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

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. In light of the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens hold dual citizenship. For example, 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. Local matters, 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 under the purview of the respective state's government. Each state has a government that includes an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which are elected by the citizens of their respective states. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a state's delegation in the House based on its population as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that votes for President and Vice President of the United States. [3] Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union per 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. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside the rest. [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 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. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accept(ed) or (approved) Composed of 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony 2   Pennsylvania Yesterday, on the 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Saturday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Imperial Crown Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Saturday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Boston, Massachusetts, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era province 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Hampshire 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 of the British Crown 12   Carolina del Norte Wednesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Location: 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) Its Southwestern Parts 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Located in the Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Region of Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817 — December 10 — [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois On this day in 1818, December 3: [23]
(admitted) State of Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine(f) District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) State of Arkansas 26   Michigan Thursday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Florida's Homestead 28   Texas The 29th of December, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Partial Wisconsin Territory 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Territory in Minnesota, Sectional. 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas This day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   It's in West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) A state in which 50 counties are located in the Trans-Allegheny area (Virginia). 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Places in Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado When: August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Region of Colorado 39   There's a lot of room in North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Sunday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Territory of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Geographical Region Called Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) Places in Utah 46   Oklahoma Dated: November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico This day in 1912, on January 6
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona As of today (14 February 1912)
(admitted) Arizona Territory 49   Alaska It all started on this day in 1959, January 3rd.
(admitted) Located in Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) The Hawaiian Islands as a Territorial Unit

Dates of Articles of Confederation ratification [ 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 all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777, December 16 2 Carolina del Sur On this day in 1778 — February 5 — 3 New York Date: February 6, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut The 12th of February, 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, February 26th, 1778 7 Primarily Used in: New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 To the State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Sunday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2nd, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• This was made possible by the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress, one of which included a clause authorizing California's entry into the Union.
• 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.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• By the Oklahoma Enabling Act, the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma were granted permission to unite under a single state government and to seek admission to the Union. Similarly, the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories were granted permission to unite under a single state government and to seek admission to the Union. 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 a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

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