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

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Because of the separation of powers that exists in the United States, citizens of the federal republic are also citizens of the state in which they currently 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. They have all the authority that is 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. Each of the fifty states has a government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and a constitution based on republican principles. [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 of Representatives determined by that 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]

Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union according to 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. All new states have been given full voting rights, just like all the others. [5]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are listed below. 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 separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) The order in which these states are listed indicates 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 subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
Accepted or confirmed Developed from 1   Delaware Monday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Delaware[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a colonial possession 3   New Jersey Monday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Imperial Province of New Jersey 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Georgian Colony 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Province of Connecticut as a Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Thursday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   In the state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Crown Colony 12   Here in good ol' NC On this day in 1789, November 21st: [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British 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) In its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia includes nine counties. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Area of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi The date was December 10, 1817. [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Friday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Alabama State 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Boston, MA (Maine Federal Court District) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) This portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Region of Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Location of Florida as a Separate Political Entity 28   Texas Monday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Regional 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 / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) This section of Minnesota is called the Minnesota Territory. 33   Oregon On this day in 1859 — February 14
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Dated: January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas Territory 35   We're in the Mountain State. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Date: August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Land of Colorado 39   It's in North Dakota1. Sunday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of the Dakotas 40   The State of South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The Idaho Panhandle 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Places in Wyoming 45   Utah Thursday, January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The Utah Region 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territories of Oklahoma and Indians in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico Sunday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Land of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska The date January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaska, a territory 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Kingdom of Hawaii

Ratification dates for the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by the necessary 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and the present Constitution ratified on March 4, 1789, ushering in the modern federal government. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Sunday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 State of Rhode Island Friday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut Tuesday, February 12, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26, 1778 7 This 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 On this date in 1778, November 19 12 Delaware On this day in 1779, February 1: 13 Maryland The date is 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 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.
• 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. call for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• With the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on December 21, 1958, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

To other sites [ edit ]

• State-specific video content from the United States History com
• Definition of Terms: "Date of Statehood" 50states com