Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

In the United States, each of the fifty individual states is a sovereign nation in its own right, with the federal government also having authority over its citizens. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens are considered citizens of both the federal republic and the state in which they currently reside. [1]The full official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The United States is divided primarily into individual states. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance, are typically under the purview of state governments. In a republican system of government, each individual state has its own constitution outlining the roles of the executive, legislature, and judiciary. [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. 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 the number of representatives and senators from that state in Congress. [4]

As stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. The original thirteen states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to fifty. The new states have been accepted without discrimination. [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 the separate table below for the exact dates each AoC was ratified.) 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
(approved or allowed) Made up of 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Sunday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Jersey 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Imperial Crown Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Connecticut Colony, a British Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts Monday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland, a Private Colony 8   A State in the Southeastern United States May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a 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 Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte This day in 1789, November 21 [14]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in North Carolina 13   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) (The Commonwealth of Kentucky[d] has a District in Virginia that encompasses nine counties.) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territories to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Northern Provinces 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Area Known as Orleans 19   Indiana Monday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) A Landmark in the History of the United States: Indiana 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Locales Found in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) To be specific, the District of Maine[f] in Massachusetts. 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) The State of Missouri and Adjacent Areas 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Sunday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Confederate States 29   Iowa Sunday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Ungoverned land / Mexican Cession (part)[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon It all started on this day in 1859, February 14th.
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Sunday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   There's no place like West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]). 36   Nevada Observed on October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1 Earlier today, on November 2nd, 1889, [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of the Dakota Territory 40   State Name: South Dakota1 Instance Date: November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 41   Montana Saturday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) It's in Montana! 42   Washington Tuesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho, or the 'Idah 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Location: Wyoming 45   Utah Initially published: January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Saturday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Locations in Indian Territory and Oklahoma 47   New Mexico Sunday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Location: New Mexico, USA 48   Arizona Earlier today, on February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Land of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Wednesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification dates for 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. On March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect. Government under the Articles was abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York Tuesday, February 6th, 1778 4 Location: Rhode Island It was February 9th, 1778. 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Monday, February 26th, 1778 7 Specifically, 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 April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey The 19th of November, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779, February 1st, 13 Maryland Initially published: 2 February, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• In the Compromise of 1850, a group of bills was passed by Congress; one of these bills guaranteed California's entry into the Union.
• The years between 1854 and 1861, just before Kansas became a state, were marked by a string of bloody conflicts in the Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which 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 apply for admission to the Union.
• Enabling Act for the State of Oklahoma; allowing citizens of the Indian Territory to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as a single state; allowing citizens of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as individual states. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as a result of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com