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 are the main political 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. For the most part, matters of local concern are left to the jurisdiction of individual states, such as the management of intrastate trade, the conduct of elections, the formation of municipal governments, the direction of public education, and the building and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal government. 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 made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a state's delegation to the House of Representatives determined by the state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [4]

A new state may be Union" target="_blank">admitted to the Union only by the Congress, as stated in Clause 1 of Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution. 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 given full voting rights, just like all the others. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the fifty US states. 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 joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accepted; approved Formed by 1   Delaware Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware, a British Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Sunday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey The 18th of December, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Former Crown Colony 4   Georgia This day in 1788, January 2 [8]
(ratified) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown 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   Element: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Virginia, British Dominions 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) British North Carolina Colony 13   Here in Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Democratic Socialist State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Northern Virginia (including nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Its Southwestern Parts 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Area of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Region of Orleans 19   Indiana On this day in 1816 (December 11)
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois When: Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama The 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Geographical Area Including 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) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley. 26   Michigan On this day in 1837: [28]
(admitted) In the State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Last Updated: 29 December 1845 [29]
(admitted) The Texas Republic 29   Iowa Monday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Frontiers without government oversight / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A section of Minnesota 33   Oregon The 14th of February, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Thursday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) States of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Geographical Region Known As Nebraska 38   Colorado Monday, August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 41   Montana Earlier this week, on November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Western Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Wyoming Territory 45   Utah Thursday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Territorial Claims in Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) There's Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Dated: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona The date February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Arizona State 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Today in History (August 21st, 1959)
(admitted) Hawaiian 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. On March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation became active after being ratified by all 13 states. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia The 16th of December, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur The fifth of February, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Providence, Rhode Island Friday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut Sunday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Cary, North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Friday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Time Period: January 1, 1779 to February 1st, 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.
• From 1854 to 1861, Kansas Territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups known as Bleeding Kansas.
• In 1889, Congress passed the Enabling Act, which allowed the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories to organize themselves politically as states and apply for admission to the Union.
• As a result of the passage of the Oklahoma Enabling Act, residents of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma were granted permission to unite under a single state government and be admitted to the Union. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• With the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on December 21, 1958, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• Dates of statehood 50states com