Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

Each of the fifty United States' constituent entities, known collectively as "states," shares sovereignty with the federal government. Since the federal government and the individual states share power, Americans hold dual citizenship. In their full legal names, the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia use the term commonwealth rather than state.

The 50 states are the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. All authority not specifically delegated to the federal government or forbidden to the states by the United States Constitution is vested in them. 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. 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 made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a 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. The Electoral College is the body that 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]

A new state may be Union" target="_blank">admitted to the Union only by the Congress, as stated in Clause 1 of Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Presented below is a table detailing the official admission of each of the 50 states into the Union. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781. At that time, they also ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution. (An AoC ratification timeline is provided in a separate table below.) The order in which these states are listed reflects the order in which they voted to join the new (and current) federal government after ratifying the Constitution in 1787. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Originating from 1   Delaware Sunday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The state of Delaware as a colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania The 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) British Colony of Pennsylvania 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia As of today, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut On this day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Thursday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 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   Here in good ol' NC Dated: November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   This is the state of Rhode Island1. May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (The Commonwealth of Kentucky[d] has a District in Virginia that encompasses nine counties.) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Northwest Territories (portion of) 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Thursday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) State of Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Alabama State 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri When: August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Panhandle 28   Texas The date is December 29th, 1845. [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this date in 1846:
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) The Wisconsin Territory, Part 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Region of Minnesota 33   Oregon The date was February 14, 1859.
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   It's in West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]). 36   Nevada Instance Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) In the State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Initially, on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Geographical Definition of Colorado 39   The Great Land of North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) The State of Dakota, etc. 40   The Badlands of South Dakota1 Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Western United States region encompassing Montana. 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) Locale of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) It's in Wyoming! 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Initially published: January 6, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan Territory. 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

The ratification of the Articles of Confederation at various times [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent on to the individual states for ratification. Following ratification by the required 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Specifically, the State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Place Name: Rhode Island On this day in 1778, February 9: 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 To the 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 Saturday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• One of the bills included in the "Compromise of 1850" set of legislation passed by Congress to allow 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.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts and the Oklahoma Enabling Act respectively granted permission for the people of New Mexico and the Indian Territory to organize a state government and to seek admission to the Union as a new state. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connections outside the text [ edit ]

• State-specific video content from the United States History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com