Date of admission to the Union is listed for each of the 50 states in the United States.

The 50 individual states that make up the United States are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. There are four states (Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) whose official names do not include the word "state," but rather "commonwealth."

The United States can be broken down into its constituent parts, which are 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. The government of each state is divided into an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and it is based on a constitution written in accordance with republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which are elected by the citizens of their respective states. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a state's delegation to 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]

The 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. The original 13 states that made up the United States in 1776 have since been joined by another 39. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

All 50 states and their respective dates of statehood are listed below. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 and ratified the Articles of Confederation. Dates of AoC ratification are listed in a separate table below.) [6] The states are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or confirmed) Consisting of 1   Delaware On this day in 1787, December 7: [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Sunday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Colony 3   New Jersey Today in 1787, on December 18th, [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Formerly-Imperial Crown Colony 4   Georgia Dated: January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut It all started on January 9th, 1788. [12]
(ratified) Royal Connecticut Colony 6   Massachusetts Earlier this year, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   State of South Carolina1 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) Virginia, Dominant Colony of the British Empire 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) "New York, the Crown Colony" 12   The State of North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [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) There is a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territory to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) District of Orleans 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) Hoosier State 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Sunday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Alabama State 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) (Maine F District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Part of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) To the East of the Mississippi River, Arkansas 26   Michigan Monday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Florida Territory 28   Texas Tuesday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Yesterday, on the 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Section of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Dated: September 9th, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disorganized land / the Mexican Cession, part [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Separate Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Tuesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: January 29 [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 October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Region of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Starting on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Colorado, the Territory 39   The Great Land of North Dakota1 Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   A State in the Midwestern U.S. Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Partial Dakota Territory 41   Montana Sunday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Western United States region encompassing Montana. 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Sunday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Land of Utah 46   Oklahoma When: Tuesday, November 16, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territories of Oklahoma and Indians in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico Dated: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) It's the State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Monday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, January 3
(admitted) Province of Alaska 50   Hawaii Thursday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification dates for the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. All 13 states had to ratify the Articles of Confederation for them to become effective, and that didn't happen until March 1. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia The 16th of December, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur It was on this day in 1778, February 5th, that the Declaration 3 New York Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Monday, February 26th, 1778 7 It's in the Granite State, 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 When: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 13 Maryland Wednesday, February 2nd, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• A set of laws passed by Congress in 1850 known as the "Compromise of 1850" included a clause guaranteeing California's entry into the Union.
• 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.
• Federal legislation passed in 1889 that made it possible for citizens of the Dakota (later split into two states), Montana, and Washington territories to organize state governments 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 New Mexico and Arizona the right to do the same. asking for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connecting to the Outside World: Some Useful Resources [ edit ]

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