Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

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 official full names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. To paraphrase, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government in the United States 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. There is a separate government in each state, with its own constitution based on republican ideals and its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [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. There are two senators and at least one representative from each state, with the size of each 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. 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]

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

There is a table below that details the dates of statehood for each of the 50 states. After signing on to the 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 dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) States are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. When a new state is admitted, the date on the list is the one officially recognized by law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
acceptance or approval Developed from 1   Delaware Saturday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) State of Pennsylvania as a Private Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787, December 18 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony that became a state in the United States 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Georgia 5   Connecticut Tuesday, January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony under the Crown 6   Massachusetts Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Colony State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) British possession in the American colony of South Carolina 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The State of New Hampshire as a Royal Colony 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   Specifically, the state of North Carolina1. This day in 1789, November 21 [14]
(ratified) The North Carolina Colony was a crown colony. 13   It's in Rhode Island1. May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The 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) Southwest Area 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) The Northwest Territories, Fractional 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) In the Mississippi Territory1 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Maine(f] District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) A Part of the United States Known as Arkansas 26   Michigan Initially published: January 26, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Saturday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) Piece of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Region of Minnesota 33   Oregon Thursday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) Piece of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29: [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 October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Land of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) State of Nebraska 38   Colorado As of today, August 1, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Geographical Definition of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Partial Dakota Territory 40   The Badlands of South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 41   Montana Friday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The Idaho Panhandle 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Tuesday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) State of Utah 46   Oklahoma This day in history, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Land of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Sunday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ 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 Articles of Confederation government was abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitutional government was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Specifically, the state of South Carolina. The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York Date: February 6, 1778 4 State of Rhode Island Day of the Week: February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia This day in 1778, on February 26th, 7 Element: New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Cary, North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Sunday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland Dated: February 2nd, 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.
• Between 1854 and 1861, when Kansas was still part of the territory, a series of violent conflicts broke out between pro- and anti-slavery groups that came to be known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and to apply for admission to the Union.
• With the passage of the Oklahoma Enabling Act, residents of the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory were granted permission to unite under a single state government and were admitted to the Union as a single state. call for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Hyperlinks to other sites [ edit ]

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