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

Each of the 50 individual states in the United States has some degree of autonomy, but ultimately shares power with the federal government. Due to the division 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 United States is divided primarily into individual states. They hold all authority not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. Issues of local concern are typically delegated to the respective state governments, which may include the management of intrastate commerce, the conduct of elections, the formation of local governments, the direction of public schools, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a state's delegation in the House based on its population as determined by the most recent decennial census required 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 Constitution specifies that Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. There are currently 50 states, up from the original 13. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [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 between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (A separate table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) Each of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) 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 allowed) Made up of 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey was a royal colony. 4   Georgia First Day of the Year, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The State of Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Boston, Massachusetts, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a Colonial Colony 8   This is the state of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of the South Carolina Colonies 9   It's in the Granite State, New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Imperial Colony and Dominated State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   Carolina del Norte Dated: November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, a Crown Colony 13   State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations, Rhode Island, and the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Including the nine counties that make up its District in Kentucky(d), Virginia. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Aspects of the South-Western Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) The Northwest Territories, Fractional 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana Time Period: December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois Monday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Substantial Area of Illinois 22   Alabama The 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Geographical Area Including Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) In the state of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tuesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Thursday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Province of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Independence, Texas 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) Specifically, the portion of Iowa's territory that is called 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Tuesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Regions of Mexico and Other Cessions to Mexico[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Wednesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Friday, January 29, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Kansas. 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Nevada State 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska State 38   Colorado Initially, on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Region of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   It's in the Badlands of South Dakota1. The date was November 2, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana Monday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, USA 42   Washington Day that marks the 11th of November, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho, the Territorial State 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Location: Wyoming, USA 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) In the State of Utah 46   Oklahoma It was on November 16th, 1907, that the first American [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona As of today (14 February 1912)
(admitted) Arizona State University 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Today in History (August 21st, 1959)
(admitted) Honolulu, Hawaii

Dates of ratification of the articles of confederation [ edit ]

In order for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified by the separate states, the Second Continental Congress approved them on November 15, 1777. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present United States Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Wednesday, December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Tuesday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Saturday, February 6th, 1778 4 Here in Rhode Island On this day in 1778, February 9: 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, February 26th, 1778 7 It's in the Granite State, New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Geographical Indication: North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Sunday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Day of the Sun, February 1, 1779 13 Maryland It all started on February 2nd, 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 rather than a state, a series of violent conflicts broke out in the territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• A law passed in 1889 called the Enabling Act gave citizens of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right 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. 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.
• Upon passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on December 2, 1958, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• The United States of America Video Archive History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com