Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right and shares power with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans 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 fifty 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. As a rule, it is up to the individual states to handle matters that affect its citizens directly, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of municipalities, public education policy, and the building and upkeep of roads not funded by the federal government. Constitutions based on republican ideals and governing bodies that include separate branches of government for executive, legislative, and judicial functions are found in each of the fifty states. [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. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [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. In the 240 years since the United States' founding in 1776, the number of states has increased from its original 13. 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. (An additional table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) Each of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) United States of America. The dates of admission for subsequent states are those officially recognized by law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or allowed) Incorporated from 1   Delaware Saturday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Colonial Delaware[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a colonial possession 3   New Jersey Yesterday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a Crown Colony 4   Georgia First Day of the Year, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut On this day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts The sixth of February, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Boston, Massachusetts, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   "South Carolina1" May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of the South Carolina Colonies 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Kingdom of New York 12   Here in good ol' NC Monday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British 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) Including the nine counties that make up its District in Kentucky(d), Virginia. 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) New Orleans Area 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi It's the 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Where the Mississippi River Meets the Gulf of Mexico 21   Illinois Monday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Friday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Alabam's Home State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Boston, MA (Maine Federal Court District) 24   Missouri Thursday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan On this day in 1837, January 26 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Region of Florida 28   Texas The 29th of December, 1845 [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa Tuesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Specifically, the portion of Iowa's territory that is called 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon This day in 1859, on February 14th, the world changed
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas Territory 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) West Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]) 36   Nevada Sunday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) It's in Nevada! 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska State 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   The State of South Dakota1. Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Wednesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Region of Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) In the Idaho Panhandle 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) In the state of Wyoming. 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) A Land Named Utah 46   Oklahoma Friday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico A Date: January 6, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Date: February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona. 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, the calendar turned to:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

A timeline of the 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. After being ratified by the required number of states (13 in this case), 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 Friday, December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Sunday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Friday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Friday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 It's in the Granite State, 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 Sunday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Monday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2nd,

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part 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.
• The Dakota Appropriations Act of 1889 gave the people of the Dakota Territory the legal right to organize a state government (the state of Dakota was to be split in half) and apply for admission to the United States as a new state.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the right to organize a state government and gain 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 to decide if the two areas should be united as one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

• Videos Relating to Individual U.S. States History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com