Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. 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 United States can be broken down into its constituent parts, which are called "states." They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or prohibited to the federal government by the United States Constitution. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes things like intrastate commerce rules, election administration, municipal formation, public school policy, and the building and upkeep of roads that are 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, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives, from which citizens of all 50 states and the District of Columbia can elect their own representatives. Each state is guaranteed a minimum of two senators and a maximum of its number of representatives in the House of Representatives as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that officially votes for 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]

To amend the Constitution and Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union, Congress must have the authority to do so, as stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The United States' total number of states has grown from the original 13 in 1776 to the current 50. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside the rest. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for all 50 US states. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) The order in which these states are listed indicates the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) United States of America. 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
formally recognized or approved Produced by 1   Delaware Dated: December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey 18 December 1787 [11]
(ratified) Royal New Jersey Colony 4   Georgia Starting on January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Georgia 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of Massachusetts Bay, British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of Maryland that is currently under private ownership 8   A State in the Southeastern United States May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of South Carolina, a British Crown Colony 9   Primarily Used in: 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) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Royal Colony of North Carolina 13   The Ocean State: 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) The [c]Republic of Vermont 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) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Locales in Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817, December 10 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama This day in 1819, on December 14 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri A.D. 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Region of Arkansas 26   Michigan Saturday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territory of Michigan 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:
(admitted) Specifically, the portion of Iowa's territory that is called 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 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   State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) A Land Named Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Date: August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) State of Colorado 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 40   It's in the Badlands of South Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Earlier this week, on November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, USA 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Western Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Located in Wyoming 45   Utah Sunday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Native American Lands in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, January 3:
(admitted) Kingdom of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this day in 1959, August 21st,
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Times of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

By a vote of 15 to 1, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur On this day in 1778, February 5: 3 New York Sunday, February 6th, 1778 4 That place called Rhode Island Dated: February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 This is the state of North Carolina. April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Saturday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Monday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• Included in the "Compromise of 1850" set of legislative acts was a provision for California's entry into the Union.
• 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 in the territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• 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.
• New Mexico and Arizona Territories Enabling Act, allowing residents of those territories to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as a new state; and the Oklahoma Enabling Act, allowing residents of Oklahoma and the Indian Territories to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as a new state. calling for a vote on whether or not the two jurisdictions should be united into one state.
• State of Alaska officially joined the Union on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• Timelines of nation-state formation 50states com