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. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

In the United States, the individual states are the most basic political entities. 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 the construction and maintenance of non-federal roads are generally under the purview of state governments. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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. Moreover, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to send a number of electors to the vote equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [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. As of today, there are 50 states, up from the original 13. When a new state joins, it joins on equal footing with the others. [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 became independent nations in their own right in July 1777 and July 1781, respectively, and formally joined the Union of States by ratifying the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, in each of those years. (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 succeeding state's admission date is a statutory deadline mandated by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; confirmed) Constituted of 1   Delaware Sunday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The state of Delaware as a colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Sunday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Possession 3   New Jersey Friday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Jersey 4   Georgia Starting on January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Time Period: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British 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   Columbia, South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of South Carolina under the Crown 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Crown Colony 12   Specifically, the state of North Carolina1. On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Royal Colony of North Carolina 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Province 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) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territory in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Friday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Wednesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois The date was December 3, 1818. [23]
(admitted) Portion of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 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) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Its Namesake State of Arkansas 26   Michigan Initially published: January 26, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29 [29]
(admitted) Texas Confederate States 29   Iowa Today in 1846, on the 28th day of December
(admitted) An Area of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Separate Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) Piece of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Monday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) An Area of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Locale of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Beginning 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) State of Dakota (in part) 40   The State of South Dakota1. The date was November 2, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Specifically the Dakota Territory. 41   Montana Earlier this week, on November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Location: Idaho, in the Territory 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907, November 16 [44]
(admitted) Bordering Oklahoma is Indian Territory. 47   New Mexico Saturday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Tuesday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) State of Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Islands 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. Following ratification by the required 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 A State in the Southeastern United States The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York Tuesday, February 6th, 1778 4 Location: Providence, Rhode Island Thursday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12: 6 Georgia The 26th of February, 1778 7 Specifically, the state of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 A Place Called North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Friday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Dated: February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland This day in 1781, on February 2nd,

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 of Kansas, a number of violent conflicts broke out 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 granted permission for the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma to join the Union as a single state, and the New Mexico and Arizona Admission Act granted similar permission for the people of those territories to join the Union as individual states. calls for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as a result of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

To other sites [ edit ]

• U.S. State Videos History com
• "Birth dates of nations" 50states com