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

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 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 are the most basic political units in America. When it comes to authority, they have everything the federal government doesn't and can't. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance fall under the purview of state governments. Each state's government is structured similarly to the federal government, with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. However, each state's constitution is based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Each state has two senators and at least one representative, 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. 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]

Constitutional law states that Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states to the Union. From its original thirteen in 1776 to its current fifty, the United States has undergone tremendous growth since its inception. 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 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. (The dates of each AoC ratification are listed in a separate table below.) The order in which these states are listed reflects 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 succeeding state's admission date is a legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Based on 1   Delaware Wednesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The 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: [11]
(ratified) Royal Establishment of New Jersey 4   Georgia Sunday, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Sunday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Province of Connecticut as a Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Earlier this year, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown in the Bay of Massachusetts 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonized Maryland Province 8   The State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of the South Carolina Colonies 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the British Empire 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Kingdom of New York 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Place Name: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a British colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) People's Republic of Vermont[c] 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Area Located To The Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) The Northern and Western Areas of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana It was on this date in 1816 that the United States declared independence from France.
(admitted) Its Location: The Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi It's the 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: The 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) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The Michigan Territory1 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Location of Florida as a Separate Political Entity 28   Texas Sunday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Friday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Saturday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Regions without government control / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) The State of Minnesota, or a Portion of It 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) State of Oregon and Adjacent Areas 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Forty-five counties in the Greater Pittsburgh Area in Virginia. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Its Name for the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Specifically the Dakota Territory. 41   Montana Sunday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) A Place Called Montana 42   Washington Dated: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Geographical Indication of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) In the Idaho Panhandle 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah As of today's date, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Saturday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Saturday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Arizona State 49   Alaska Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) The Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Friday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawai'ian Acquired Territory

Dates of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress for submission to state legislatures for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government under the Constitution replaced the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York Friday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island Tuesday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia The date was February 26, 1778. 7 For the state of New Hampshire, see: March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey On this day in 1778, November 19 12 Delaware Monday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 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 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."
• 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. having to hold 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 ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

• Watch videos from each state in the United States. History com
• Constitutional ratification and statehood formation dates 50states com