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 states, Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside. [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 fifty states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. Without any restrictions placed on them by the United States Constitution, they are vested with all powers not specifically granted to or prohibited by the federal government. Concerns 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. 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 made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. Each state is guaranteed two senators and at least one representative, with the size of each state's delegation in the House based on that state's population as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors 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 in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states that formed the United States in 1776 have since been joined by 49 more. All newly admitted states are treated on par with the others. [5]

Statehood dates for each of the 50 U.S. states are listed below. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (An additional table with dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) The order in which these states are listed reflects the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) United States of America. For each succeeding state, the on-list admission date represents the legally binding date established by legislation. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Developed from 1   Delaware Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) British Colony of Pennsylvania 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia The date was January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut Wednesday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts The sixth of February in the year 1788 [8]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay, a British Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   "South Carolina1" May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown of South Carolina 9   Primarily Used in: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 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 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, a Crown Colony 13   State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Provost State of Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) State of Vermont Republic[c] 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) It has nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d] and is located in Virginia. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) State located in the South-Western part of the United 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Area of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) The Region of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Sunday, December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois Monday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Substantial Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Tuesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Boston, MA (Maine Federal Court District) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) The State of Missouri and Adjacent Areas 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas Thursday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa Tuesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) (Of) The Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Today in History (February 14th, 1859)
(admitted) Regional portion of Oregon 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Separate Section of Kansas Territory 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31st,
(admitted) It's in Nevada! 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) State of Nebraska 38   Colorado First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) State of Colorado 39   There's a lot of room in North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 40   Western Dakota The date was November 2, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Saturday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington When: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) It's the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah The Fourth of January, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Locale of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Sixteen hundred and twelve: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona Day of the Moon (February 14), 1912
(admitted) The Arizona Territory1 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Region of 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 for ratification by the individual states by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Monday, December 16th, 1777 2 A State in the Southeastern United States Day of the Week: February 5, 1778 3 New York Dated: February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26, 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 Monday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware First day of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was one of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• In the years 1854–1861, just before Kansas became a state, anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups engaged in a series of violent conflicts in Kansas Territory.
• 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.
• 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 new state. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. calling for a vote to decide if the two areas should be united as one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

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