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. In light of the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens hold dual citizenship. For example, 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 prohibited 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. Each state has a government that includes an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from every state and every citizen. In the Senate, every state has two seats, and in the House of Representatives, every state has a minimum of one representative and as many as its population warrants, as determined by 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]

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to decide whether or not to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. Growing from 13 at its founding in 1776, the current number of states in the United States is 50. All new states are fully integrated into the union. [5]

A timeline of statehood for each of the 50 states is provided below. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781. At that time, they also ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) This list of states is presented in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed and currently functioning federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
"(accepted or confirmed)" Developed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania On this day in 1787 (December 12), [10]
(ratified) State of Pennsylvania as a Private Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia Starting on January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut Tuesday, January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony and now a state 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Royal Province 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   The State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of South Carolina, a British 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) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte The date November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Crown Colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and Rhode Island, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in 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) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Sunday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri The Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Part of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Land of Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan (Territory) 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) The Texas Republic 29   Iowa Wednesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Part of Iowa was once known as the Iowa Territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Piece of Wisconsin Territory 31   California On this day in 1850, September 9 [31]
(admitted) Wilderness / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Section of Minnesota Territory 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) State of Oregon and Adjacent Areas 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   In the state of West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Last Updated: 31 October, 1864
(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) This is Colorado Country. 39   The State of North Dakota1 When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Wednesday, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington The Eleventh of November, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Location: Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho, the Territorial State 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Utah 46   Oklahoma It was on November 16th, 1907, that the first American [44]
(admitted) Territory of Oklahoma and Indian Territory 47   New Mexico Sunday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) In the State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) To occupy the territory now known as Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) The Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Tuesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's home territory

Dates of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

As of November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation had been approved by the Second Continental Congress and were ready to be ratified by the individual states. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established by the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia This day in 1777, on the 16th of December, 2 State of South Carolina Wednesday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Friday, February 6th, 1778 4 In the state of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 Element: New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey A Date: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2nd, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was one of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of acts passed by Congress.
• 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 gave 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. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. mandating a vote to establish whether or not the two areas should be united as one state
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a member of the United States on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• US State Videos History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com