Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Because of the separation of powers that exists in the United States, citizens of the federal republic are also citizens of the state in which they currently reside. Four U.S. states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names instead of state.

The 50 states are the most fundamental political units in America. They have all the authority that is not 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. Each state has a government that includes 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 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. For the purpose of voting for President and Vice President, the Electoral College allocates one elector per member of Congress from each state, with a maximum of five electors per state. [4]

The Constitution specifically vests the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union with Congress in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. 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]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the 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 admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or confirmed) Created by 1   Delaware The 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Propertied Province 3   New Jersey Dated: December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Day of the Year: January 9, 1788 [12]
(ratified) State of Connecticut, Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony Under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   This is the state of North Carolina1. On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, the Crown Colony 13   Here in Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Places in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Specifically, the State of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Region of Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Geographical Florida 28   Texas On this date in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Region of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disorganized land / the Mexican Cession, part [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Wednesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Friday, January 29, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Appalachia's West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Sunday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) States of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Area encompassing present-day Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) In the Colorado Territory1 39   There's a lot of room in North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (South) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana On this day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) 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) State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico The date was January 6th, 1912.
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona As of today (14 February 1912)
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska The date January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Friday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Island

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for submission to state legislatures for ratification by the Second Continental Congress. Following ratification by the required 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 To the South 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 State of Rhode Island A Date in History: February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 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 Purpose: The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Saturday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initially, on February 1, 1779 13 Maryland It all started on February 2nd, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a provision of the Compromise of 1850, a set of congressional acts.
• 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 right to organize their own governments and seek admission to the Union as individual states (the Dakotas were to be split in half).
• 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. asking for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• The United States of America Video Archive History com
• States' birthdays 50states com