Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

An American state is one of the 50 individual entities that, along with the federal government, makes up the United States' total sovereign territory. The United States is a federal republic in which the powers of the federal government and the individual states are equally balanced. This results in dual citizenship for all Americans. [1]In their official state names, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Commonwealth of Virginia use the term commonwealth rather than state.

The 50 states are the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't given to or taken away by the federal government in 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's government is structured similarly to the federal government, with an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. However, each state's constitution is based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a state's delegation in the House based on its population as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. In addition, [3] the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body that votes for President and Vice President, is equal to the sum of the number of representatives and senators from that state 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 50 states, up from the original 13. There has been no discrimination against any of the new states in their admission. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. The first 13 states accepted the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, and they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and joined the first Union of States between 1777 and 1781. (See the separate table below for the exact dates each AoC was ratified.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. In the following sections, each state's admission date is the statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Incorporated from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The state of Delaware as a colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Thursday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Royal Establishment of New Jersey 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial Maryland 8   Colony State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This 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) Province of New York under the Crown 12   A Place Called North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Here in Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a British colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) [c]Republic of Vermont; 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky[d] 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territories to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Places Located in the Province of Orleans 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois It's the 3rd of December, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Specifically, the area of Illinois that is now known as the territory of 22   Alabama Yesterday, on the 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Observed on August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) This is Michigan Country. 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Saturday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Forty-five counties in the Greater Pittsburgh Area in Virginia. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31st,
(admitted) Locale of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Land of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 The date of November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Specifically the Dakota Territory. 40   Dakota (State) The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 41   Montana Dated: November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Boise, Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) There's a lot of Wyoming here. 45   Utah Sunday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907, November 16 [44]
(admitted) Oklahoma and Indian Land 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Location: Arizona 49   Alaska Sunday, January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory. 50   Hawaii Those words were first spoken on August 21st, 1959.
(admitted) State or Province of Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress recommended to the states that they ratify the Articles of Confederation. On March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect. The Articles of Confederation, the predecessor to the present Constitution, were abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this date in 1777, December 16 2 Columbia, South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Saturday, February 6th, 1778 4 To the State of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 That State of 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2nd,

See also [ edit ]

• As part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850," California's incorporation into the Union was guaranteed.
• 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 between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the territory.
• Act of 1889 allowing citizens of the Dakota (to be split into two states), Montana, and Washington territories to organize state governments and apply for admission to the Union.
• To allow the people of the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory to unite under a single state government and to be admitted to the Union as a state, the Oklahoma Enabling Act was passed. necessitating a vote in a referendum to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made January 3, 1959, the date Alaska joined the Union, was passed.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• U.S. State Videos History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com