Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States are co-sovereign entities 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. In their official state names, Commonwealth states like Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia distinguish themselves from other states by using the term "commonwealth."

The 50 individual states make up the basic organizational unit of the USA. They hold all authority not specifically granted to or prohibited by the United States federal government in the 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. 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 is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. Each state has two senators and at least one representative, with the size of each state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by the state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that officially votes for the President and Vice President of the United States. [3] Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

Constitutional law states that Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states to the Union. The original 13 states of the United States have since grown to 50. All newly admitted states are treated on par with the others. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for all 50 US states. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally became independent nations in their own right in July 1777 and July 1781, respectively, and formally joined the Union of States by ratifying the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, in each of those years. (An additional table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally mandated deadline. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or confirmed) Developed from 1   Delaware Specifically: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Kingdom of Pennsylvania Colony 3   New Jersey Dated: December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 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 Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina as a Crown Colony 9   That State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of the British Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominated State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   The state of North Carolina1 The 21st of November, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   In the state of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republican State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (The Commonwealth of Kentucky[d] has a District in Virginia that encompasses nine counties.) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Area Located To The Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Part of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Region of Orleans 19   Indiana It was on this date in 1816 that the United States declared independence from France.
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) In the Mississippi Territory1 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) This is a section of Illinois Territory. 22   Alabama Sunday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) This is Alabama Country. 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Hampshire 24   Missouri Wednesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Split Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Friday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) This is a section of Wisconsin. 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Territory in Minnesota, Sectional. 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Partial Oregon Territory 34   Kansas The 29th of January, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Mountain State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]). 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Frontier State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   This is South Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 41   Montana This day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Located in the state of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Located in Wyoming 45   Utah The Fourth of January, 1896 [43]
(admitted) It's the State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907 — November 16 [44]
(admitted) It's both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Sixteen hundred and twelve: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) A portion of the state of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Area encompassing Hawaii

Ratification dates for the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the states on November 15, 1777, after being approved by the Second Continental Congress. 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 Time: Tuesday, December 16, 1777 2 An Acronym for the State of South Carolina The fifth of February, 1778 3 New York Date: February 6, 1778 4 Place Name: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 Primarily Used in: New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware As of today, February 1, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 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.
• In the years leading up to Kansas's admission to the Union as a state, from 1854 to 1861, the territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal authority to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• Authorizing the people of the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory to organize themselves into a single state and to seek admission to the Union as a single state via the Oklahoma Enabling Act; also authorizing the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories to organize themselves into a state government and to seek admission to the Union as a single state. calling for a vote to decide if the two areas should be united as one state.
• In 1959, the Alaska Statehood Act was passed, officially welcoming Alaska into the Union.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States of the USA" History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com