Here is a timeline of the states' official admission to the United States.

The 50 individual states that make up the United States are co-sovereign entities with the central government. The United States is a federal republic in which the powers of the federal government and the individual states are equally balanced. This results in dual citizenship for all Americans. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word commonwealth rather than the word state.

For the most part, the United States can be broken down into its individual states. When it comes to authority, they have everything the federal government doesn't and can't. 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. There is a separate government in each state, with its own constitution based on republican ideals and its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. 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. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for electing the President and Vice President of the United States, is directly proportional to the number of senators and representatives from that state. [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. The original 13 states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to 50. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for all fifty US states. After signing on to the 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. (A separate table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. As stated, each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory mandate. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; approved) Constructed from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Jersey 4   Georgia On this day in 1788, January 2 [8]
(ratified) A British Colony in the State of Georgia 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [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 Colony 8   An Acronym for the State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of South Carolina, a British 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 of the Crown and Proud Colony 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   It's in the Tar Heel State, or North Tuesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   A Place Called Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republic of Vermont (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) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) New Orleans Area 19   Indiana On this day in 1816, December 11
(admitted) Region of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) States of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) (Maine F District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Its portion of the Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) To the East of the Mississippi River, Arkansas 26   Michigan As of today, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Confederate States 29   Iowa Thursday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Specifically, the portion of Iowa's territory that is called 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Region of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) In a state of disarray / the Mexican Cession, part 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 It all began on this date in 1861: January 29. [33]
(admitted) An Area of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Last Updated: 31 October, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Land of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 The Date Was November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Wednesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Located in the state of Montana. 42   Washington Instance created: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Located in Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) This is Wyoming Country. 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) Territory of Utah 46   Oklahoma Monday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Monday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Pardon my ignorance, but I wasn't aware that Arizona was 49   Alaska As of this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Thursday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Honolulu, Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. On March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Saturday, December 16th, 1777 2 This is the state of South Carolina. 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 In the state of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Tuesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779, February 1: 13 Maryland As of today, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of 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.
• A law passed in 1889 called the Enabling Act gave citizens of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two states) and 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. It also granted the people of New Mexico and Arizona the right to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as separate states. calling for a vote to decide if the two areas should be united as one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as a result of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

A look at the world outside [ edit ]

• The United States of America Video Archive History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com