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. Because of the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. In their full legal names, the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia use the term commonwealth rather than state.

The 50 states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't given to or taken away by the federal government in the United States Constitution. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes things like intrastate commerce rules, election administration, municipal formation, public school policy, and the building and upkeep of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Each state's government is structured similarly to the federal government, with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, but each state also has its own constitution based on republican principles. [2]

Congress, the federal legislature, is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it 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. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [4]

The power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states of the United States have since grown to 50. When a new state joins, it joins on equal footing 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 officially became independent nations in their own right and, between 1777 and 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. Dates of AoC ratification are listed in a separate table below.) [6] 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 admission date is a legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
"(accepted or confirmed)" Constituted of 1   Delaware 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Settlement in Delaware [b] 2   Pennsylvania During the 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Monday, December 18th, 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 Wednesday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Monday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony of Massachusetts Bay 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonized Maryland Province 8   State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   That State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Kingdom of North Carolina 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) The Commonwealth of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Lands to the West of the Mississippi 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) The Northwest Territories, Fractional 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Province of Orleans 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) The Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The State of Mississippi 21   Illinois Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Partial Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Specifically, the State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) This is Florida Country. 28   Texas Today in 1845 (December 29) [29]
(admitted) Independence, Texas 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Separate Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteen Fifteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) Segment of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Separate Section of Kansas Territory 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada A Date Certain: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Nevada State 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Beginning on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 40   That Part of the Country Known as South Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Specifically the Dakota Territory. 41   Montana Saturday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) Location: The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) It's in Wyoming! 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) There's Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Starting on January 6th, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Pardon my ignorance, but I wasn't aware that Arizona was 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Events surrounding the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. Once all 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation, they became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the current federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Day of the Week: February 5, 1778 3 New York The sixth of February, 1778 4 Providence, Rhode Island Tuesday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut Thursday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia 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 The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2nd, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• As part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850," California's incorporation into the Union was guaranteed.
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory of Kansas, anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups engaged in a series of violent conflicts in the territory.
• Statehood Act of 1889; allows citizens of Dakota (to be split into two states), Montana, and Washington territories to organize state governments 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 New Mexico and Arizona the right to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• Act of Statehood for Alaska, formally admitting that state to the Union as of January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Inbound links [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• Terms for the Establishment of States 50states com