Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. 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 political divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. Issues of local concern are typically delegated to the respective state governments, and these include the management of intrastate commerce, the conduct of elections, the formation of local governments, the direction of public schools, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Republics are the norm in the United States, but each state has its own constitution and system of government (the executive, the legislature, and the courts). [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. The number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is based on the population count from the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [4]

New states may be Union" target="_blank">admitted into the Union as provided for in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states of the United States have been joined by 47 others since 1776. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the fifty 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. (A separate table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) 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 statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
"(accepted or confirmed)" Developed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787, December 7 [8]
(ratified) Delaware Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Instance created: 18 December 1787 [11]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Jersey 4   Georgia Two Hundred and Eighty-Eighth Day of the Year [8]
(ratified) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) New England's Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial Maryland 8   "South Carolina1" May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of South Carolina, a British Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Independent State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Province of New York under the Crown 12   This is the state of North Carolina1. As of the 21st of November, 1789 [14]
(ratified) British North Carolina 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) Republic of Vermont (Vermont) 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky[d] 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Western Hemisphere's Southwest Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Area Known as Orleans 19   Indiana On this day in 1816, December 11
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817, December 10 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois This day in 1818, on December 3rd, [23]
(admitted) Regional Illinois 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) In the state of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December 28th,
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) 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 Instance Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) Part of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Friday, January 29, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Partial Kansas Territory 35   State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) West 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) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Date: August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Territory of Colorado 39   To the north: North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 40   The State of South Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Dated: November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) State of Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) Region of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho is a territory in the United States. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Monday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Dated: November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico It all started on January 6th, 1912
(admitted) It's the State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Today in History (February 14th, 912)
(admitted) Places in Arizona 49   Alaska Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Region of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Historical context of the 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 the 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781, they became law. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the current federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Dated: 12-16-1777 2 Southeastern United States, Specifically, the State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 This is the state of Rhode Island. Tuesday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12: 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Here in good ol' NC April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Sunday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initially, on February 1, 1779 13 Maryland The date is February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• One of the acts included in the "Compromise of 1850" legislation package was one that allowed California to join the Union.
• During the years of 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory of Kansas, a series of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups, earning the region the nickname "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 granted 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. It also granted the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories the same right. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be merged into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made January 3, 1959, the date Alaska joined the Union, was passed.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Websites outside the scope of this paper [ edit ]

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