Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right and shares power with the federal government. Since the federal government and the individual states share power, all U.S. citizens are also citizens of the state in which they currently reside. Only four states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names rather than state.

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. As a rule, it is up to the individual states to handle matters that affect its citizens directly, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of municipalities, public education policy, and the building and upkeep of roads not funded by the federal government. Every state has its own government, with its own constitution and set of laws based on republican principles. [2]

The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that 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. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for electing the President and Vice President of the United States, is directly proportional to the number of senators and representatives from that state. [4]

The power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress by Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. In the 240 years since the United States' founding in 1776, the number of states has increased from its original 13. All new states are fully integrated into the union. [5]

Below is a table detailing the official statehood dates for each of the fifty United States' jurisdictions. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states officially became independent nations in their own right in July 1777 and October 1781, respectively, when they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. (See the separate table below for the exact dates each AoC was ratified.) 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. The dates of admission for subsequent states are those officially recognized by law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or approved) Developed from 1   Delaware Tuesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania When: Friday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) PA, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Saturday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia First Day of the Year, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Imperial Crown Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut Monday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Kingdom of Connecticut 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachussetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a former Crown Colony 9   New Hampshire1 (state) June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Crown Colony and Currently Reigning Monarchy 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Kingdom of North Carolina 13   Location: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) A total of nine counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia's District in the state of Kentucky[d]. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Continent's Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Dated: 12-11-1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois As of today, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part 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 Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) An Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Its Namesake State of Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Tuesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Region of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Portion of Wisconsin Territory 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) In a state of disarray / the Mexican Cession, part 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon A Date: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) Specifically, the Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Specifically, the state of West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Geographical Region Known As Nebraska 38   Colorado Monday, August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Area 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 40   State Name: South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 41   Montana The date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) Location: Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Sunday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Locale of Utah 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) It's both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico The date was January 6th, 1912.
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Instance: Thursday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Three days into 1959
(admitted) The Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Sunday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the individual states on November 15, 1777, after being approved by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present United States Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 A State in the Southeastern United States The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Day of the Week: February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26th, 1778 7 Specifically, the state of 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 Tuesday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 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 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 gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the right to organize a state government and gain admission to the Union as a single state. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. mandating a vote to establish whether or not the two areas should be united as one state
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States of America thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connecting to the Outside World: Some Useful Resources [ edit ]

• Videos Relating to Individual U.S. States History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com