Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside due to the separation of powers. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The fifty states constitute 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. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance fall under the purview of state governments. In a republican system of government, each individual state has its own constitution outlining the roles of the executive, legislature, and judiciary. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which are elected by the citizens of their respective states. There are two senators and at least one representative from each state, with the size of each 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. Additionally, 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 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. 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]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are listed below. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 and ratified the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the Acts of Confederation.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Every subsequent admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
approved of or allowed in Developed from 1   Delaware 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Provincial Government of Pennsylvania as a Proprietary State 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia On this day in 1788, January 2 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Day of the Year: January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Capital of the Maryland Colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Carolina was a crown colony at the time. 9   Specifically, the State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Hampshire 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Imperial Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Crown Colony 12   This is the state of North Carolina1. Friday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British 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) (c)The Vermont Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) With nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia is a large state. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Its Southwestern Parts 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) It's a section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Region of Orleans 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) States of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois On this day in 1818 — December 3 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Sunday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) State of Massachusetts (Maine(f) District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Partial Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Land of Florida 28   Texas Monday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texan Republic 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) It's a piece of Iowa territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Ungoverned land / Mexican Cession (part)[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Region of Minnesota 33   Oregon The 14th of February, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Sunday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) This portion of Kansas Territory 35   That State in the Mountaineer State June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) 50 counties in the state of Virginia that are located in the Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada Monday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Nevada State 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska State 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The state of North Dakota1 When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana The Date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Region of Montana 42   Washington The Eleventh Day of November, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) In the state of Wyoming. 45   Utah A Date: January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Lands in Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Monday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) Arizona State 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Those words were first spoken on August 21st, 1959.
(admitted) Hawai'ian Acquired Territory

Timelines for the ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and submitted to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present United States Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 In the state of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Place Name: Rhode Island On this day in 1778, February 9: 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Geographical Indication: North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Monday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 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 collection of acts passed by Congress.
• From 1854 to 1861, Kansas Territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups known as Bleeding Kansas.
• 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 Act 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.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Inbound links [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• "Birth of a Nation" 50states com