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 individual states make up the basic organizational unit of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or prohibited to the federal government by the United States Constitution. The federal government does not have jurisdiction over issues that are primarily concerned with the citizens of a single state, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, or the construction and maintenance of roads. Constitutions based on republican ideals and governing bodies that include separate branches of government for executive, legislative, and judicial functions are found in each of the fifty states. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which have members elected by the citizens of their respective states. 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. 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 vested in 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 new members have been granted full membership with all other states. [5]

In the table below, you'll find 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 officially became independent nations in their own right and, between 1777 and 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. Dates of AoC ratification are listed in a separate table below.) [6] The order in which these states are listed reflects the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) United States of America. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Originating from 1   Delaware Saturday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Former Crown Colony 4   Georgia The date was January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Time Period: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Massachusetts Bay Colony, a British Possession 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   Granite State, New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Virginia Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   Carolina del Norte In the year 1789, on November 21st, [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   In the state of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) This is a free and independent Vermont republic. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) A total of nine counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia's District in the state 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) Province of Orleans 19   Indiana Friday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Hoosier State 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Area encompassing the present-day state of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) An Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Tuesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) In the State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Maine(f] District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Observed on August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) The State of Missouri and Adjacent Areas 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Thursday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Region of Florida 28   Texas On this date in 1845: [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) Area of Iowa That Was Once Known As Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Date: September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Area Including the State of Minnesota 33   Oregon Instance Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Sunday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Kansas. 35   There's no place like West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of Virginia (all fifty 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) States Constituting the Nebraska Territory1 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) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana The date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, USA 42   Washington As of today (11 November 1889) [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Locales in Wyoming 45   Utah The Fourth of January, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territories of Oklahoma and Indians in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico Saturday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona Today in History (February 14th, 912)
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) State or Province of Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 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 under the Constitution took office on March 4, 1789, replacing the previous general government under the Articles. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Sunday, December 16th, 1777 2 Specifically, the state of South Carolina. 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 It's in Rhode Island. 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Monday, February 26th, 1778 7 This 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 It's the 19th of November in the year 1778. 12 Delaware On this day in 1779, February 1: 13 Maryland It all started on February 2nd, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• In the Compromise of 1850, a group of bills was passed by Congress; one of these bills guaranteed California's entry into the Union.
• 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 right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act granted the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma 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. necessitating a vote in a referendum to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

The term "external links" is used to indicate links [ edit ]

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