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

In the United States, each of the fifty individual states is a sovereign nation in its own right, with the federal government also having authority over its citizens. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]In their official state names, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Commonwealth of Virginia use the term commonwealth rather than state.

The United States is divided primarily into individual 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. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

Each state and its citizens have a voice in the Senate and House of Representatives that make up the federal Congress. Two senators and one representative are guaranteed to each state by the Constitution; 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. The Electoral College is the body that votes for President and Vice President of the United States, and each state gets a number of electors equal to its congressional delegation. [4]

This 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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. There has been no discrimination against any of the new states in their admission. [5]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are listed below. When they signed on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states officially became sovereign nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation to form the first United States of America constitution. (A separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC is provided below.) This list of states is presented in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed and currently functioning federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
acceptance or approval Based on 1   Delaware This day in 1787, on the 7th of December, [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia As of today, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Georgia 5   Connecticut It all started on January 9th, 1788. [12]
(ratified) The Province of Connecticut as a Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts This day in 1788, on February 6th, you could say: [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a colonial possession. 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Carolina was a crown colony at the time. 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony and Dominion of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Colony under British Rule; 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) Lands to the West of the Mississippi 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) This is Indiana State 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Places in the Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois Dated: December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Region of Illinois 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Regional Identifier for Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Saturday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) An Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) This is Michigan Country. 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula and Surrounding Area 28   Texas Friday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Today in 1846, on the 28th day of December
(admitted) Piece of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A section of Wisconsin 31   California Sunday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Chaos-stricken regions / the Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon The 14th of February, 1859
(admitted) State of Oregon and Adjacent Areas 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Geographical Indicator: South Dakota1 The Date Was November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Pieces of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Sunday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington The Eleventh of November, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Territory of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) States Constituting Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907 — November 16 [44]
(admitted) Lands in Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico This day in 1912, on January 6
(admitted) A portion of the state of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) Arizona Territory 49   Alaska The Third of January, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Dates of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. The Articles of Confederation were ratified by the required number of states (13) and went into effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Sunday, December 16th, 1777 2 Colony State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Monday, February 6th, 1778 4 A Place Called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Initially published: 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 The state of 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 Saturday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 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 set of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• 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 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 the New Mexico and Arizona Territories the same right. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

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