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

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Since the federal government and the individual states share power, 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."

U.S. administrative divisions are typically called "states." They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. 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 of the fifty states has a government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, all of which are established by a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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 last 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 specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. 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. First accepting the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, one by one between 1777 and 1781. (See below for a table detailing the timeline of Acts of Consecration) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally mandated deadline. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Composed of 1   Delaware Monday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware, a British Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary State 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey was a royal colony. 4   Georgia Tuesday, January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Capital of the Maryland Colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The New Hampshire colony was a crown colony. 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Dominion of the Crown Colony of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, the Queen's Most Favored Colony 12   The State of North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Here in Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) It's a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Southwestern Acreage 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Area encompassing the present-day state of Mississippi 21   Illinois It's the 3rd of December, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Sunday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) The Missouri Territory, Part 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Locale of Arkansas 26   Michigan Dated: January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Affirmative: Florida's Home State 28   Texas Wednesday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The Texas Republic 29   Iowa Wednesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) An Area of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas The Day That Began the Year 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Some of Kansas Territory 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada When October 31st, 1864 rolled around,
(admitted) Area Known as Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Location of Colorado's Territory 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Regional portion of Dakotas 40   A State in the Midwestern U.S. The date was November 2, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Regional portion of Dakotas 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Monday, November 11, 1889 [42]
(admitted) 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) Territorial Claims in Utah 46   Oklahoma Monday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory 47   New Mexico Dated: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Monday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) The Hawaiian Islands as a Territorial Unit

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. 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 A Date in History: December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur On this day in 1778, February 5: 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6: 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Sunday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26, 1778 7 State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Cary, North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Wednesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Monday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of acts passed by Congress.
• There were a number of violent conflicts in Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups in the years 1854-1861. This period is 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. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. call for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

References outside the text [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States of the USA" History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com