Statehood admission dates are listed in order for the 50 United States.

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. In their official state names, Commonwealth states like Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia distinguish themselves from other states by using the term "commonwealth."

In the United States, the individual states are the most basic political entities. In other words, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government in 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. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

Congress, the federal legislature, is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. At the federal level, each state has two senators and at least one representative, while the size of a state's delegation in the House is 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]

As stated in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution, Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union. The original 13 states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to 50. Upon admission, each new state joins the union on an equal footing with the others. [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 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.) States are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. The admission date shown for each succeeding state is the legally mandated date. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Produced by 1   Delaware The 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The state of Delaware as a colony[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Colonial Possession 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Formerly-Imperial Crown Colony 4   Georgia The date was January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Imperial Crown Colony of Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts On this day in 1788, February 6 [8]
(ratified) Province of Massachusetts Bay, British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Specifically, the state of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) King George III's Original Colony 9   Element: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 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 Colony of the Crown 12   It's in the Tar Heel State, or North Carolina1 Monday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in 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) 9 counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) The Northwest Territories, Fractional 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) New Orleans Area 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Area containing Indiana 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois Instanced on December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) A Section of Illinois 22   Alabama On this day in 1819, December 14 [24]
(admitted) This is Alabama Country. 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Region of Maine(f): Massachusetts 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Land of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) To occupy the Florida Peninsula 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Democratic Socialists of America 29   Iowa The 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) State of Wisconsin, Inc. 31   California The Nineteen Fiftieth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) In a state of disarray / the Mexican Cession, part 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon The 14th of February, 1859
(admitted) It's true that Oregon only makes up a portion of the territory. 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Mountain State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) (There are 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area of Virginia) 36   Nevada It is now October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Expansion of the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado Beginning on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) Earlier today, on November 2nd, 1889, [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 41   Montana Tuesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) In the State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Places in Wyoming 45   Utah Dated: January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Locale of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Locations in Indian Territory and Oklahoma 47   New Mexico January 6, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Monday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) Arizona State University 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Instance Date: August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Honolulu, 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 under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Dated: December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 A Place Called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Saturday, February 26th, 1778 7 Granite State, 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 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.
• The Enabling Act of 1889 granted the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into new states and join 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 Act did the same for the people of those territories. call for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• In 1959, the Alaska Statehood Act was passed, officially welcoming Alaska into the Union.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• United States of America Video Map History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com