Ordered list of when each state joined the United States

There are 50 separate entities that together make up the United States, and each of these states has some degree of autonomy within the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

For the most part, the United States can be broken down into its individual states. They have all the authority the US Constitution does not give to the federal government or specifically forbids them from exercising. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes, but is not limited to, intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Each state has its own government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and its own constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Every state has two senators and at least one representative in the House of Representatives, with the size of each state's delegation in the House determined by the population of the state 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 specifies that Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. The United States was founded in 1776, and since then the number of states has grown from 13 to the current 50. All new states have been granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for all fifty 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. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) 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 state's admission date is a legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
Accepted or confirmed Originating from 1   Delaware Dated: December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania On this day in 1787, December 12: [10]
(ratified) Province of Pennsylvania that is under Proprietary Rule 3   New Jersey Saturday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey was a royal colony. 4   Georgia Day of the Year 1788, January [8]
(ratified) During the time of the British, Georgia was a crown colony. 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Royal Connecticut Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts 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) Carolina was a crown colony at the time. 9   Specifically, the state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte Today in 1789: November 21 [14]
(ratified) British North Carolina Colony 13   Place Name: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations, Rhode Island, and the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) State located in the South-Western part of the United 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) New Orleans Area 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) States of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) State of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Thursday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Part of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Region of Florida 28   Texas Friday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Independent Texas 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A section of Wisconsin 31   California Sunday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Sunday, February 14th, 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas This day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Regional Kansas 35   Mountain State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) West Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]) 36   Nevada Sunday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Area encompassing present-day Nebraska 38   Colorado Starting on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Specifically: The State of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 40   The State of South Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) A Place Called Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) Geographical Indication of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Located in the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah The date of January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Location: Utah 46   Oklahoma The date was November 16th, 1907. [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Day of the Moon (February 14), 1912
(admitted) Specifically, the Arizona State Region 49   Alaska Earlier this month, on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Anchorage, Alaska 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

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. The Articles of Confederation were ratified by the required number of states (13) and went into effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the current federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 State of South Carolina On this day in 1778, February 5: 3 New York Dated: February 6th, 1778 4 A Place Called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia The 26th of February, 1778 7 The State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Thursday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The date was February 1, 1779. 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 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.
• 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.
• 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. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. calling for a vote on whether or not to admit the two territories as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• "Birth of the States" 50states com