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. Since the federal government and the individual states share power, Americans hold dual citizenship. In their official state names, Commonwealth states like Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia distinguish themselves from other states by using the term "commonwealth."

The 50 states make up the main divisions 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. 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 senators and representatives from all 50 states. Depending on its population, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution, each state is allotted a certain number of representatives in the House of Representatives, with a minimum of one representative and a maximum determined by the Constitution. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body that votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of its congressional representatives and senators. [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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. All newly admitted states are treated on par with the others. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the 50 US states. 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.) The order in which these states are listed indicates 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. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
approved of or allowed in Consisting of 1   Delaware Friday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Province of Pennsylvania that is under Proprietary Rule 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia The date was January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Sunday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony turned-property province 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Province of South Carolina 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The State of New Hampshire as a Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Independent State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Imperial New York 12   Specifically, the state of North Carolina1. Today in 1789: November 21 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Lands to the West of the Mississippi 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) It's a section of the 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 20   Mississippi Instance created: 10 December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Specifically, the area of Illinois that is now known as the territory of 22   Alabama Yesterday, on the 14th of December, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Separate Section of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) A Part of the United States Known as Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) This is Michigan Country. 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Places in Florida 28   Texas Dated: December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Democratic Republic 29   Iowa This day in 1846, on December 28th,
(admitted) The Iowa Territory, Part 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Monday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) The Mexican Cession (Part): An Unorganized Region 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th,
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia 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) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 40   State of South Dakota1 The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Earlier this week, on November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11: [42]
(admitted) States of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Locales in Wyoming 45   Utah Wednesday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Territorial Claims in Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Bordering Oklahoma is Indian Territory. 47   New Mexico The date was January 6th, 1912
(admitted) This is the New Mexico Territory1. 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) In the Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska Three days into 1959
(admitted) State of Alaska 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) State or Province 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. After the 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781, they became law. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and the current Federal Constitution put into effect on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Tuesday, December 16, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Here in Rhode Island Dated: February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Initially published: 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 That State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Thursday, 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 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.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate 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 jurisdictions should be united into one state.
• Act of Statehood for Alaska, formally admitting that state to the Union as of January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

• Videos Relating to Individual U.S. States History com
• Definition of Terms: "Date of Statehood" 50states com