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-equal in sovereignty with the central government. Given 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 make up the main divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or prohibited to the federal government by the United States Constitution. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes, but is not limited to, intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. It is based on republican principles, and each state has its own constitution and government that includes an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In the Senate, every state has two seats, and in the House of Representatives, every state has a minimum of one representative and as many as its population warrants, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. Moreover, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to send a number of electors to the vote equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

Adding new states to the Union is a legislative function, as stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states of the United States have been joined by 47 others since 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 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.) In the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government after ratifying the Constitution in 1787, these states are listed below. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or allowed) Consisting of 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania The 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Imperial Crown Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut On this day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts This day in 1788, on February 6th, you could say: [8]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay, a British Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era province 8   Citing South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown of South Carolina 9   It's in the Granite State, New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, the Queen's Most Favored Colony 12   Specifically, the state of North Carolina1. In the year 1789, on November 21st, [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Colony under British Rule; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) [c]Republic of Vermont; 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) A total of nine counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia's District in the state of Kentucky[d]. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Aspects of the South-Western Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Province of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Cal 20   Mississippi Sunday, December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Land Located in the State of Mississippi 21   Illinois On this day in 1818 — December 3 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) This is Alabama Country. 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Today in History (January 26th, 1837) [28]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Location of Florida as a Separate Political Entity 28   Texas On this date in 1845: [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Dated: December 28th, 1846
(admitted) This portion of Iowa Territory is known as: 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Piece of Wisconsin Territory 31   California Saturday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Frontiers without government oversight / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) The State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon A Date: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) Regional portion of Oregon 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) In Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]), 36   Nevada Observed on October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Frontier State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Starting on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Territory of Colorado 39   In the state of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) The State of Dakota, etc. 40   A State in the Midwestern U.S. This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Territory of Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) Western Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) In the state of Wyoming. 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907, November 16 [44]
(admitted) Native American Lands in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico It all started on 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) Alaskan territory. 50   Hawaii Instance Date: August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by the required number of states (13 in this case), the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, which governed the states, were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitution, which governs the federal government, was adopted. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Monday, December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Specifically: Sixteen days in February, 1778 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island On this day in history, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia In other words, on this date in 1778, February 26th 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 The 19th of November, 1778 12 Delaware It all started on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland As of today, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a provision of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of 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 the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal 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 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 combined into one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state in the Union thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

A look at the world outside [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• "Birth dates of nations" 50states com