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 separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Four U.S. states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names instead of state.

The 50 individual states make up the basic organizational unit 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. 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 consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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 number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for choosing the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of its congressional deputies. [4]

The Constitution specifies in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 that Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. All new states have been granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

Here's a handy table with all 50 states and the days they 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.) These states are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the fledgling (and now established) 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
(approved or allowed) Originating from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a colonial possession 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony that became a state in the United States 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) State of Connecticut, Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Adopted: 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a royal possession. 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   For the state of New Hampshire1, see: June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony Under British Rule 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   Carolina del Norte Wednesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina was a colony established by the British Crown. 13   In the state of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territories to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Northwest Territories (portion of) 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Tuesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Hoosier State 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Yesterday, on the 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Lands in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri The Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) In the Arkansas Territory1 26   Michigan The 26th of January, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Formerly Known as: Michigan Territory1 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Today in 1845 (December 29) [29]
(admitted) Democratic Socialists of America 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Piece of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Portion of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) The Mexican Cession (Part): An Unorganized Region 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Part of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Appalachia's West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 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 It all started on August 1st, 1876. [37]
(admitted) Colorado, the Territory 39   In the state of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Dated: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho is a territory in the United States. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territories of Oklahoma and Indians in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, the calendar turned to:
(admitted) State or province of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Location: Hawaii

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. On March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation officially took effect. The Articles of Confederation were formally abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution took their place. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia It was on December 16th, 1777, that 2 Columbia, South Carolina The date of February 5, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 In the state of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 It's in the Granite State, 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 April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Friday, 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.
• 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 Territory, the Montana Territory, and the Washington Territory the legal right to organize their own state governments (with the Dakota Territory being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the United States as new states.
• It was the Oklahoma Enabling Act that gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the legal right to organize a state government and gain admission to the Union as a single state. It was the New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act that gave the people of those territories the legal right to organize a state government and gain admission to the Union as separate states. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• As of January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States as a result of the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Watch videos from each state in the United States. History com
• When a country or territory was established as a nation. 50states com