In order of their admission to the United States, the following list of states has been compiled.

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The fifty states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. As a rule, it is up to the individual states to handle matters that affect its citizens directly, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of municipalities, public education policy, and the building and upkeep of roads not funded by the federal government. A republican form of government, with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches, exists in each of the 50 states, all of which are governed by their own constitutions. [2]

Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, in which all states and their citizens have a voice. Each state has two senators and at least one representative, 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. Further, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President, allows each state to send a number of voters to Congress equal to its total number of representatives 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. As of today, there are 50 states, up from the original 13. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside the rest. [5]

Each of the 50 states' official statehood dates is listed below. 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.) 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. All subsequent admission dates reflect the statutory deadlines established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Produced by 1   Delaware Friday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Pennsylvania Colony as a Colonial Establishment 3   New Jersey The 18th of December, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia Initially published: January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial possession of the British Crown in the American Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut Sunday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts On this day in 1788, February 6th, [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Citing South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, Royal Colony 9   The State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The New Hampshire colony was a crown colony. 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte 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) 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) State of Virginia (which includes 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) Region of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Locales in Indiana 20   Mississippi Time Period: 1817-12-10 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Locales in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Hampshire 24   Missouri Date: August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Locale of Arkansas 26   Michigan Today in History (January 26th, 1837) [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) State of Florida 28   Texas It's the 29th of December, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) The portion of Wisconsin that was once known as the 31   California Tuesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) A portion of the Mexican Cession that is disorganized[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Separate Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) 50 counties in the state of Virginia that are located in the Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Location: Nevada, USA 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1. [37]
(admitted) To the west, in the Colorado Territory1 39   We're in North Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Earlier this week, on November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) It's in Montana! 42   Washington When: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma It was on November 16th, 1907, that the first American [44]
(admitted) Geographical Regions of Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico Sixteen hundred and twelve: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona A Date: February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaska, a territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) The Hawaiian Islands as a Territorial Unit

Conventions to ratify the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

In order for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified by the separate states, the Second Continental Congress approved them on November 15, 1777. After being ratified by the required 13 states, the Articles of Confederation became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and the present Constitution ratified on March 4, 1789, ushering in the modern federal government. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Five of February, 1778 3 New York Dated: February 6th, 1778 4 That place called Rhode Island Friday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut As of this date in 1778: February 12 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey This day in 1778, November 19 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 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 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 series of violent conflicts broke out in the territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize themselves into new states and join 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 do the same. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

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