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

For those unfamiliar, a state is one of the 50 individual entities that together make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside, due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the federal government Only four states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names rather than state.

The 50 states are the most basic 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. As a rule, it is up to the individual states to handle matters that affect its citizens directly, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of municipalities, public education policy, and the building and upkeep of roads not funded by the federal government. 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 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 based on its population as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. Furthermore, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to choose a number of electors to vote in the election equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [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. 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. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states officially became independent nations in their own right and, between 1777 and 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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
accept(ed) or (approved) Originating from 1   Delaware The 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Delaware[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12, 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia Two Hundred and Eighty-Eighth Day of the Year [8]
(ratified) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Kingdom of Connecticut 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony of Massachusetts Bay 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland, a Private Colony 8   A State in the Southeastern United States May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   That State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Independent State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony Held by the Crown 12   A Place Called 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) Independent State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) The Commonwealth of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Locations to the West 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Sunday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Wednesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Specifically, the State of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Region of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Regional Term for Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Its Florida-based definition 28   Texas On this date in 1845: [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Region of Wisconsin 31   California Wednesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) The State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Specifically, the fifty counties that make up Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Locale of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Expansion of the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado Day of the Sun, August 1, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The State of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Location: South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 41   Montana Monday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Places in Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The Idaho Territory1 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Location: New Mexico, USA 48   Arizona A Date: February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Time: Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Wednesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were formally approved for ratification by the individual states by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took 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 On this day in 1777 2 Columbia, South Carolina On this day in 1778, February 5: 3 New York Adopted: February 6th, 1778 4 Providence, Rhode Island It was February 9th, 1778. 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 It's in the Tar Heel State, or North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Wednesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland Sunday, February 2nd, 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.
• 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 legal right to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two 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 New Mexico and Arizona the right to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

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