Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right, with equal authority from the federal government and the people. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. (First) the full official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The United States is divided primarily into individual states. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or prohibited to the federal government by 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. 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 senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to send a number of voters to vote there that is equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union per Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states of the United States have since grown to 50. Each newly admitted state is treated on par with the others. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the 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 in the years between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying its first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. Ratification dates for the AoC are listed in a separate table below.) [6] These states are listed in chronological order according to when 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
acceptable; approved; recognized Prompted by 1   Delaware The Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Friday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Jersey 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in Georgia 5   Connecticut Tuesday, January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Royal Connecticut Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown in the Bay of Massachusetts 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   Specifically, the state of 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) Province of New York under the Crown 12   Here in good ol' NC On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and Rhode Island, 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) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana The 11th of December, 1816
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Cal 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Area 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Region of Illinois 22   Alabama Friday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) This is Arkansas State 26   Michigan On this day in 1837, January 26th: [28]
(admitted) Formerly Known as: Michigan Territory1 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 Yesterday, on the 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) An Area of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Part of Wisconsin was once known as the 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day 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 On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) This portion of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas It all began on this date in 1861: January 29. [33]
(admitted) The State of Kansas and Adjacent Areas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The Commonwealth of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada This day in 1864, on October 31st,
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   In the state of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) This portion of Dakota Territory 40   It's in the Badlands of South Dakota1. Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) The Dakotas, or a Portion of It 41   Montana The date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Monday, November 11, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) This is the territory of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) A Land Called Wyoming 45   Utah Monday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Location: Utah 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Native American Lands in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico Monday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) An Area Now Part of New Mexico 48   Arizona Wednesday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Dated: January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Wednesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

When the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

In order for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified by the separate states, the Second Continental Congress approved them 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, the predecessor to the current Constitution, were abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Thursday, February 6th, 1778 4 Place Name: Rhode Island Nineteen Seventy-Eighth Day, February 5 Connecticut Friday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 A Place Called North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Dated: November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2nd, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a provision of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of acts passed by Congress.
• 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."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota Territory, the Montana Territory, and the Washington Territory the legal right to organize their own state governments (with the Dakota Territory being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the United States as new states.
• 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 new 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 combined into one state.
• As of January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States as a result of the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• dates of statehood 50states com