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 powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. For example, the full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 states are the main administrative divisions in the USA. 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 fall 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 U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [4]

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to decide whether or not 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 new states have been given full voting rights, just like the others. [5]

Here's a handy table with all 50 states and the days they became independent. When they signed on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states officially became sovereign nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation to form the first United States of America constitution. (An additional table detailing the dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) 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. Each subsequent admission date is a statutory deadline mandated by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Incorporated from 1   Delaware Dated: December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony 2   Pennsylvania As of today (12 December 1787) [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary State 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) Originally, New Jersey was a British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) During the time of the British, Georgia was a crown colony. 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Colony of Connecticut Under the Crown 6   Massachusetts Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony 8   Citing South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown of South Carolina 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The New Hampshire Colony was a Crown Colony. 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Specifically, the state of North Carolina1. Friday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Crown Colony 13   To the State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) With nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia is a large state. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Its Location: The Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois This day in 1818, on December 3rd, [23]
(admitted) This is a section of Illinois Territory. 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Sunday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) The State of Missouri and Adjacent Areas 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Today in History (January 26th, 1837) [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) An Area Including Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Dated: December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Piece of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Separate Section of Wisconsin 31   California Monday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The Commonwealth of Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Its Name for the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) State of Colorado 39   State of 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) Pieces of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Wednesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Territory of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Monday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Land of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Pardon my ignorance, but I wasn't aware that Arizona was 49   Alaska The date January 3, 1959
(admitted) Region of Alaska 50   Hawaii Those words were first spoken on August 21st, 1959.
(admitted) Kingdom of Hawaii

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 being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established by the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 A State in the Southeastern United States 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Here in Rhode Island The Nineteenth of February, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Monday, February 26th, 1778 7 For the state of New Hampshire, see: March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Saturday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware First day of February, 1779 13 Maryland Wednesday, February 2nd, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• One of the acts included in the "Compromise of 1850" legislation package was one that allowed California to join the Union.
• 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.
• 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 single state. It also granted the people of New Mexico and Arizona the right to do the same. call for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• Laws passed on December 2, 1958, and signed into law by President Eisenhower on January 3, 1959, officially admitted Alaska to the Union as the 49th and latest state.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Hyperlinks to other sites [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States of the USA" History com
• ''Early states'' 50states com