Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]In their official state names, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Commonwealth of Virginia use the term commonwealth rather than state.

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. Neither the Constitution of the United States nor any state constitution can restrict the authority of the people. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance, are generally 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 the Senate and the House of Representatives, from which citizens of all 50 states and the District of Columbia can elect their own 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. 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. [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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. These new states have been admitted on par with the others. [5]

In the table below, you'll find 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 entered the Union of States between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. Ratification dates for the AoC are listed in a separate table below.) [6] This list of states is presented in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed and currently functioning federal government. Every subsequent admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Incorporated from 1   Delaware Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware Colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania On this day in 1787 (December 12), [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787, December 18th, [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in Georgia 5   Connecticut Saturday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Connecticut Colony, a British Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony of Massachusetts Bay 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The New Hampshire colony was a crown colony. 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion of the Crown and Proud Colony 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   The state of North Carolina1. In the year 1789, on November 21st, [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British 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 [c]Republic of Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Its Southwestern Parts 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Cal 20   Mississippi It's the 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Regional Illinois 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Massachusetts (District of Maine[f]) 24   Missouri When: August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Part of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) In the Arkansas Territory1 26   Michigan As of today, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Instance created: December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The Texas Republic 29   Iowa Last Updated: 28 December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California On this day in 1850, September 9 [31]
(admitted) Ungoverned regions / Mexican Cession (part)[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon The date was February 14, 1859.
(admitted) Partial Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Area encompassing present-day Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, the world changed. [37]
(admitted) Specifically: The State of Colorado 39   Geographical Location: North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) Located in the state of Montana. 42   Washington The Eleventh Day of November, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The Idaho Panhandle 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Day of the Year 1896: 4th January [43]
(admitted) Utah, the Territories 46   Oklahoma Tuesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Lands in Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) Places in New Mexico that Are Not in Texas 48   Arizona It all started on this date in 1912: February 14
(admitted) Geographical Arizona 49   Alaska Sunday, January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii A Day in History: August 21, 1959
(admitted) Islands of Hawaii

The 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 came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Dated: 12-16-1777 2 Citing South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Adopted: February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Dated: February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Thursday, February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Geographical Indication: North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland Sunday, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a provision of the Compromise of 1850, a set of congressional acts.
• 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 state governments (with Dakota being split into two states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act granted 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 granted similar rights to the people of those territories. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• This was made possible by the Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made January 3, 1959, the day Alaska was admitted to the Union as the 49th state.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Video Clips of the 50 United States History com
• "Birth of the States" 50states com