Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States are co-sovereign entities with the central 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 given to or restricted to the federal government. 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. Each of the fifty states has a government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, both of which are elected by the citizens of their respective states. 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, is equal to the sum of the number of representatives and senators from that state in Congress. [4]

The 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. 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 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 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
admitted; approved Developed from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania As of today (12 December 1787) [10]
(ratified) State of Pennsylvania as a Private 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 Sunday, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Tuesday, January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of Massachusetts Bay, British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony turned-property province 8   In the state of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina as 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) Imperial and Royal Dominion of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony of the Crown 12   Geographical Indication: North Carolina1 In the year 1789, on November 21st, [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, a Crown Colony 13   It's in Rhode Island1. May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Colony of the British Crown 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (9 counties in its District in Kentucky[d]) Virginia. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Part of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi The date was December 10, 1817. [22]
(admitted) Where the Mississippi River Meets the Gulf of Mexico 21   Illinois Dated: December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Tuesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Located in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) The Bay State (Maine Congressional District) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) An Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan It's the 26th of January, 1837. [28]
(admitted) This is Michigan Country. 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas The 29th of December, 1845 [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Area of Wisconsin That Was Once Called the Wisconsin Territory 31   California On this day in 1850, September 9 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) The State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The state of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territory of Nebraska 38   Colorado Initial use: August1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Geographical Indicator: South Dakota1 The date of November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 41   Montana Thursday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11: [42]
(admitted) The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho is a territory in the United States. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Thursday, January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Sunday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Monday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) Territorial Status: Arizona 49   Alaska It all started on this day in 1959, January 3rd.
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

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 took effect. The current federal government, established by the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Dated: February 5th, 1778 3 New York Saturday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Saturday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Sunday, 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 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey When: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware Time Period: January 1, 1779 to February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland Tuesday, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• As part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850," California's incorporation into the Union was guaranteed.
• 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 New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act and the Oklahoma Enabling Act granted the people of those territories the right to organize a state government and become members of the Union. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• With the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on December 21, 1958, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connections outside the text [ edit ]

• U.S. State Video Collection History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com