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. Due to the separation of powers that exists in the United States, each individual citizen has dual citizenship: that of the federal republic and the state in which they currently reside. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

Each of the 50 states constitutes the main 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. 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. 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, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives, from which citizens of all 50 states and the District of Columbia can elect their own representatives. 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 the state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. Furthermore, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

The Constitution specifically vests the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Congress through Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. U.S. statehood has increased from its original 13 in 1776 to its current 50. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the 50 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.) Each state is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a 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
(accepted; confirmed) Produced by 1   Delaware Tuesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Settlement in Delaware [b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Colonial Pennsylvania 3   New Jersey Saturday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia As of today, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Empire of the Crown: Georgia 5   Connecticut Wednesday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Massachusetts Bay, a British 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) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   A New England State: June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under British Rule 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   The state of North Carolina1 The date of November 21, 1789 [14]
(ratified) 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) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the 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) District of Orleans 19   Indiana Instance created: December 11, 1816
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi The 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois On this day in 1818 — December 3 — [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Monday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) States of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Location: Maine(f) District, Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) An Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Region of Arkansas 26   Michigan The 26th of January, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas Friday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Instance Date: December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) In a state of disarray / the Mexican Cession, part 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Territory in Minnesota, Sectional. 33   Oregon A Date: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) State of Oregon and Adjacent Areas 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) The State of Kansas and Adjacent Areas 35   Situated in western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) (There are 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area of Virginia) 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territorial Status: Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The State of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Specifically the Dakota Territory. 40   Dakota (State) The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 41   Montana The Date Was November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Montana, the Wild West 42   Washington It all started on November 11th, 1889. [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Places in Idaho that are technically part of the United States 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah It all started on this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) A Land Named Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territory of Oklahoma and Indian Territory 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona Date: February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Territorial Status: Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, the calendar turned to:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Islands of Hawaii

A timeline of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the states by the Second Continental Congress. On March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the current federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Time: Tuesday, December 16, 1777 2 " South Carolina" Sunday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6: 4 Location: Rhode Island It was February 9th, 1778. 5 Connecticut Thursday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Specifically on: February 26th, 1778 7 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 It's the 19th of November in the year 1778. 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland Dated: 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.
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory rather than a state, a number of violent conflicts broke out between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the territory.
• 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.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave 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. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• State of Alaska officially joined the Union on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

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