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 have equal sovereignty with the federal government. Since the federal government and the individual states share power, Americans hold dual citizenship. Four U.S. states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names instead of state.

The fifty states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. Local matters, 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. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which is made up of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

U.S. citizens and residents from every state have a voice in the Senate and House of Representatives that make up the federal Congress. 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. The Electoral College is the body that votes for President and Vice President of the United States. [3] Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [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. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50 Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside all the others. [5]

Presented below is a table detailing the official admission of each of the 50 states into the Union. The first 13 states accepted the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, and they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and joined the first Union of States between 1777 and 1781. (A separate table detailing dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) ) These states are presented in the order in which each ratified the 1787 Constitution and joined the others in the new (and current) federal government Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
"(accepted or confirmed)" Originating from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Georgian Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut Monday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The State of Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland, a Private Colony 8   Columbia, South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of New Hampshire under British Rule 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Virginia, British Dominions 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) Royal New York's Colony 12   Asheville, North Carolina1 Dated: November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) The North Carolina Colony was a Crown Colony. 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a British colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) It's a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Locations to the West 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) District of Orleans 19   Indiana Monday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) States of Indiana 20   Mississippi The date was December 10, 1817. [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Partial Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri It was August 10th, 1821. [26]
(admitted) Partial Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territory of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas Last Updated: 29 December 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Confederate States 29   Iowa Sunday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Part of Wisconsin was once known as the 31   California The Nineteen Fifteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Separate Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon It all started on this day in 1859, February 14th.
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas The Day That Began the Year 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Partial Kansas Territory 35   The Mountain State, West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The state of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Location: Nevada, USA 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Starting on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Territory of Colorado 39   Dakota Dunes State It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   "South Dakota1" This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, USA 42   Washington Adopted: 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Idaho is a territory in the United States. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Geographical Region Called Wyoming 45   Utah The Fourth of January, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Lands in Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) To the East, the New Mexico Territory1 48   Arizona Sunday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Land of Arizona 49   Alaska The date January 3, 1959
(admitted) The Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Ratification dates for the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress for submission to state legislatures for ratification. Following ratification by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force 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 Friday, December 16th, 1777 2 To the South On this date in 1778, February 5 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 In the state of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia As of today (26 February) in 1778 7 To the State of 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 Thursday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 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 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two separate states) and apply for admission to the Union.
• The Oklahoma Enabling Act gave 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 jurisdictions should be united into one state.
• Legislation that officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

A look at the world outside [ edit ]

• Video Clips of the 50 United States History com
• When a country or territory was established as a nation. 50states com