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

A state is one of the fifty individual entities that together make up the United States of America and share sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are the only states whose full official names do not include the word "state," opting instead for the term "commonwealth."

The 50 states make up the main 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. 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 is based on republican principles as outlined in the state's own constitution. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. 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. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors 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. When a new state joins, it joins on equal footing with the others. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the 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. (A separate table with dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) 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
accepted; confirmed Developed from 1   Delaware Friday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Monday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey was a royal colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788, January [8]
(ratified) A British Colony in the State of Georgia 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts It was February 6th, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland, a Private Colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Crown Colony and Currently Reigning Monarchy 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Cary, 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) Providence Plantations, Rhode Island, and the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in 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) South-Western Part of the Country 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, December 11
(admitted) A Landmark in the History of the United States: Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Where the Mississippi River Meets the Gulf of Mexico 21   Illinois As of today, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Portion of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) In the state of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tuesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) The State of Missouri, or Part of It 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Land of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Panhandle 28   Texas Tuesday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Sunday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) An Area of Wisconsin 31   California Tuesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Wilderness area / Mexican Cession (part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) This section of Minnesota is called the Minnesota Territory. 33   Oregon Day of the Week: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) The State of Oregon, or a Portion of It 34   Kansas It all began on this date in 1861: January 29. [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   The Mountain State, West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska Territory 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The State of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   This is South Dakota1. Two thousand and eleven on November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Tuesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Western United States region encompassing Montana. 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Places in Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) Locale of Utah 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Oklahoma and Indian Land 47   New Mexico The sixth of January, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Today in History (February 14th, 912)
(admitted) Specifically, the Arizona State Region 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959, August 21st,
(admitted) Hawaii, a Territorial State

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress recommended to the states that they ratify the Articles of Confederation. When the Articles of Confederation were finally ratified by all 13 states on March 1, 1781, the new government was officially established. The current federal government, established by the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Dated: December 16th, 1777 2 Columbia, South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Friday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Specifically on: February 26th, 1778 7 New Hampshire (state) 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 Sunday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware One Day in 1779: February 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.
• Battles between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups in Kansas Territory broke out in the years leading up to Kansas's statehood in 1854–1861.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate 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. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• State of Alaska officially joined the Union on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

The term "external links" is used to indicate [ edit ]

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