Date of admission to the Union is listed for each state 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. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" 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. Generally speaking, matters of local concern are under the purview of state governments, which include the likes of regulating intrastate commerce, conducting elections, forming local governments, establishing public school policy, and constructing and maintaining non-federal roads. Constitutions based on republican ideals and governing bodies that include separate branches of government for executive, legislative, and judicial functions are found in each of the fifty states. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Two senators and at least one representative are assigned to each state, 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, [3] the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body that votes for President and Vice President, is equal to the sum of the number of representatives and senators from that state in Congress. [4]

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to decide whether or not to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. The original 13 states that made up the United States in 1776 have since been joined by 49 others, bringing the total to 50. Upon admission, each new state joins the union on an 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. (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; approved Prompted by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Friday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia The date was January 2, 1788. [8]
(ratified) During the time of the British, Georgia was a crown colony. 5   Connecticut Nineteen Eighty-Eighth Day, January [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) Province of Maryland that is currently under private ownership 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under 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 Colony Under the Crown 12   A Place Called North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former Crown colony 13   Providence, Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) State of Vermont Republic[c] 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) To be exact, Virginia has nine counties in its District of Kentucky(d). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) North West Territories, Segment 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Monday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Land Located in the State of Mississippi 21   Illinois Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Monday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Location: Maine(f) District, Massachusetts 24   Missouri The tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Sunday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Called Florida 28   Texas Sunday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Sunday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) (Of) Wisconsin Territory 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Lack of Government in the Lands Adjoining Mexico (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) In Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]), 36   Nevada As of today, October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Initially, on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) State of Colorado 39   It's in North Dakota1. When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 41   Montana Saturday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Western United States region encompassing Montana. 42   Washington Dated: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Location: Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Located in the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Tuesday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The date was November 16th, 1907. [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona. 49   Alaska Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Anchorage, Alaska 50   Hawaii On this day in 1959, August 21st,
(admitted) Islands of Hawaii

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. After being ratified by the necessary 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 Wednesday, December 16th, 1777 2 Columbia, South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Adopted: February 6th, 1778 4 Place Name: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 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 Tuesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The date was February 1, 1779. 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a provision 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.
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of Dakota, Montana, and Washington the right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and to 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, and the New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. needing a vote from the people to decide if the two areas should be united as one state
• This was made possible by the Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made January 3, 1959, the day Alaska was admitted to the Union as the 49th state.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

• U.S. State Video Collection History com
• Times when nations were officially established 50states com