Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

Each of the 50 individual states in the United States has some degree of autonomy, but ultimately shares power with the federal government. Given the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Four U.S. states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names instead of 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. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance are typically left to the jurisdiction of the respective state's government. 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 made up of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is made up of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. There are two senators for every state and at least one representative, with the size of a state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by that 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 send a number of voters to vote for president and vice president equal to the sum of its Senators and Representatives in Congress. [4]

It is stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution that Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. The United States was founded in 1776, and since then the number of states has grown from 13 to the current 50. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the fifty US states. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 and ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution. (An AoC ratification timeline is provided in a separate table below.) These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Each subsequent admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
formally recognized or approved Based on 1   Delaware Dated: December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Today in 1787, on December 18th, [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788, January 2 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Connecticut Colony, a British Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony 8   The State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a former British 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 Colony of the Crown 12   Carolina del Norte This day in 1789, November 21 [14]
(ratified) Kingdom of North Carolina 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Democratic Socialist State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territory in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana Time Period: December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Instance created: 10 December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) In the State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Hampshire 24   Missouri As of this date in 1821, August 10 [26]
(admitted) An Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Arkansas 26   Michigan On this day in 1837, January 26 [28]
(admitted) Michigan State 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas This day in 1845, on December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Wednesday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Diffuse Government / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Instance Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) Segment of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas It all began on this date in 1861: January 29. [33]
(admitted) Piece of Kansas Territory 35   The Mountain State, or West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Located in the state of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territory of Nebraska 38   Colorado Monday, August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) To the west, in the Colorado Territory1 39   It's in North Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Partial Dakota Territory 40   States of America: South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Area Including the State of Dakota 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Sunday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) States of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Wyoming, the State 45   Utah It all started on this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) Utah, the Territories 46   Oklahoma Monday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) An Area Now Part of New Mexico 48   Arizona Date: February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959, January 3
(admitted) Alaskan Territory 50   Hawaii Instance Date: August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's home territory

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were formally 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 Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778 — February 6 — 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Wednesday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Tuesday, February 12, 1778 6 Georgia 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Initial usage: 2/1/1779 13 Maryland Initially published: 2 February, 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.
• Battles between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups in Kansas Territory broke out in the years leading up to Kansas's statehood in 1854–1861.
• 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.
• It was the Oklahoma Enabling Act that gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the legal right to organize a state government and gain admission to the Union as a single state. It was the New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act that gave the people of those territories the legal right to organize a state government and gain admission to the Union as separate states. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

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