An orderly list of the U.S. states' admission to the Union

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that together make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans 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."

In the United States, the individual states are the most basic political entities. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. As a rule, it is up to the individual states to handle matters that affect its citizens directly, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of municipalities, public education policy, and the building and upkeep of roads not funded by the federal government. In a republican system of government, each individual state has its own constitution outlining the roles of the executive, legislature, and judiciary. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which are elected by the citizens of their respective states. Constitutionally, each state is guaranteed two senators and at least one representative in the Senate; 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. For the purpose of voting for President and Vice President, the Electoral College allocates one elector per member of Congress from each state, with a maximum of five electors per state. [4]

The power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress by Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states of the United States have been joined by 47 others since 1776. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for all 50 US states. In July 1776, upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the first 13 colonies became states; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, and became full members of the Union. (See the separate table below for the exact dates each AoC was ratified.) The states are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; confirmed) Shaped by 1   Delaware Wednesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The state of Delaware as a colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Pennsylvania Colony as a Colonial Establishment 3   New Jersey Sunday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) The New Jersey Colony, a Crown Colony 4   Georgia The date was January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Sunday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   A State in the Southeastern United States May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   New Hampshire1 (state) June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, the "Crown Colony" 12   A Place Called North Carolina1 On this day in 1789, November 21st, [14]
(ratified) The North Carolina Colony was a Crown 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) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Area Known as Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Hoosier State 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois On this day in 1818 — December 3 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Yesterday, on the 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Location: Maine(f) District, Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Split Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Saturday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Location of Florida as a Separate Political Entity 28   Texas Monday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa This day in 1846, on December 28th,
(admitted) (Of) The Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Friday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) A portion of Mexico's Cession to the United States that is still disorganized. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Section of Minnesota Territory 33   Oregon Thursday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Sunday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Some of Kansas Territory 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada The 31st of October, 1864
(admitted) Nevada Territory 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Initially, on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The Great Land of North Dakota1 The date was November 2, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) This portion of Dakota Territory 40   An Acronym for South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 41   Montana Earlier this week, on November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Tuesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) States of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Territory of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Places in Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907 — November 16 [44]
(admitted) Oklahoma and Indian Land 47   New Mexico The sixth of January, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Those words were first spoken on August 21st, 1959.
(admitted) The Hawaiian Islands as a Territorial Unit

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. As of March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation were in effect, having been ratified by all 13 states. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia This day in 1777, on the 16th of December, 2 Columbia, South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Saturday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Sunday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26th, 1778 7 In the state of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 In the state of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Monday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware It all started on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The Date Is February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• To admit California to the Union, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850.
• During the years of 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."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal authority to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two 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 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 combined into one state.
• It was on January 3, 1959, that Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

• Videos of the 50 United States History com
• dates of statehood 50states com