Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

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 states, Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside. For example, 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 most basic political units in America. 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 non-federal road construction and maintenance, are generally under the purview of state governments. There is a separate government in each state, with its own constitution based on republican ideals and its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Two senators and at least one representative are assigned to each state, with the size of a 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. Furthermore, 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]

This 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. As of today, there are 50 states, up from the original 13. The new states have been accepted without discrimination. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the 50 US states. 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. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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 legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; confirmed) Produced by 1   Delaware This day in 1787, on the 7th of December, [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware, a British Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Propertied Province 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787, December 18 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 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) Colonial Maryland 8   Specifically, the state of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of 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 Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   This is the state of North Carolina1. On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) British North Carolina Colony 13   Specifically, the state of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canadian Region of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Province of Orleans 19   Indiana Dated: 12-11-1816
(admitted) Area containing Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817, December 10 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Instance created: 14 December 1819 [24]
(admitted) Alabama State 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Today in History (January 26th, 1837) [28]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula and Surrounding Area 28   Texas On this date in 1845: [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Republic 29   Iowa Tuesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Part of Iowa was once known as the Iowa Territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) An Area of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Sunday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) This portion of Kansas Territory 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1: [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 40   States of America: South Dakota1 Earlier today, on November 2nd, 1889, [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Tuesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Places in Idaho that are technically part of the United States 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Sunday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) It's the State of New Mexico! 48   Arizona Wednesday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) In Alaska's case, this means the territory itself. 50   Hawaii A Day in History: August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

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 became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the current federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Sunday, December 16th, 1777 2 Citing South Carolina Monday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut The 12th of February, 1778 6 Georgia The 26th of February, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 This is the state of North Carolina. April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey A Date: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 13 Maryland Monday, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• One of the acts included in the "Compromise of 1850" legislation package was one that allowed California to join 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.
• 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 permission for the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma to join the Union as a single state, and the New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act granted similar permission for the people of those territories to join the Union as individual states. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• Effective January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state in the Union thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connections outside the text [ edit ]

• YouTube playlist titled "States of the USA" History com
• "Birth of the States" 50states com