Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Commonwealth is used in the official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia rather than state.

The 50 states are the most basic 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. The number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is based on the population count from 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 responsible for choosing the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of its congressional deputies. [4]

The Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union 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 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.) These states are listed 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 statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Produced by 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 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. 4   Georgia Dated: January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Georgian Colony 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts On this day in 1788, February 6 [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) Kingdom of the South Carolina Colonies 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 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 Crown 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, the Crown Colony 13   The Ocean State, 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) (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) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Dated: 12-11-1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) State of Mississippi 21   Illinois This day in 1818, on December 3rd, [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri The Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Partial Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas This day in 1845, on December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Earlier today, on February 14th, 1859
(admitted) The Oregon Region, Specifically 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Situated in western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Monday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1: [37]
(admitted) The State of Colorado 39   State of North Dakota1 When: Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) The Dakotas, or a Portion of It 40   Western Dakota Wednesday, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Adopted: 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Location: Wyoming, USA 45   Utah Fourteenth day of the first month of 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Location: New Mexico, USA 48   Arizona Day of the Moon (February 14), 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, the calendar turned to:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Honolulu, Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. On March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation became active after being ratified by all 13 states. The Articles of Confederation, the predecessor to the present Constitution, were abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 To the South 05 Février 1778 3 New York This day in history: February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 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 Thursday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware One Day in 1779: February 13 Maryland The date was 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.
• 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 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 to admit the two territories as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a member of the United States on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

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