Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

In the United States, each of the fifty individual states is a sovereign nation in its own right, with the federal government also having authority over its citizens. Considering the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all American citizens hold dual citizenship. [1]The full official names of the states 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 isn't given to or restricted to the federal government. Generally speaking, matters of local concern are under the purview of state governments, including but not limited to: intrastate commerce regulation, election administration, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Each of the fifty states is governed by a separate government with its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Two senators and one representative are guaranteed to each state by the Constitution; the number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is determined by the population of the state as of the most recent decennial census. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for electing the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to decide whether or not to Union" target="_blank">admit new states in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. The original 13 states that made up the United States in 1776 have since been joined by another 39. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Below is a table with information about 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 officially became independent nations in their own right and, between 1777 and 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. (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 legally mandated deadline. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or accepted) Formed by 1   Delaware On this day in 1787, December 7 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Delaware[b] 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Possession 3   New Jersey This day in 1787, on the 18th, [11]
(ratified) State of New Jersey, once a Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Colony 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts The 6th of February, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts 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) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   That State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Dominion of the Crown Colony of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, the "Crown Colony" 12   Carolina del Norte The date November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, a Crown Colony 13   Providence, Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republic of Vermont (Vermont) 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) The Commonwealth of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Region of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Friday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Area 21   Illinois It's the 3rd of December, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Regional Illinois 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Geographical Area Including Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri The Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) The Missouri Territory, Part 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Province of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) This is Florida Country. 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Monday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Region of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) A portion of Mexico's Cession to the United States that is still disorganized. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Part of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) Partial Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) An Area of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Date: August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Aspects of the Colorado Territory1 39   Location: North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 40   State Name: South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Thursday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Montana Territory 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) In the state of Wyoming. 45   Utah It all started on this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) UT - Utah Valley 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Monday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) To the East, the New Mexico Territory1 48   Arizona The date February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Earlier this month, on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Kingdom of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Located in Hawaii's territorial waters

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 individual states for ratification. On March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. 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 On this day in 1777, December 16 2 Columbia, South Carolina Instance created: February 5th, 1778 3 New York The date was February 6, 1778. 4 A Place Called Rhode Island It was February 9th, 1778. 5 Connecticut Tuesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey The 19th of November, 1778 12 Delaware It all started on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• It was included in the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress, that California was finally admitted to the Union.
• The years 1854–1861, just before Kansas became a state, were marked by a string of bloody conflicts in the Kansas 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 gave 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 combined into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

To other sites [ edit ]

• The United States of America Video Archive History com
• dates of statehood 50states com