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. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the states, Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside. [1]The full official 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. In other words, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to 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. Every state has its own government, with its own constitution and set of laws based on republican principles. [2]

Congress, the federal legislature, is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Depending on its population, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution, each state is allotted a certain number of representatives in the House of Representatives, with a minimum of one representative and a maximum determined by the Constitution. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for choosing the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of representatives and senators from that state. [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. 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]

Each of the 50 states' official statehood dates is listed below. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 and ratified the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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 Incorporated from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The state of Delaware as a colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony that became a state in the United States 4   Georgia Tuesday, January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut Earlier today, on January 9th, 1788, [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Day of the Frog, February 6, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay, a British 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   For the state of New Hampshire1, see: 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) New York, a Colony of the British Crown 12   Here in good ol' NC Dated: November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) Kingdom of North Carolina 13   The Ocean State: 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) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) A section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Region of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Location of the Mississippi River and Its Surrounding Lands 21   Illinois Dated: December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama The date is December 14th, 1819. [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) Separate Section of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Location: Arkansas, USA 26   Michigan On this day in 1837, January 26th: [28]
(admitted) Specifically, the State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Thursday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Independent Texas 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Part of Iowa was once known as the Iowa Territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Friday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) A portion of Mexico's Cession to the United States that is still disorganized. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Split off of Minnesota 33   Oregon Wednesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Kansas. 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada After midnight on October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) A Land Named Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   State of North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Regional portion of Dakotas 40   Dakota (State) Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Dated: November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico The sixth of January, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska The Third of January, 1959
(admitted) The Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Instance Date: August 21st, 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 states for ratification. Once all 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation, they became effective on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Sunday, December 16th, 1777 2 Columbia, South Carolina It was on this day in 1778, February 5th, that the 3 New York This day in history: February 6th, 1778 4 Here in Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 For the state of New Hampshire, see: March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Thursday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• Among the many legislative acts that made up the "Compromise of 1850," the one that led to California's eventual admission to the Union was the California Gold Clause.
• 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.
• The Enabling Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington Territories the legal right to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two 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. which calls 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 ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States of the USA" History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com