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

One of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is known as a state. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are the only states whose full official names do not include the word "state," opting instead for the term "commonwealth."

The fifty states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. To paraphrase, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government in the United States Constitution. In most cases, state governments are vested with the authority to manage matters of local significance, such as the conduct of intrastate commerce, the organization of elections, the formation of local governments, the direction of public schools, and the building and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which is made up of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from every state and every citizen. The number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is based on the population count from the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors 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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781. At that time, they also ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification 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 legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
acceptable; approved; recognized Originating from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary State 3   New Jersey 18 December 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Empire of the Crown: Georgia 5   Connecticut Saturday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) State of Connecticut, Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland, a Private Colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion of the Crown and Imperial Colony 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   The state of North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   Place Name: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Connecticut, British North America 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) States Constituting the South-Western Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canadian Region of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) New Orleans Area 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Its Location: The Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Time Period: 1817-12-10 [22]
(admitted) This is Mississippi Country. 21   Illinois Instanced on December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) The Illinois Territory, Part 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) In the State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Boston, MA (Maine Federal Court District) 24   Missouri When: August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) A Part of the United States Known as Arkansas 26   Michigan On this day in 1837, January 26th: [28]
(admitted) Territory of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Thursday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Dated: December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Date: September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Regions of Mexico and Other Cessions to Mexico[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) Regional portion of Oregon 34   Kansas Tuesday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   We're in the Mountain State. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) One hundred and fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31
(admitted) Located in the state of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The State of Colorado 39   To the north: North Dakota1 Sunday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) This portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Dated: November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington When: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Locale of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Where Wyoming Is Located 45   Utah A Date: January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Including both Oklahoma and Indian Country as their own separate territories. 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Location: New Mexico, USA 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) Territorial Status: Arizona 49   Alaska The Third of January, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959, August 21st,
(admitted) Hawaii's home territory

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. Government under the Articles was 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 This is the state of South Carolina. On this day in 1778 — February 5 — 3 New York Dated: February 6th, 1778 4 Specifically, the state of Rhode Island On this day in 1778 — February 9 — 5 Connecticut As of this date in 1778: February 12 6 Georgia Saturday, February 26th, 1778 7 A New England State: March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 To the State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The date was February 1, 1779. 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2nd,

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 of Kansas, a series of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups, earning the region the nickname "Bleeding Kansas."
• 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.
• With the passage of the Oklahoma Enabling Act, residents of the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory were granted permission to unite under a single state government and were admitted to the Union as a single state. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• Act of Statehood for Alaska, formally admitting that state to the Union as of January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Websites outside the scope of this paper [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 United States" History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com