A chronological listing of when each state joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Citizenship in the United States is dual, with the federal government and the state in which one resides each having some degree of authority over its citizens. [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 are the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. Any authority not specifically granted to or denied to the federal government by the United States Constitution is implicitly granted to the states. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes, but is not limited to, intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. 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. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

The power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress by Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. The original 13 signed the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 to become states, and they ratified the Articles of Confederation to form the first United States of America constitution and officially join the Union of States between 1777 and 1781. Ratification dates for the AoC are listed in a separate table below.) [6] The order in which these states are listed indicates the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) United States of America. 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 On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania This day in 1787, on December 12 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a colonial possession 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in North America 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Adopted: 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Massachusetts Bay Colony, a crown colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony turned-property province 8   Columbia, South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   A New England State: June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Crown Colony 12   State of North Carolina1 Wednesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Colony 13   To the State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Provost State of Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Democratic Socialist State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) It's a section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) In the Mississippi Territory1 21   Illinois Time: Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Portion of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Geographical Area Including Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) (Maine F District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Wednesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Thursday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Its Name Means "Territory of Michigan" 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Cal 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) An Area of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Region of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disorganized land / the Mexican Cession, part [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Region of Minnesota 33   Oregon Wednesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) The Oregon Region, Specifically 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]). 36   Nevada This day in 1864, on October 31st,
(admitted) States of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Geographical Region Known As Nebraska 38   Colorado Starting on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   A State in the Midwestern U.S. As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 41   Montana The Date Was November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) States of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) Utah, the Territories 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907, November 16 [44]
(admitted) Including both Oklahoma and Indian Country as their own separate territories. 47   New Mexico Sixteen hundred and twelve: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Sunday, January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Location of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Events surrounding the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the states for ratification. After the Articles of Confederation were ratified by all 13 states, they became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Monday, December 16th, 1777 2 Colony State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Sunday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Sunday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, February 26th, 1778 7 This 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 Monday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware First day of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory of Kansas, a number of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize themselves into new states and join the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act granted the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the 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 whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a member of the United States on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

• A Collection of Videos Representing Each State in the United States History com
• When a country or territory was established as a nation. 50states com