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, all U.S. citizens hold dual citizenship. Commonwealth is used in the official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia rather than state.

The United States can be broken down into its constituent parts, which are called "states." They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or prohibited to the federal government by the United States Constitution. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal government are generally left to the discretion of the respective state governments. Generally speaking, republican principles form the basis for each individual state's constitution and government, which is made up of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Each state has two senators and at least one representative, with the size of each state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by the 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 that votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of its congressional representatives 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. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are listed below. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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. Every subsequent admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accepted; approved Composed of 1   Delaware Friday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Monday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Formerly-Imperial Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut Sunday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony turned-property province 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Province of South Carolina 9   Specifically, 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, Imperial Colony and Dominated State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Kingdom of New York 12   Here in good ol' NC On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, a Crown Colony 13   The Ocean State: 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) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territory to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Northern Provinces 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) District of Orleans 19   Indiana Dated: 12-11-1816
(admitted) This is Indiana State 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817, December 10: [22]
(admitted) Where the Mississippi River Meets the Gulf of Mexico 21   Illinois A Date Certain: December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Partial Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Today in History (December 14th, 819) [24]
(admitted) Regional Identifier for Alabama 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 Dated: January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Land of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Democratic Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California On this date in 1850, September 9 [31]
(admitted) Frontiers without government oversight / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) The State of Minnesota, or a Portion of It 33   Oregon On this day in 1859 — February 14
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas It all began on this date in 1861: January 29. [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   Mountain State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Geographical Definition of Colorado 39   There's a lot of room in North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Western Dakota Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Partial Dakota Territory 41   Montana On this day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) Montana, the Wild West 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) Located in Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Located in Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Friday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Initially published: January 6, 1912
(admitted) Region of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Location: Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Aloha! Hawaii!

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. Following ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force 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 On this day in 1777, December 16 2 The State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Here in Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12: 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 In the state of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Asheville, North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779, February 1st, 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2

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.
• 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."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize their own governments and seek admission to the Union as individual states.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the right to organize a state government and gain 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 one state.
• Effective January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state in the Union thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

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