Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

One of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is known as a state. 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 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. Any authority not specifically granted to or denied to the federal government by the United States Constitution is implicitly granted to the states. For the most part, matters of local concern are left to the jurisdiction of individual states, such as the management of intrastate trade, the conduct of elections, the formation of municipal governments, the direction of public education, and the building and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal 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 the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes 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. The Electoral College is the body that votes for 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 Constitution specifically vests the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Congress through Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. From its original thirteen in 1776 to its current fifty, the United States has undergone tremendous growth since its inception. All new states have been given full voting rights, just like the others. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. In July 1776, upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the original 13 states became sovereign nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and formally joined the Union. (An additional table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) These states are listed in chronological order according to when they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) United States of America. In the following sections, each state's admission date is the statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Developed from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) State of New Jersey, once a Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut Time Period: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts On this day in 1788, February 6 [8]
(ratified) State of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of Maryland that is currently under private ownership 8   In the state of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony Under British Rule 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   Carolina del Norte As of the 21st of November, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a British Crown Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Northern Virginia (including nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) It's a section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Area Known as Orleans 19   Indiana On this day in 1816, December 11
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Indiana 20   Mississippi When: December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois It's the 3rd of December, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) [f]Maine District, Commonwealth of Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Part of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Saturday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan (Territory) 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Monday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) This portion of Iowa Territory is known as: 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) (Of) Wisconsin Territory 31   California Dated: September 9th, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Regions without government control / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Section of Minnesota Territory 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) State of Oregon and Adjacent Areas 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 On this day in 1864, October 31st,
(admitted) Located in the state of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Colorado, the Territory 39   We're in North Dakota1. Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Regional portion of Dakotas 40   The Badlands of South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Monday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Boise, Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Fourteenth day of the first month of 1896 [43]
(admitted) Land of Utah 46   Oklahoma The date was November 16th, 1907. [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico The sixth of January, 1912
(admitted) An Area Now Part of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Specifically, the Arizona State Region 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan Territory 50   Hawaii Monday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for submission to state legislatures for ratification by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia This day in 1777, on the 16th of December, 2 The State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Tuesday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia The date was February 26, 1778. 7 In the state of 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 April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Starting on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland As of today, February 2, 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.
• 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 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 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 the two areas should be combined into one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connecting to the Outside World: Some Useful Resources [ edit ]

• U.S. State Video Collection History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com