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

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Due to the division 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 50 states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. Each state is endowed with all authority not specifically delegated to the federal government or prohibited from being exercised by the Constitution of the United States. 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. It is based on republican principles, and each state has its own constitution and government that includes an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Every state has two senators and at least one representative in the House of Representatives, with the size of each state's delegation in the House determined by the population of the state as of the most recent decennial census required 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 Constitution clearly states that Congress has 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. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally became independent nations in their own right in July 1777 and July 1781, respectively, and formally joined the Union of States by ratifying the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, in each of those years. (See below for a table detailing the timeline of Acts of Consecration) 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
(approved or allowed) Shaped by 1   Delaware The 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Sunday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788, January [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut Tuesday, January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) CT, a former British colony and now a state 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of the South Carolina Colonies 9   Granite State, 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 Colony Under British Rule 12   The state of North Carolina1. On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) British North Carolina 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) Locations to the West 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territories in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Region of Orleans 19   Indiana The 11th of December, 1816
(admitted) Region of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Places in the Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois On this day in 1818, December 3: [23]
(admitted) Regional Illinois 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Lands in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Brunswick, Canada 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) This portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) This is Arkansas State 26   Michigan Dated: January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territory of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently 28   Texas Wednesday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Independence, Texas 29   Iowa Sunday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) The Iowa Territory, Part 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) A portion of Mexico's Cession to the United States that is still disorganized. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Piece of Minnesota Territory 33   Oregon Monday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) Piece of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas This day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Kansas. 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) (There are 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area of Virginia) 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Location: Nevada, USA 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876: [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Pieces of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Friday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Places in Montana 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho, the Territorial State 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Wyoming, the Territories 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico On this day in 1912, January 6
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Earlier today, on February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska As of this date in 1959:
(admitted) State of Alaska 50   Hawaii Wednesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii, a Territorial State

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. 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, December 16 2 The State of South Carolina The date of February 5, 1778 3 New York This day in history: February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island On this day in 1778, February 9: 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12: 6 Georgia Friday, February 26th, 1778 7 State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 A Place Called North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Day of the Sun, February 1, 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.
• Conflicts between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups in Kansas Territory escalated into bloody clashes in the years leading up to Kansas's statehood in 1861, a period known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the legal 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 on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• Legislation that officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

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