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

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Being a resident of the United States means that you are a citizen of both the federal republic and the state in which you currently reside. When referring to their full legal names, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia use the term "commonwealth" instead of "state."

The United States is divided primarily into individual states. 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 non-federal road construction and maintenance are generally under the purview of state governments. Each of the fifty states is governed by a separate government with its own executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. At least one senator and one representative are elected from each state, with the number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives determined by that state's population as of the last 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 United States' total number of states has grown from the original 13 in 1776 to the current 50. All newly admitted states are treated on par with the others. [5]

Each of the 50 states' official statehood dates is listed below. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) Each of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) United States of America. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accepted; confirmed Developed from 1   Delaware The Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania On this day in 1787, December 12 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey The 18th of December, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts It was February 6th, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial-era colony 8   Specifically, the State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown of South Carolina 9   Specifically, the state of New Hampshire1. June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Imperial Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   A Place Called North Carolina1 On this day in 1789, November 21st, [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a British Crown Colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) To be exact, Virginia has nine counties in its District of Kentucky(d). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The 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 Time Period: December 11th, 1816
(admitted) States of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama On this day in 1819, December 14 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri A.D. 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Florida's Homestead 28   Texas Sunday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Free and Independent State of Texas 29   Iowa When: Sunday, December 28, 1846
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) The portion of Wisconsin that was once known as the 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Part of the Mexican Cession, an area of disorganization[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Area Including the State of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) In Virginia (all 50 counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]), 36   Nevada As of today, October 31, 1864
(admitted) A Land Named Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, the world changed. [37]
(admitted) Said of the area now known as Colorado: 39   The State of North Dakota1 Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Places in Montana 42   Washington Instance created: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) This is the territory of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Initially published: January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Location: Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) In the Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska Three days into 1959
(admitted) State of Alaska 50   Hawaii Tuesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and submitted to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were formally abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution took their place. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Monday, December 16th, 1777 2 " South Carolina" 05 Février 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island The Nineteenth of February, 1778 5 Connecticut Day of the Frog, 12 February, 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 This is the state of North Carolina. April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Starting on 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 rather than a state, a series of violent conflicts broke out in the territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups.
• Upon passage of the Enabling Act in 1889, the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories were given the green light to organize their own state governments (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 the two areas should be combined into one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska was officially accepted into the Union per the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

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

• U.S. State Video Collection History com
• A list of "Statehood Dates" 50states com