by Congress in 1850 known as the "Compromise of 1850" included a clause guaranteeing California's entry into the Union.
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory rather than a state, a series of violent conflicts broke out in the territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• In 1889, Congress passed the Enabling Act, which allowed the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories to organize themselves politically as states and apply for admission to the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the legal right to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as a single state. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. calling for a vote to decide if the two areas should be united as one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Hyperlinks to other sites [ edit ]

• Videos Relating to Individual U.S. States History com
• Definition of Terms: "Date of Statehood" 50states com