Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and have equal sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of power between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]The full official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word commonwealth rather than state.

The fifty states constitute the most basic 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. The federal government does not have jurisdiction over issues that are primarily concerned with the citizens of a single state, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, or the construction and maintenance of roads. 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 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. Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College, the body that votes for President and Vice President, equal to the sum of its congressional deputies. [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. 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 granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

Each of the 50 states' official statehood dates is 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 between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (An additional table with dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) Each of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) United States of America. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Produced by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony 2   Pennsylvania As of today (12 December 1787) [10]
(ratified) State of Pennsylvania as a Private Colony 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in North America 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Royal Connecticut Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the British Empire 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony as a Colonial Possession 8   Specifically, the State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of 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 Colony of the Crown 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Crown Colony 13   State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Colony under British Rule; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) [c]Republic of Vermont; 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) States Constituting 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 On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Cal 20   Mississippi Sunday, December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois On this day in 1818 — December 3 [23]
(admitted) A Section of Illinois 22   Alabama On this day in 1819, December 14th, [24]
(admitted) States of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Observed on August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Thursday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Instance created: December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Democratic Socialists of America 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) A Section of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) The Mexican Cession (Part): An Unorganized Region 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) The State of Kansas and Adjacent Areas 35   There's no place like West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Region of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) States Constituting the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Land of Colorado 39   Location: North Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   A State in the Midwestern U.S. The date of November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) It's in Wyoming! 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Friday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory 47   New Mexico It all started on January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Geographical Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, the calendar turned to:
(admitted) Alaskan Territory 50   Hawaii Those words were first spoken on August 21st, 1959.
(admitted) The Hawaiian Islands as a Territorial Unit

Times of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. Following ratification by the required 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force 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 The 16th of December, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur The date of February 5, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Specifically, the state of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 Element: 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 Carolina. April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Starting on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the "Compromise of 1850," a collection 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.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which allowed the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories to organize themselves politically as states (with Dakota being split in half) 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 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.
• Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com