Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

United States map labeled with state names and borders
After the initial 13 states ratified the Constitution in 1787, additional states were admitted to the Union in the order of their ratification.

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Given 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 main 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. As a rule, it is up to the individual states to handle matters that affect its citizens directly, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of municipalities, public education policy, and the building and upkeep of roads not funded by the federal government. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to send a number of voters to vote there that is equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

The Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. There are currently 50 states, up from the original 13. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. Following their approval of the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years 1777–1781, and ratified the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) In the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government after ratifying the Constitution in 1787, these states are listed below. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; confirmed) Constructed from 1   Delaware The Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Monday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Kingdom of Pennsylvania Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia As of today, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a colonial possession. 8   Columbia, South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, the "Crown Colony" 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Kingdom of North Carolina 13   Location: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) People's Republic of Vermont[c] 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) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) States of Indiana 20   Mississippi The 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois The date was December 3, 1818. [23]
(admitted) The Illinois Territory, Part 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Geographical Area Including Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Hampshire 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 January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Michigan State 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula and Adjacent Lands 28   Texas Dated: December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas, Republika 29   Iowa Yesterday, on the 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) An Area of Wisconsin 31   California Friday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Chaos-stricken regions / the Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Territory in Minnesota, Sectional. 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) This is Nevada Country. 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Expansion of the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   It's in North Dakota1. Wednesday, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Montana, the Wild West 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) It's in Wyoming! 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) Geographical Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territory of Oklahoma and Indian Territory 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona It all started on this date in 1912: February 14
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Dated: January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii The date of 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 took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Seal of Virginia.svg Virginia On this day in 1777 2 In the state of Seal of South Carolina.svg South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 Seal of New York.svg New York This day in history: February 6th, 1778 4 State of Seal of Rhode Island.svg Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Seal of Connecticut.svg Connecticut The 12th of February, 1778 6 Seal of Georgia.svg Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 This Seal of New Hampshire.svg New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Seal of Pennsylvania.svg Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Seal of Massachusetts.svg Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Geographical Indication: Seal of North Carolina.svg North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 Seal of New Jersey.svg New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Seal of Delaware.svg Delaware One Day in 1779: February 13 Seal of Maryland (reverse).svg Maryland Sunday, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

  • The admission of California to the Union was one of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850, a set of congressional acts.
  • The years 1854–1861, just before Kansas became a state, were marked by a string of bloody conflicts in the Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
  • Upon passage of the Enabling Act in 1889, the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories were given the green light to organize their own state governments (with Dakota being split into two separate 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. calling for a vote 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 ]

  1. ^ The Civil War secession and subsequent readmission to the Union of 11 states (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas) is not reflected on this list. or the "readmission to representation in Congress" of each state after the war, as the federal government does not recognize the states as having left the Union. Even though the Constitution is silent on the subject, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White (1869) that a state cannot secede from the Union without the consent of the other states. [7]
  2. ^ An alternate name for these areas is "The Three Lower Counties Upon Delaware." On June 15, 1776, the Delaware Assembly passed a resolution officially ending Delaware's colonial status with Great Britain and establishing the three counties as a new state governed by "the Government of the Counties of New Castle." The Counties of Kent and Sussex on the State of Delaware [9]
  3. ^ Nearly 135 grants for uninhabited land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River (in what is now southern Vermont) were issued by provincial governor Benning Wentworth between 1749 and 1764. This territory was also claimed by New York. As a result of the "New Hampshire Grants" conflict, the Green Mountain Boys emerged, and eventually Vermont became its own independent nation. By royal order of George III in 1764, New Hampshire's claim was terminated, and in 1790, New York sold Vermont its land claim for $30,000.
  4. ^ On December 18, 1789, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill separating the "District of Kentucky" from the rest of Virginia and approving Kentucky's statehood. [17]
  5. ^ Ohio's official statehood date is shrouded in mystery. The 7th Congress passed an act "authorizing the inhabitants of Ohio to form a Constitution and state government, and admission of Ohio into the Union" on April 30, 1802 (Sess.). 1, ch 40, 2 Stat. 173) The same Congress passed an act on February 19, 1803, "providing for the execution of the laws of the United States in the State of Ohio" (Sess. 2, ch 7, 2 Stat. 201) However, neither statute established a specific date for the beginning of statehood ceremonies. The 83rd Congress passed a Joint resolution "for admitting the State of Ohio into the Union" (Pub. L. 83-204, 67 Stat. 407, enacted 1953) to officially establish Ohio's statehood date. On this day in 1953, August 7 ), which fixed March 1, 1803 as the date [20]
  6. ^ On June 19, 1819, the Massachusetts General Court passed enabling legislation separating the "District of Maine" from the rest of the State (an action approved by voters in Maine on July 19, 1819, by 17,001 to 7,132); then, on February 25, 1820, the Massachusetts Legislature formally recognized the "District of Maine." another bill was passed recognizing Maine's impending statehood. [17]
  7. ^ The Mexican Department of Alta California encompassed the majority of the territory that Mexico ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Bear Flag Revolt and the Mexican-American War. Part of the Compromise of 1850 was the Act of Congress that made California the 31st state.
  8. ^ The Restored Virginia General Assembly authorized the formation of West Virginia on May 13, 1862, by passing an act. Subsequently, in the case of Virginia v. West Virginia (1871), the Supreme Court implicitly confirmed that the secessionist counties of Virginia had the requisite consents for statehood. [36]
  9. ^ a b North and South Dakota are the only twin-born states in the United States, having been formed simultaneously on the same day. To ensure that no one would ever know which state became the first, President Benjamin Harrison shuffled all of the statehood documents before signing them. Since "n" comes before "s" in the alphabet, North Dakota is traditionally counted as the 39th state, while South Dakota is counted as the 40th. [39][40]

References [ edit ]

  1. ^ Editor: Edward Erler Title: "Essays on Citizenship" Organization Name: Heritage Foundation
  2. ^ It's titled "Frequently Asked Questions About the Minnesota Legislature." Assembly of the State of Minnesota
  3. ^ Kristin D Burnett Election of Representatives (Census 2010: Briefs on Selected Census Topics)" (PDF) U S Economics and Statistics Administration, Commerce Department
  4. ^ Einer R. Elhauge Article II Electors and Presidential Elections: Essays Initiated by the Heritage Foundation
  5. ^ "Principle of State Equalization" Justia com
  6. ^ Merrill Jensen (1959) An Analysis of the Social and Constitutional History of the American Revolution under the Articles of Confederation, 1774–1781 Press of the University of Wisconsin pp  xi, 184 ISBN 978-0-299-00204-6
  7. ^ In the case of Texas v. White, 74 U.S. 700 (1868), Justia com
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h John R. Vile (2005) Volume 1: Letters A through M of The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of America's Founding ABC-CLIO p  658 ISBN 1-85109-669-8
  9. ^ State of Delaware Administration Delaware gov Data Repository, Division of State Administration, State of Delaware
  10. ^ Timeline of Pennsylvania's History, from the War for Independence to Reconstruction, 1776-1861 PA gov Commission for History and Museums in Pennsylvania
  11. ^ Title: "Minutes of the Convention of 1787" NJ gov Department of State of New Jersey
  12. ^ Historically Speaking, January 9 loc gov The Congress Library
  13. ^ "On This Day in History...July 26" loc gov National Library of Congress
  14. ^ The 21st of November in History loc gov Congress Library
  15. ^ The Fourteenth State History of Vermont: An Exploration Museum of Vermont History This version was archived from the original on May 30, 2013.
  16. ^ The "Constitution Square State Historic Site"1 americanheritage com Publishers of the American Heritage Series Retrieved April 23, 2019
  17. ^ a b "The Origins, Evolution, and Current Status of the Various State and Territory Nicknames in the United States" TheGreenPapers com
  18. ^ History of the State as Shown on a Timeline TN gov "Tennessee Department of State1" Date of original upload: April 10, 2016
  19. ^ "Blue," Frederick J. During the fall of 2002. Title: "The Birthday of the State of Ohio" The Bulletin of the Ohio Academy of History Retrieved from "Archived copy" on September 11, 2010
  20. ^ Sorting out the Confusion over Ohio's Statehood
  21. ^ "Fast Facts about the State of Louisiana" louisiana gov Date of original publication: March 24, 2013 Retrieved June 15, 2016
  22. ^ A Greeting from the Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration Board Bicentennial Celebration Commission of Mississippi Retrieved 16 February 2017
  23. ^ What happened on December 3rd, 2018? loc gov The Congress Library
  24. ^ An Overview of Alabama's Past, 1800–1860 alabama gov Retrieved June 15, 2016
  25. ^ Timeline of Historical Events for March 15 loc gov The Congress Library
  26. ^ It's August 10th, so here's what happened yesterday in history. loc gov Archives of the Congress
  27. ^ Today in History (June 15) loc gov The Congress Library
  28. ^ A Historical Perspective for January 26 loc gov Federal Research Library
  29. ^ The phrase "Texas Joins the Union" Today in History Broadcasting stations owned by A&E March 4, 2010 Retrieved April 23, 2019
  30. ^ The 29th of May: A Day in History loc gov The Congress Library
  31. ^ "September 9, 1850: The Official Admission of California" CA gov Official Website of the California State Parks and Recreation Agency
  32. ^ The 11th of May Became a Part of History loc gov Capitol Building / Library of Congress
  33. ^ This Day in History...January 29 loc gov American Memory: Congress Library
  34. ^ The 20th of June: A Day in History loc gov The Congress Library
  35. ^ "A Convenient State": The Birth of West Virginia and the Reorganization of Virginia's Government, Part 12 Wvculture org Office of West Virginia Culture and History
  36. ^ 78 U.S. 39 (1870) "Virginia v. West Virginia" Justia com
  37. ^ The 1st of August: A Day in History loc gov US Congress Library
  38. ^ a b The 2nd of November—Today in History loc gov The Congress Library
  39. ^ (November 2, 2014) MacPherson, James, and Kevin Burbach. "At 125 years of statehood, rivalry still exists in the Dakotas." Known as the Bismarck Tribune. AP Retrieved June 29, 2020
  40. ^ According to Stein, Mark in 2008. Smithsonian Books/Harper Collins, "How the States Got Their Shapes," p 256
  41. ^ John David Wishart (ed ) "Montana" Textual Compendium of the Plains Nebraska-Lincoln's State University Retrieved 15 Février 2017
  42. ^ The 11th of November in History loc gov The Congress Library
  43. ^ Linda Thatcher (2016) Attempts to Establish a Timeline of the Struggle for Statehood historytogo utah gov Geographical Location: Utah, United States of America
  44. ^ "On This Day in History...November 16" loc gov The Congress Library
  45. ^ Paul Rodgers (2011) Constitutional Law in the United States: A Primer McFarland p  109 ISBN 978-0-7864-6017-5

Internet resources [ edit ]

  • Video Clips of the 50 United States History com
  • "Independence Day" 50states com
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