Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

In the United States, each of the 50 individual states is a sovereign nation in its own right, with limited federal control. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Only four states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names rather than state.

The fifty states are the most basic political units in America. Each state is endowed with all authority not specifically delegated to the federal government or prohibited from being exercised by the Constitution of the United States. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of non-federal roads, are generally under the purview of the respective state's government. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which is made up of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. In the Senate, every state has two seats, and in the House of Representatives, every state has a minimum of one representative and as many as its population warrants, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that officially votes for the President and Vice President of the United States. [3] Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [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. United States expansion from 13 to 50 states since 1776. There has been no discrimination against any of the new states in their admission. [5]

You can find the official statehood dates for all 50 states in the table below. 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.) The order in which these states are listed reflects the order in which they voted to join the new (and current) federal government after ratifying the Constitution in 1787. The dates of admission for subsequent states are those officially recognized by law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accepted; confirmed Developed from 1   Delaware It was the 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) "Delaware Colony" 2   Pennsylvania Yesterday, on the 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787, December 18 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony that became a state in the United States 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a Crown Colony 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts On this day in 1788, February 6 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 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 Rule of the British Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominated State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   Asheville, North Carolina1 Tuesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former Crown colony 13   Specifically, the state of 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) States Constituting the South-Western Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) A section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Location of the Mississippi River and Its Surrounding Lands 21   Illinois When: Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Extent of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Tuesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territory of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Tuesday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Yesterday, on the 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Date: September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) A portion of Mexico's Cession to the United States that is still disorganized. 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) A Portion of Kansas 35   Appalachia's West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Last Updated: 31 October, 1864
(admitted) It's in Nevada! 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska State 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1: [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   It's in North Dakota1. It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) It's a piece of Dakota Territory. 40   Dakota (State) Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana Saturday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) This is the territory of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Colorado State 45   Utah The date of January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) In the State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907 — November 16 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Islands of Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

In order for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified by the separate states, the Second Continental Congress approved them on November 15, 1777. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present United States Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia A Date in History: December 16th, 1777 2 Citing South Carolina On this day in 1778 — February 5 — 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, 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 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Wednesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware One Day in 1779: February 13 Maryland Two-Fourths of February, 1781

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.
• 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 legal right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and to apply for admission to the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave the people of Oklahoma and 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. needing a vote from the people to decide if the two areas should be united as one state
• Legislation that officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

A look at the world outside [ edit ]

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