Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right, with equal authority from the federal government and the state government. 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 most basic administrative 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. Generally speaking, matters of local concern are under the purview of state governments, including but not limited to: intrastate commerce regulation, election administration, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Each of the fifty states has a government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, all of which are established by a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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]

Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union per 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 states are fully integrated into the union. [5]

Presented below is a table detailing the official admission of each of the 50 states into the Union. In July 1776, upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the original 13 states became sovereign nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and formally joined the Union. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Listed for each subsequent state is the legally mandated date of admission. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
Accepted or confirmed Formed by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) "Delaware Colony" 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Royal New Jersey Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Queen Anne's Georgian Colony 5   Connecticut Wednesday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Specifically, the state of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   In the state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Imperial New York 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   That place called Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Provost State of Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Democratic Socialist State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Its Southwestern Parts 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Province of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Locales in Indiana 20   Mississippi The 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Partial Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Tuesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Located in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan This day in 1837, on January 26th, [28]
(admitted) Province of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Thursday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Diffuse Government / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Part of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Partial Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Saturday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The Commonwealth of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) It's in Nevada! 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Location: Nebraska 38   Colorado Monday, August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 40   States of America: South Dakota1 Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana The date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Monday, November 11, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Location: Wyoming, USA 45   Utah Day of the Year 1896: 4th January [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The date was November 16th, 1907. [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico It all started on January 6th, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The Arizona Territory1 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Events surrounding the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

By a vote of 15 to 1, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. On March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. 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 In the year 1777, on December 16th, 2 State Name: South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Saturday, February 6th, 1778 4 The State of Rhode Island Sunday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, February 26th, 1778 7 The state of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Here in good ol' NC April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland Initially published: 2 February, 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.
• There were a number of violent conflicts in Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups in the years 1854-1861. This period is known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 granted the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into new states and join 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 their respective territories. a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state is needed.
• As of January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States as a result of the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Websites outside the scope of this paper [ edit ]

• United States of America Video Map History com
• Constitutional ratification and statehood formation dates 50states com