Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. 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 most basic organizational unit of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or prohibited 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 non-federal roads are generally under the purview of state governments. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 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. Furthermore, 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 Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. 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 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 of the AoC.) In the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government after ratifying the Constitution in 1787, these states are listed below. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Composed of 1   Delaware 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania When: Friday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey 18 December 1787 [11]
(ratified) The New Jersey Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   To the South May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) 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) Queen Anne's Dominions and the Virginia Colony 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   In the state of North Carolina1 Tuesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Here in Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Officially, the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations were a crown colony. 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) State of Vermont Republic[c] 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) To be exact, Virginia has nine counties in its District of Kentucky(d). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Aspects of the South-Western Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana The 11th of December, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi The date was December 10th, 1817. [22]
(admitted) Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) State of Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Monday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan Monday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The Michigan Territory1 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Confederate States of America 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) The Iowa Territory, Part 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Separate Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Wednesday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The Commonwealth of Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   To the north: North Dakota1 Sunday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) North Dakota (a portion of) 40   States of America: South Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) State of Wyoming 45   Utah Thursday, January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) UT - Utah Valley 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) Region of New Mexico 48   Arizona It all started on this date in 1912: February 14
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Dated: January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Anchorage, Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of 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. The Articles of Confederation were ratified by the required number of states (13) and went into 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 On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Friday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York It was February 6th, 1778. 4 Here in Rhode Island Sunday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Wednesday, 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 Dated: November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was 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.
• 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.
• Authorizing the people of the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory to organize themselves into a single state and to seek admission to the Union as a single state via the Oklahoma Enabling Act; also authorizing the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories to organize themselves into a state government and to seek admission to the Union as a single state. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Linked external resources [ edit ]

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