Listed here are the U.S. states in order of their admission to the Union.

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right and shares power with the federal government. People in the United States are citizens of both 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."

The 50 states make up 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. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of non-federal roads, are generally under the purview of the respective state's government. 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 all 50 states. Depending on its population, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution, each state is allotted a certain number of representatives in the House of Representatives, with a minimum of one representative and a maximum determined 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. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are 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 between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (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 subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accept(ed) or (approved) Shaped by 1   Delaware It was the 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Yesterday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia First Day of the Year, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Empire of the Crown: Georgia 5   Connecticut Sunday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts It was February 6th, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Province of Massachusetts Bay, British Colony 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, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789, November 21st, [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Province of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) With nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia is a large state. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Western Hemisphere's Southwest Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana As of today's date, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Wednesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois As of today, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Regional Illinois 22   Alabama The 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) New England (Maine(f) District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tuesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Affirmative: Florida's Home State 28   Texas This day in 1845, on December 29th, [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Democratic Republic 29   Iowa Friday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) (Of) Wisconsin Territory 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Sunday, February 14th, 1859
(admitted) Piece of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: January 29 [33]
(admitted) This portion of Kansas Territory 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Specifically, the fifty counties that make up Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31st,
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Specifically, South Dakota1 Wednesday, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, in the Territories 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Places in Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) Utah, the Territories 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) This is the State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Tuesday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) In the Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska It all started on this day in 1959, January 3rd.
(admitted) The Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Monday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii, a Territorial State

Moments in time when the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and submitted to the individual states for ratification. On March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation became active after being ratified by all 13 states. The current federal government under the Constitution replaced the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 To the South Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Sunday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut The 12th of February, 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 Element: 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: February 1 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• California's inclusion in the Union was made possible by the "Compromise of 1850," a collection of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• The years 1854–1861, just before Kansas became a state, were marked by a string of bloody conflicts in the Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• 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 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. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a state.
• Article 3 of the Alaska Statehood Act officially recognized Alaska as a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Referring to Resources Outside This Article [ edit ]

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