American state membership timeline

Each of the fifty United States' constituent entities, known collectively as "states," shares sovereignty with the federal government. In light of the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens 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 fifty states constitute the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. In most cases, state governments are responsible for overseeing activities that affect only their respective territories, such as intrastate commerce regulation, election administration, municipal formation, public school policy, and the building and upkeep of roads that are not funded by the federal government. 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. There are two senators and at least one representative from each state, 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, allows each state to send a number of voters to vote there that is equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside the rest. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the fifty US states. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (See the separate table below for the exact dates each AoC was ratified.) In the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government after ratifying the Constitution in 1787, these states are listed below. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or allowed) Prompted by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787, December 18 [11]
(ratified) The New Jersey Crown Colony 4   Georgia It all began on January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Province of the British Crown in the Americas 5   Connecticut Time Period: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) New England's Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era province 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   For the state of New Hampshire1, see: June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony Under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Dominion of the Crown Colony of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony Under British Rule 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Specifically, the state of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Independent State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) With nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia is a large state. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territory in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) French for "Orange Land"; the Orleans Region 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817, December 10 [22]
(admitted) To the West of the Mississippi River 21   Illinois Three Days After Christmas, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Wednesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Regional Identifier for Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri It was August 10th, 1821. [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan 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 Called 28   Texas Tuesday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Democratic Socialists of America 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Part of Wisconsin 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) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) West Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]) 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Nevada, the State 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1. [37]
(admitted) Land of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Partial Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Two thousand and eleven on November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana A Date in 1889: November [41]
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) Place Name: Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Dated: January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of 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 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Three o'clock on January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Islands of 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. The Articles of Confederation were ratified by the required number of states (13) and went into effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitutional Government was ratified. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York This day in history: February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Tuesday, February 12, 1778 6 Georgia Thursday, February 26th, 1778 7 Granite State, 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 19, 1778 12 Delaware First day of February, 1779 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2

See also [ edit ]

• California's inclusion in the Union was made possible by the "Compromise of 1850," a collection of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• 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 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 areas should be combined into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a 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