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 federal 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. [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 constitute the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't given to or taken away by the federal government in 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. 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 senators and representatives from all 50 states. Every state has two senators and at least one representative in the House of Representatives, with the size of each state's delegation in the House determined by the population of the state as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. Additionally, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to choose a number of electors to vote in the election proportional to the number of its representatives and senators in Congress. [4]

The power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. Since its founding in 1776, the United States has grown from its original 13 to its current 50 states. 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 became independent nations in their own right on July 4th, 1776, and ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, between 1777 and 1781. (See below for a table detailing the timeline of Acts of Consecration) 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
accept(ed) or (approved) Produced by 1   Delaware Saturday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Friday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey The 18th of December, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Royal New Jersey Colony 4   Georgia Sunday, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Kingdom of Georgia 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Colony of Connecticut Under the Crown 6   Massachusetts It was February 6th, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Royal Province 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   To the South May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The South Carolina Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the British Empire 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte In the year 1789, on November 21st, [14]
(ratified) The North Carolina Colony was a Crown Colony. 13   Here in Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Independent State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) A total of nine counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia's District in the state of Kentucky[d]. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territories to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Area Known as 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 The Third of December, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Wednesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Lands in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Wednesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan As of today, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Michigan Territory 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Affirmative: Florida's Home State 28   Texas Thursday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Dated: December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) An Area of Wisconsin 31   California The 9th of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Partial Kansas Territory 35   State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) In Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]), 36   Nevada When October 31st, 1864 rolled around,
(admitted) Location: Nevada, USA 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Expansion of the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) To the west, in the Colorado Territory1 39   It's in North Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   This is South Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Boise, Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The Utah Region 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907 — November 16 [44]
(admitted) Including both Oklahoma and Indian Country as their own separate territories. 47   New Mexico The sixth of January, 1912
(admitted) An Area Now Part of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Day of the Year: January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Wednesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) State or Province of Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the individual states by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by the required number of states (13 in this case), the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, which governed the states, were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitution, which governs the federal government, was adopted. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777, December 16 2 Specifically, the state of South Carolina. 05 Février 1778 3 New York Monday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Nineteen Seventy-Eighth Day, February 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Friday, February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 It's in the Tar Heel State, or North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland Initially published: 2 February, 1781

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.
• The years 1854–1861, just before Kansas became a state, were marred 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 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 Act did the same for the people of those territories. needing a vote from the people to decide if the two areas should be united as one state
• It was on January 3, 1959, that Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• When a country or territory was established as a nation. 50states com