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 separation of powers between the federal government and the states, Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside. [1]The full official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The fifty states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. Neither the Constitution of the United States nor any state constitution can restrict the authority of the people. 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 is made up of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. The number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is based on the population count from 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]

As stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. The United States' total number of states has grown from the original 13 in 1776 to the current 50. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

In the table below, you'll find 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. (See below for a table detailing the timeline of Acts of Consecration) 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. The admission date shown for each succeeding state is the legally mandated date. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
assented to or confirmed Originating from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony 2   Pennsylvania On this day in 1787, December 12 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Monday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia The date: January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Possession. 5   Connecticut Day of the Year: January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era province 8   To the South May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Province of South Carolina 9   A New England State: June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Founded as a British colony, New Hampshire 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the British Empire 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony of the British Crown 12   Here in good ol' NC On this day in 1789, November 21st, [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, 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) With nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia is a large state. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) State located in the South-Western part of the United States 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Northwest Territories (portion of) 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Province of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi As of today, December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Regional Identifier for Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) State of Missouri (in part) 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan The 26th of January, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas Monday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Independence, Texas 29   Iowa Dated: 12/28/1846
(admitted) Region of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Area of Wisconsin That Was Once Called the Wisconsin Territory 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Minnesota Territory (part) 33   Oregon This day in 1859, on February 14th, the world changed
(admitted) Partial Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada This day in 1864, on October 31st,
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Land of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho is a territory in the United States. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Geographical Region Called Wyoming 45   Utah Fourteenth day of the first month of 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Including both Oklahoma and Indian Country as their own separate territories. 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) This is the State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Located in Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

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 Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present United States Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 To the South Sunday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York The date was February 6th, 1778. 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia The 26th of February, 1778 7 In the state of New Hampshire 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 The 19th of November, 1778 12 Delaware Starting on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2nd,

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.
• The years 1854–1861, just before Kansas became a state, were marked by a string of violent conflicts in the Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize their own governments and seek admission to the Union as individual states (the Dakotas were to be split in half).
• 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. necessitating a vote in a referendum to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

A look at the world outside [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• ''Early states'' 50states com