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 have equal sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are the only states whose full official names do not include the word "state," opting instead for the term "commonwealth."

For the most part, the United States can be broken down into its individual states. They have all the authority that isn't given to or taken away by the federal government in the United States Constitution. For the most part, matters of local concern are left to the jurisdiction of individual states, such as the management of intrastate trade, the conduct of elections, the formation of municipal governments, the direction of public education, and the building and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal government. State governments are based on republican principles and have their own constitutions, as well as separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [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. Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College, the body that votes for President and Vice President, equal to the sum of its congressional deputies. [4]

According to the Constitution, Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. 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 became independent nations in their own right on July 4th, 1776, and ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, between 1777 and 1781. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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 statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
acceptance or approval Constructed from 1   Delaware Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Yesterday, on the 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Royal New Jersey Colony 4   Georgia Tuesday, January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Georgian Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachussetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a Colonial Possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of South Carolina under the Crown 9   State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Dominion of New Hampshire 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte Thursday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) Province of the British Crown in North America 13   It's in Rhode Island1. May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Known as the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) In its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia includes nine counties. 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) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Situated in the state of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Land Located in the State of Mississippi 21   Illinois The Third of December, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Region of Illinois 22   Alabama Tuesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Places in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri When: August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) This is Arkansas State 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan (Territory) 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Places in Florida 28   Texas Last Updated: 29 December 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Today in 1846, on the 28th day of December
(admitted) A Section of Iowa 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 Monday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Day of the Month: January 29, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   We're in the Mountain State. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Specifically, the fifty counties that make up Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Location: Nevada, USA 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Geographical Region Known As Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Aspects of the Colorado Territory1 39   The State of North Dakota1 Earlier today, on November 2nd, 1889, [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   To the South Dakota1 The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Territory of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) Locale of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) There is a territory in Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Friday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico The date January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Geographical Term for Alaska 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Times of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by the required number of states (13 in this case), the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia The date was December 16, 1777. 2 Carolina del Sur Tuesday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Day of the Week: February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut The date was February 12th, 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 A Date: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland Two-Fourths of February, 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.
• 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.
• 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. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

References outside the text [ edit ]

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