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

For those unfamiliar, a state is one of the 50 individual entities that together make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. To distinguish themselves from other states, the official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 states are the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. Any authority not specifically granted to or denied to the federal government by the United States Constitution is implicitly granted to the states. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance are generally under the purview of state governments. 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 the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. 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. Additionally, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to choose a number of electors to vote in the election proportional to the number of its representatives and senators in Congress. [4]

The Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. New states have been admitted on an equal footing with the rest. [5]

See below for a chronological listing of when each of the 50 states became independent. Each of the original 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, and thus became a state in July 1776 after agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence. (The dates of AoC ratification are listed in a separate table 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. Each succeeding state's admission date is a statutory deadline mandated by federal law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Originating from 1   Delaware Tuesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Propertied Province 3   New Jersey Sunday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Originally, New Jersey was a British colony. 4   Georgia As of today, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Monday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts Dated: February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Specifically, the state of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the British Empire 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony Under British Rule 12   Purpose: The State of North Carolina1 Friday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) (c)The Vermont Republic 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) Continent's Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Region of Orleans 19   Indiana Tuesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi It's the 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Portion of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Maine(f] District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Partial Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas On this date in 1845: [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas, Republika 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) Piece of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Wilderness / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) This section of Minnesota is called the Minnesota Territory. 33   Oregon Tuesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) Specifically, the Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Some of Kansas Territory 35   Mountain State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) In Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]), 36   Nevada When October 31st, 1864 rolled around,
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Starting on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Specifically: The State of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   This is South Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 41   Montana Tuesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Day that marks the 11th of November, 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 The date January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Places in Utah 46   Oklahoma 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 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Time: Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Historical context of the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. On March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Citing South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Location: Rhode Island The Nineteenth of February, 1778 5 Connecticut Sunday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia On this date in 1778, February 26th, 7 That 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 Dated: November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware First day of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• One of the bills included in the "Compromise of 1850" set of legislation passed by Congress to allow for California's entry into the Union.
• In the years leading up to Kansas's admission to the Union as a state, from 1854 to 1861, the territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which allowed the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories to organize themselves politically as states (with Dakota being split in half) and apply for admission to the Union.
• Enabling Act for the State of Oklahoma; allowing citizens of the Indian Territory to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as a single state; allowing citizens of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as individual states. calling for a vote on whether or not the two jurisdictions should be united into one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States of America thanks to the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Referring to Resources Outside This Article [ edit ]

• American State Videos History com
• Terms for the Establishment of States 50states com