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

The United States is divided primarily into individual states. Each state is endowed with all authority not specifically delegated to the federal government or prohibited from being exercised by the Constitution of the United States. 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 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, that includes representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. There are two senators and at least one representative from each state, with the size of each state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by that state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for choosing the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of the number of representatives and senators from that state. [4]

The Constitution specifically vests the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Congress through Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. The original 13 states that made up the United States in 1776 have since been joined by another 39. 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 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 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 statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; approved) Developed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787, December 7: [8]
(ratified) Colonial Delaware[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Monday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) State of New Jersey, once a Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Queen Anne's Georgian Colony 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Crown Colony of Connecticut 6   Massachusetts Thursday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony of Massachusetts Bay 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Colony State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Province of South Carolina under the Crown 9   State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under British Rule 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial Virginia, Now a Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Crown Colony 12   Here in good ol' NC On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Provost State of Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) There is a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky[d] 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territories in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Territory of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Wednesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) To be specific, the District of Maine[f] in Massachusetts. 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Specifically, a section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas State 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Today in 1845 (December 29) [29]
(admitted) Independent Texas 29   Iowa The 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) The portion of Wisconsin that was once known as the 31   California Date: September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Wilderness area / Mexican Cession (part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Piece of Kansas Territory 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Specifically, the fifty counties that make up Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada Instance Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Nevada, the State 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territorial Status: Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Colorado, the Territory 39   The State of North Dakota1 This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) An Area of Dakota 41   Montana Saturday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) State of Montana 42   Washington Sunday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) States Constituting Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) UT - Utah Valley 46   Oklahoma The Date Was Tuesday, November 16, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Oklahoma and Indian Land 47   New Mexico Sunday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Dated: January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Anchorage, Alaska 50   Hawaii The date of August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaiian Home Islands

Dates of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation 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 This day in 1777, on the 16th of December, 2 Carolina del Sur The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 A Place Called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Friday, February 26th, 1778 7 This 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 one of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of acts passed by Congress.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 areas should be combined into one state.
• As of January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States as a result of the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Referring to Resources Outside This Article [ edit ]

• State-specific video content from the United States History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com