American state membership timeline

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 hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they 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 most basic administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government. Generally speaking, matters of local concern are under the purview of state governments, which include the likes of regulating intrastate commerce, conducting elections, forming local governments, establishing public school policy, and constructing and maintaining non-federal roads. 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 senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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 number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body that votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of its congressional representatives 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. The original 13 states of the United States have been joined by 47 others since 1776. No state has been given preferential treatment over another, and all new states have been granted full membership. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. In July 1776, upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the original 13 states became sovereign nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and formally joined the Union. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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 statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Produced by 1   Delaware Tuesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Friday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia Dated: January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Free State of Maryland 8   An Acronym for the State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) King George III's Original Colony 9   That State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony Under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom and Dominion of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Virginia (nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territories to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) North West Territories, Segment 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi The date was December 10th, 1817. [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois The date was December 3, 1818. [23]
(admitted) Specifically, the area of Illinois that is now known as the territory of 22   Alabama The 14th of December, 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) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) In the State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula and Surrounding Area 28   Texas Friday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) Part of Iowa was once known as the Iowa Territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) State of Wisconsin, Inc. 31   California Wednesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Regions without government control / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas The 29th of January, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The Mountain State, West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Observed on October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Locale of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Region of Colorado 39   This state is located in the northern part of the United States. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   It's in the Badlands of South Dakota1. The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Area Including the State of Dakota 41   Montana Tuesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) It's in Montana! 42   Washington Sunday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah As of today's date, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Territory of Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Is November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) Places in Arizona 49   Alaska Day of the Year: January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification 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. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the predecessor to the present Constitution, were abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia This day in 1777, on the 16th of December, 2 The State of South Carolina. Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1778 4 That place called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Sunday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 Element: New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 A Place Called North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Tuesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 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.
• From 1854 to 1861, Kansas Territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups 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 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. It also granted the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories the same right. necessitating a vote in a referendum to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• This was made possible by the Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made January 3, 1959, the day Alaska was admitted to the Union as the 49th state.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Watch videos from each state in the United States. History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com