American state membership timeline

There are 50 separate entities that together make up the United States, and each of these states has some degree of autonomy within the federal government. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. To distinguish themselves from other states, the official names 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 hold all authority not specifically granted to or prohibited by the United States federal government in the Constitution. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal government are generally left to the discretion of the respective state governments. A republican form of government, with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches, exists in each of the 50 states, all of which are governed by their own constitutions. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Two senators and one representative are guaranteed to each state by the Constitution; the number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is determined by the population of the state as of the most recent decennial census. 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]

The Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. A total of 50 states now make up the United States, up from the original 13. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside all 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 the separate table below for the exact dates each AoC was ratified.) 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 subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
approved of or allowed in Produced by 1   Delaware Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Province of Delaware[b] 2   Pennsylvania Thursday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Originally, New Jersey was a British colony. 4   Georgia Time: Tuesday, January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony and now a state 6   Massachusetts This day in 1788, on February 6th, you could say: [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonized Maryland Province 8   The State of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   A New England State: June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Province of New York under the Crown 12   Purpose: The State of North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former Crown Colony 13   Location: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Province of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republican State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (9 counties in its District in Kentucky[d]) 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) Region of Orleans 19   Indiana Monday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois When: Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Wednesday, December 14, 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) Region of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) This is Florida Country. 28   Texas On this date in 1845: [29]
(admitted) Democratic Socialists of America 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) This portion of Iowa Territory is known as: 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Wednesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Regional portion of Oregon 34   Kansas Earlier this month, on January 29th, 1861, [33]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Kansas. 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of 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) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) In the Colorado Territory1 39   Location: North Dakota1 Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) The Date Was November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana This day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) Places in Montana 42   Washington Sunday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho is a territory in the United States. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Geographical Region Called Wyoming 45   Utah Monday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) UT - Utah Valley 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Locations in Indian Territory and Oklahoma 47   New Mexico The date was January 6th, 1912
(admitted) A portion of the state of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Location: Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Anchorage, Alaska 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Oahu, Hawaii

A timeline of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by the required number of states (13 in this case), 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 The 16th of December, 1777 2 In the state of South Carolina Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York It was February 6th, 1778. 4 In the state of Rhode Island Monday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Friday, February 26th, 1778 7 A New England State: March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Here in good ol' NC April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland As of today, 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 series of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups, earning the region the nickname "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 gave 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 on whether or not the two jurisdictions should be united into 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 ]

• Various Videos Relating to Individual States in the USA History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com