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 division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. To distinguish themselves from other states, the official names 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. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden 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 is made up of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [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. 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 number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body that votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of its congressional representatives and senators. [4]

This power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress by Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. A total of 50 states now make up the United States, up from the original 13. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

See below for a chronological listing of when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the United States 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. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) This list of states is presented in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed and currently functioning federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or confirmed) Produced by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Delaware[b]. 2   Pennsylvania On this day in 1787, December 12: [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Possession 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Royal New Jersey Colony 4   Georgia Dated: January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of Massachusetts Bay, British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a Colonial Colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a former Crown Colony 9   Primarily Used in: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Rule of the British 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 Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Specifically, the state of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Connecticut, British North America 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) 9 counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d) 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) The Region of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Area containing Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois Three Days After Christmas, 1818 [23]
(admitted) An Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) The Bay State (Maine Congressional District) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) State of Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Formerly Known as: Michigan Territory1 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Land of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Republic 29   Iowa Thursday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Part of Wisconsin was once known as the 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / Mexican Cession (Part)[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Partial Minnesota Territory 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) 50 counties in the state of Virginia that are located in the Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31
(admitted) Locale of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territorial Status: Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   We're in North Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Wednesday, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Monday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) It's in Montana! 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Locale of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) It's in Wyoming! 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Is November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) There's Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Saturday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona Day of the Moon (February 14), 1912
(admitted) State of Arizona 49   Alaska Sunday, January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Those words were first spoken on August 21st, 1959.
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Dates of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect 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 Dated: December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur On this day in history, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 In the state of 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 A Date: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland As of today, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a provision 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 permission for the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma to join the Union as a single state, and the New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act granted similar permission for the people of those territories to join the Union as individual states. a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state is needed.
• State of Alaska officially joined the Union on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

To other sites [ edit ]

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