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, all U.S. citizens hold dual citizenship. (First) the full official names 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. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal government are generally left to the discretion of the respective state governments. The government of each state is divided into an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and it is based on a constitution written in accordance with republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. 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. 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 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. In July 1776, upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the first 13 colonies became states; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, and became full members of the Union. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) States are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
Accepted or confirmed Produced by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) "Delaware Colony" 2   Pennsylvania As of today (12 December 1787) [10]
(ratified) Kingdom of Pennsylvania Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Jersey 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial Maryland 8   To the South May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony and Dominion of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Asheville, North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Province of the British Crown in North America 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Colony under British Rule; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) There is a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of 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) Area of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) District of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Portion of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) In the state of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Sunday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Section of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan As of today, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territory of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) This is Florida Country. 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Independent Texas 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) The State of Iowa and Adjacent Lands 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Section of Wisconsin 31   California This day in 1850, on September 9 [31]
(admitted) Chaos-stricken regions / the Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Portion of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Wednesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas 35   A state located in western Virginia. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The state of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Last Updated: 31 October, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Expansion of the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado Initially, on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Colorado, the Territory 39   The State of North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) State of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Located in the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) In the state of Wyoming. 45   Utah Thursday, January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Geographical Utah 46   Oklahoma This day in history, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Oklahoma and Indian Land 47   New Mexico This day in 1912, on January 6
(admitted) To the East, the New Mexico Territory1 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Sunday, January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan Territory. 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaiian Home Area

Conventions to ratify 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 being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. 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 Colony State of South Carolina Wednesday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 That place called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12: 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 13 Maryland This day in 1781, on February 2nd,

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of acts passed by Congress.
• From 1854 to 1861, Kansas Territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups known as Bleeding Kansas.
• 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 legal 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 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
• Constitutional ratification and statehood formation dates 50states com