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

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]In their official state names, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Commonwealth of Virginia use the term commonwealth rather than state.

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. They have complete authority over all matters not specifically delegated to the federal government or expressly prohibited by the United States Constitution. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance, are generally under the purview of state governments. 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]

Congress, the United States' bicameral legislature, consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and all states and their citizens are guaranteed a voice there. The number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is based on the population count from 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]

According to the Constitution, Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. Since its founding in 1776, the United States has grown from its original 13 to its current 50 states. There has been no discrimination against any of the new states in their admission. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the fifty US states. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781. At that time, they also ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution. (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 succeeding state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or confirmed) Made up of 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in Georgia 5   Connecticut On this date in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 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 was a colony under the British 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 Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte Friday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Crown Colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Provost State of Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republican State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Area Located To The Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) New Orleans Area 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Time Period: 1817-12-10 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois The date was December 3, 1818. [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Monday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Locales in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Maine(f] District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri The tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Its portion of the Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Land of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Dated: December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Sunday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Section of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Date: September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Frontiers without government oversight / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) Segment of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Wednesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Situated in western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) 50 counties in the state of Virginia that are located in the Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada Last Updated: 31 October, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Area encompassing present-day Nebraska 38   Colorado The Day That Started It All: August 1, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Location of Colorado's Territory 39   The State of North Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 40   "South Dakota1" When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 41   Montana Thursday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Territory of Montana 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) In the State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho, the Territorial State 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) In the state of Wyoming. 45   Utah Time: Thursday, January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Saturday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Locations in Indian Territory and Oklahoma 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) To occupy the territory now known as Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Location of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's home territory

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the individual states by the Second Continental Congress. After the Articles of Confederation were ratified by all 13 states, they became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Sunday, December 16th, 1777 2 This is the state of South Carolina. 05 Février 1778 3 New York The date was February 6th, 1778. 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Thursday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Thursday, February 26th, 1778 7 The state of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 In the state of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 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.
• A series of bloody conflicts between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups occurred in Kansas Territory between 1854 and 1861, a period known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal 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 on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state in the Union thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Websites outside the scope of this paper [ edit ]

• The United States of America Video Archive History com
• Dates of statehood 50states com