American state membership timeline

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. 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. [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 main administrative divisions of the USA. They have complete authority over all matters not specifically delegated to the federal government or expressly prohibited by 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. Constitutions based on republican ideals and governing bodies that include separate branches of government for executive, legislative, and judicial functions are found in each of the fifty states. [2]

The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Depending on its population, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution, each state is allotted a certain number of representatives in the House of Representatives, with a minimum of one representative and a maximum determined by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that votes for President and Vice President of the United States. [3] Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

Constitutional law states that Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states to the Union. Originally consisting of 13 states, the United States now includes 50. No state has been given preferential treatment over another, and all new states have been granted full membership. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the 50 US states. Following their approval of the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years 1777–1781, and ratified the Articles of Confederation. (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. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or confirmed) Developed from 1   Delaware Friday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Province of Delaware[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Pennsylvania Colony as a Colonial Establishment 3   New Jersey 18 December 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the former Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) State of Connecticut, Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachussetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Columbia, South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown of South Carolina 9   State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under British Rule 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Crown Colony and Currently Reigning Monarchy 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, Royal Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) The North Carolina Colony was a Crown Colony. 13   Providence, Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The [c]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) Its Southwestern Parts 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) States of Indiana 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) The Illinois Territory, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Sunday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Region of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Sunday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Florida's Homestead 28   Texas Friday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Republic 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) Specifically, the portion of Iowa's territory that is called 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) The portion of Wisconsin that was once known as the 31   California Wednesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) An Area of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Partial Kansas Territory 35   We're in the Mountain State. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) West Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]) 36   Nevada The 31st of October, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) A Land Named Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Location of Colorado's Territory 39   In the state of North Dakota1 Wednesday, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) The Dakotas, or a Portion of It 40   "South Dakota1" On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana On this day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Wyoming, the Territories 45   Utah Tuesday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Monday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Bordering Oklahoma is Indian Territory. 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska The date was January 3, 1959.
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaiian Home Islands

Rationality of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the states on November 15, 1777, after being approved by the Second Continental Congress. On March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. The Articles of Confederation, which governed the states, were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitution, which governs the federal government, was adopted. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 Southeastern United States, Specifically, the State of South Carolina Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Monday, February 6th, 1778 4 A Place Called Rhode Island On this day in 1778, February 9: 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 In the state of 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 One Day in 1779: February 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.
• A series of bloody conflicts between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups occurred in Kansas Territory between 1854 and 1861, a period 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.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act granted permission for the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory to organize a state government and be admitted to the Union as a single state. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts granted similar permission for the people of those territories. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Hyperlinks to other sites [ edit ]

• YouTube playlist titled "States of the USA" History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com