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

One of the fifty separate entities that together make up the United States of America 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]The official full 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. 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. In a republican system of government, each individual state has its own constitution outlining the roles of the executive, legislature, and judiciary. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from each state. There are two senators and at least one representative from each state, with the size of each 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. 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]

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. New states join the union on an equal footing with the rest. [5]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are listed below. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally became independent nations in their own right and, between 1777 and 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation to form the first United States of America. (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; confirmed Made up of 1   Delaware Saturday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Dated: December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia The date was January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) The Georgian Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Kingdom of Connecticut 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the British Empire 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion and Royal Colony 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony of the British Crown 12   This is the state of North Carolina1. On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) The North Carolina Colony was a Crown Colony. 13   There's no place like Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British 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) South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Hoosier State 20   Mississippi Tuesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) New England (Maine(f) District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri A.D. 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) An Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) This is Arkansas State 26   Michigan On this day in 1837, January 26th: [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Location of Florida as a Separate Political Entity 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Independent Texas 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) (Of) The Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Split off of Minnesota 33   Oregon A Date: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas 35   State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Observed on October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Region of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) A Land Named Nebraska 38   Colorado Beginning on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Location of Colorado's Territory 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Regional portion of Dakotas 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) Located in Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho, the Territorial State 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Colorado State 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) Places in Utah 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Including both Oklahoma and Indian Country as their own separate territories. 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) Aspects of New Mexico State and Territory 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Kingdom of Alaska 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Location: Hawaii

The dates of the 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 ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect. The Articles of Confederation government was abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitutional government has been in effect since that date. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York Date: February 6, 1778 4 Location: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26th, 1778 7 A New England State: March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland Sunday, February 2nd, 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.
• 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 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 granted 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. needing a vote from the people to decide if the two areas should be united as one state
• In 1959, the Alaska Statehood Act was passed, officially welcoming Alaska into the Union.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

• A Collection of Videos Representing Each State in the United States History com
• "Birth of the States" 50states com