A chronological listing of when each state joined the United States

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens are considered citizens of both the federal republic and the state in which they currently reside. Four U.S. states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names instead of state.

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. In other words, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government in the United States Constitution. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance fall under the purview of state governments. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which is made up 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 is guaranteed 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. Furthermore, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to send a number of voters to vote for president and vice president equal to the sum of its Senators and Representatives in Congress. [4]

The Constitution specifically vests the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Congress through Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. All newly admitted states are treated on par with the others. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Each succeeding state's admission date is a statutory deadline mandated by federal law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accepted; confirmed Developed from 1   Delaware 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Province of Delaware[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey Monday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) The New Jersey Colony, a Crown Colony 4   Georgia Dated: January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Georgian Colony 5   Connecticut The 9th of January, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Connecticut Colony, a British Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony turned-property province 8   Colony State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of the South Carolina Colonies 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   It's in the Tar Heel State, or North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in North Carolina 13   State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Area encompassing the present-day state of Mississippi 21   Illinois The date was December 3rd, 1818. [23]
(admitted) Substantial Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine(f) District). 24   Missouri Thursday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Region of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Arkansas 26   Michigan On this date in 1837, January 26 [28]
(admitted) Formerly Known as: Michigan Territory1 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Wednesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Regional Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Dated: September 9th, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon The 14th of February, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) The State of Kansas, or a Portion of It 35   Specifically, the state of West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in the state of Virginia that are part of the Trans-Allegheny metropolitan area. 36   Nevada When October 31st, 1864 rolled around,
(admitted) Places in Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Region of Colorado 39   The state of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Earlier today, on November 2nd, 1889, [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Day that November 8th, 1889, Began [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington It all started on November 11th, 1889. [42]
(admitted) In the State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) It's the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Location: Wyoming, USA 45   Utah Monday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) It's both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Starting on January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Wednesday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Three days into 1959
(admitted) Region of Alaska 50   Hawaii As of the 21st of August, 1959
(admitted) Aloha! Hawaii!

When the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress for submission to state legislatures for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Saturday, December 16th, 1777 2 A State in the Southeastern United States 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Dated: February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Specifically on: 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: February 1 13 Maryland Sunday, February 2nd, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• To admit California to the Union, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850.
• When Kansas Territory was still a territory, between 1854 and 1861, a series of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups, coming to be known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• 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.
• Statehood for Oklahoma and Indian Territory Citizens Act; New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act; and the Oklahoma Enabling Act, which granted statehood to Oklahoma and Indian Territory citizens and admitted the new state to the Union as a whole. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• Upon passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on December 2, 1958, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Videos Relating to Individual U.S. States History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com