Ordered list of when each state joined the United States
States are labeled and their borders are drawn on this map of the United States. After the initial 13 states ratified the Constitution in 1787, additional states were admitted to the Union in the order of their ratification. In the United States, each of the fifty individual
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. Due to the separation of powers that exists in the United States, each individual citizen has dual citizenship: that of the federal republic and the state in which they currently reside. In their official state names, Commonwealth states like Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia distinguish themselves from other states by using the term "commonwealth."
A state is the basic administrative unit of the USA. They have all the authority that is not specifically granted to or prohibited by the federal government. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of non-federal roads are generally under the purview of state governments. Government in each state is divided into an executive, a legislature, and a judiciary, and is based on a unique set of constitutional safeguards based on republican ideals. [2]
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. Two senators and at least one representative represent each state in the Senate, while the size of a state's delegation in the House of Representatives is determined by that 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]
Constitutional law states that Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states to the Union. The original 13 states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to 50. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside the rest. [5]
The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the 50 US states. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally became independent nations in their own right and, between 1777 and 1781, ratified the Articles of Confederation to form the first United States of America. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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 state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]
List of U S states [ edit ]
(approved or allowed)
Delaware (ratified)
Pennsylvania (ratified)
New Jersey (ratified)
.svg/23px-Flag_of_Georgia_(U.S._state).svg.png)
Georgia (ratified)
Connecticut (ratified)
Massachusetts (ratified)
Maryland (ratified)
Carolina del Sur (ratified)
New Hampshire1 (state) (ratified)
Virginia (ratified)
New York (ratified)
This is the state of North Carolina1. (ratified)
Here in Rhode Island1 (ratified)
Vermont (admitted)
Kentucky (admitted)
Tennessee (admitted)
Ohio (admitted)
Louisiana (admitted)
Indiana (admitted)
Mississippi (admitted)
Illinois (admitted)
Alabama (admitted)
Maine (admitted)
Missouri (admitted)
Arkansas (admitted)
Michigan (admitted)
Florida (admitted)
Texas (admitted)
Iowa (admitted)
Wisconsin (admitted)
California (admitted)
Minnesota (admitted)
Oregon (admitted)
Kansas (admitted)
West Virginia (admitted)
Nevada (admitted)
Nebraska (admitted)
Colorado (admitted)
Geographical Location: North Dakota1 (admitted)
The Badlands of South Dakota1 (admitted)
Montana (admitted)
Washington (admitted)
Idaho (admitted)
Wyoming (admitted)
Utah (admitted)
Oklahoma (admitted)
New Mexico (admitted)
Arizona (admitted)
Alaska (admitted)
Hawaii (admitted)
Indicative dates for ratifying 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 under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]
Virginia 
New York 
Rhode Island 
Connecticut 
Georgia 
New Hampshire 
Pennsylvania 
Massachusetts 
New Jersey 
Delaware .svg/30px-Seal_of_Maryland_(reverse).svg.png)
Maryland See also [ edit ]
- The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a set of congressional acts.
- 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 gave 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 gave the people of those territories the same rights. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two jurisdictions should be merged into one state.
- On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.
Notes [ edit ]
- ^ The Civil War secession and subsequent readmission to the Union of 11 states (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas) is not taken into account here. or the "readmission to representation in Congress" of each state following the war, since the federal government does not recognize the states' formal withdrawal from the Union. Although the Constitution itself is silent on the subject of whether or not states have the power to secede from the Union, the Supreme Court ruled in Texas v. White (1869) that a state does not have the power to secede from the Union on its own. [7]
- ^ The "Three Lower Counties Upon Delaware" are another name for this area. On June 15, 1776, the Delaware Assembly formally adopted a resolution declaring an end to Delaware's status as a colony of Great Britain and establishing the three counties as an independent state under "the Government of the Counties of New Castle." The Counties of Kent and Sussex on the State of Delaware [9]
- ^ Benning Wentworth, New Hampshire's provincial governor from 1749 to 1764, issued roughly 135 grants for unoccupied land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River (in what is today southern Vermont), territory also claimed by New York. This conflict, known as the "New Hampshire Grants" controversy, sparked the formation of the Green Mountain Boys and, eventually, the Vermont Republic. By royal order of George III in 1764, New Hampshire's claim to the land was terminated, and in 1790, the State of New York sold Vermont its land claim for $30,000.
- ^ On December 18, 1789, the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill separating the "District of Kentucky" from the rest of Virginia and approving Kentucky's statehood. [17]
- ^ It is not known when exactly Ohio was admitted to the Union as a state. An act "authorizing the inhabitants of Ohio to form a Constitution and state government, and admission of Ohio into the Union" (Sess) was passed on April 30, 1802 by the 7th Congress. 1, ch 40, 2 Stat. 173) For example, on February 19, 1803, the same Congress passed an act "providing for the execution of the laws of the United States in the State of Ohio" (Sess. 2, ch 7, 2 Stat. 201) However, neither statute established a specific date for the beginning of statehood ceremonies. The 83rd Congress passed a Joint resolution "for admitting the State of Ohio into the Union" (Pub. L. 83-204, 67 Stat. 407, enacted 1953) to officially establish Ohio's statehood date. Seventh of August, 1953 the official declaration of March 1, 1803 [20]
- ^ On June 19, 1819, the Massachusetts General Court passed enabling legislation separating the "District of Maine" from the rest of the State (an action approved by voters in Maine on July 19, 1819, by 17,001 to 7,132), and then, on February 25, 1820, the Massachusetts Legislature officially recognized the "District of Maine." added a measure recognizing Maine's impending statehood as a formality [17]
- ^ Following the Bear Flag Revolt and Mexican-American War in 1848, Mexico ceded a large portion of what had been the Mexican Department of Alta California to the United States. Conceived as part of the Compromise of 1850, the Act of Congress admitting California as the 31st state was a result of the compromise.
- ^ Restored Virginia's General Assembly authorized the formation of West Virginia on May 13, 1862, by passing an act. Subsequently, in Virginia v. West Virginia (1871), the Supreme Court implicitly confirmed that the secessionist counties of Virginia had the requisite consents to form a new state. [36]
- ^ a b North and South Dakota are the only twin-born states in the United States; they were both created within minutes of each other on the same day. President Benjamin Harrison juggled the statehood documents so that no one would know in advance which territory or territory was to become a state. Customarily, North Dakota is counted as the 39th state and South Dakota as the 40th, with "n" coming before "s" in the alphabet. [39][40]
References [ edit ]
- ^ Edward Erler Analyses of the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Provision We at Heritage, The
- ^ Questions & Answers Regarding the Minnesota State Legislature The Minnesota Legislature
- ^ Kristin D Burnett Summary of Congressional Districts by Gender and Race (Census 2010 Briefs C2010BR-08) (PDF) U S Economic and Statistics Administration, Commerce Department
- ^ Einer R. Elhauge The Electors for the Presidency: An Article II Analysis Asserting Values in the Past, or the Heritage Foundation
- ^ "Principle of State Equalization" Justia com
- ^ Merrill Jensen (year of publication: 1959) American Revolution: A Social and Constitutional History, 1774-1781: An Analysis of the Articles of Confederation A Publication of the University of Wisconsin Press pp xi, 184 ISBN 978-0-299-00204-6
- ^ According to the case "Texas v. White" (74 U.S. 700, 1868), Justia com
- A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. John R. Vile (2005) Volume 1: Letters A through M of The Constitutional Convention of 1787: An All-Inclusive Encyclopedia of America's Founding ABC-CLIO p 658 ISBN 1-85109-669-8
- ^ "State of Delaware" Delaware gov Delaware State Government Information Center
- ^ Summary of Pennsylvania's Past, 1776–1861, From Independence to Civil War PA gov The Historical and Museum Commission of Pennsylvania
- ^ "Minutes from the Convention of 1787" NJ gov Agency of State of New Jersey
- ^ The 9th of January in History loc gov The Congress Library
- ^ July 26: "Today in History" loc gov U.S. Congress Library
- ^ The 21st of November in History loc gov U.S. Congress Library
- ^ State Number Fourteen Explore Vermont's Past Museum of Vermont History Archive of the original version from May 30, 2013
- ^ The "Constitution Square State Historic Site"1 americanheritage com The American Heritage Publishing Group Retrieved April 23, 2019
- ^ a b "The Origins, Evolution, and Current Status of Their Official Names and Statuses" TheGreenPapers com
- ^ Labeled as: "State Historical Timeline" TN gov Department of State of Tennessee Date of original upload: April 10th, 2016
- ^ Frederick J. Blue (Fall of 2002) Date Ohio Became a State The Bulletin of the Ohio Academy of History Date of original upload: September 11, 2010
- ^ Putting to Rest the Myths Regarding Ohio's Statehood
- ^ Summary of Louisiana's Characteristics louisiana gov Date of original publication: March 24, 2013 Retrieved June 15, 2016
- ^ The Mississippi Bicentennial Celebration Commission would like to extend a hearty "Welcome!" Bicentennial Commission of Mississippi Retrieved On the 16th of February 2017
- ^ Historically Speaking, It's December 3rd loc gov American Memory: Congress Library
- ^ Timeline of Alabama's Past, 1800-1850 alabama gov Retrieved June 15, 2016
- ^ The 15th of March in History loc gov American Memory: Congress Library
- ^ "On This Date in History: August 10" loc gov Institution of Congress's Library
- ^ Today in Historical Perspective: June 15 loc gov Federal Research Library
- ^ A Historical Perspective for January 26 loc gov United States Congress Library
- ^ We welcome Texas to the Union! Historically Speaking: Today We Are Going To Talk About Media conglomerate A&E March 4, 2010 Retrieved April 23, 2019
- ^ May 29th is the historical date displayed as "Today." loc gov The Congress Library
- ^ The date September 9, 1850 was designated as "Admission Day in California." CA gov The State of California, Division of Parks and Recreation
- ^ As seen on "Today in History, May 11" loc gov The United States Congress Library
- ^ The 29th of January in History loc gov Congress Library
- ^ The 20th of June: A Day in History loc gov Congress Library
- ^ West Virginia was created as a "state of convenience" in Chapter 12 of "A Convenient State: The Creation of West Virginia." The newly formed Virginia government approved the split. Wvculture org Department of Culture and History, West Virginia
- ^ Virginia v. West Virginia 78 U.S. 39 (1870) Justia com
- ^ Dated "Today in History: August 1"1 loc gov National Library of Congress
- ^ a b The 2nd of November—A Day in History loc gov The Congress Library
- ^ James MacPherson & Kevin Burbach. "The Impact of Immigration on U.S. There is still competition between the Dakotas 125 years after they became a state. Bismarck, North Dakota: AP Retrieved June 29, 2020
- ^ Mark Stein (2008) The Smithsonian Institution Press/HarperCollins book "How the States Got Their Shapes" (p. 256
- ^ David J. Wishart (ed ) "Montana" The Great Plains Companion: An Encyclopedia Lincoln, Nebraska's University Retrieved Tuesday, February 15th, 2019 2017
- ^ The 11th of November in History loc gov The United States Congress Library
- ^ Linda Thatcher. 2016. A Timeline of the Fight for Statehood historytogo utah gov The state of Utah
- ^ The 16th of November: A Day in History loc gov The United States Congress Library
- ^ Paul Rodgers (2011) Initiation into the Law of the Constitution of the United States McFarland p 109 ISBN 978-0-7864-6017-5
Internet resources [ edit ]
- "Videos of the 50 States" History com
- Dates of state formation 50states com
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