The order in which the states joined the United States.

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right and shares power with the federal government. Due to the separation 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 50 states make up the main 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. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance are typically left to the jurisdiction of the respective state's government. Each state has a government that includes an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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. 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]

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. A total of 50 states now make up the United States, up from the original 13. All new states have been granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

Please find below a table detailing the dates of statehood for each of the fifty United States. 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.) 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 succeeding state's admission date is a statutory deadline mandated by federal law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Developed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey The 18th of December, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Formerly-Imperial Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Georgian Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) The Connecticut Colony, a British Crown Colony 6   Massachusetts Adopted: 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, a British Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   To the South May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The State of New Hampshire as a Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Imperial Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) "New York, the Crown Colony" 12   In the state of North Carolina1 The 21st of November, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) State of Vermont Republic[c] 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) In its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia includes nine counties. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Southwest Area 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Province of Orleans 19   Indiana The Eleventh of December, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Lands in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Geographical Region Including Arkansas 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) An Area Including Florida 28   Texas This day in 1845, on December 29th, [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Day of the Week: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: January 29 [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   In the state of West Virginia1. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada When October 31st, 1864 rolled around,
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska Territory 38   Colorado As of today, August 1, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   In the state of North Dakota1 Instance Date: November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the 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) The State of Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) States of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The Idaho Panhandle 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Geographical Region Called Wyoming 45   Utah The Fourth of January, 1896 [43]
(admitted) In the State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The date was November 16th, 1907. [44]
(admitted) It's both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) In the Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Kingdom of Alaska 50   Hawaii Monday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Located in Hawaii's territorial waters

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 states for ratification. By March 1, 1781, all 13 states had ratified the Articles of Confederation, making them legally binding. The Articles of Confederation, which governed the states, were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present Constitution, which governs the federal government, was adopted. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Time: Tuesday, December 16, 1777 2 Columbia, South Carolina Day of the Week: February 5, 1778 3 New York Adopted: February 6th, 1778 4 That place called Rhode Island The Nineteenth of February, 1778 5 Connecticut Day of the Frog, 12 February, 1778 6 Georgia February 26, 1778 7 That 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 Tuesday, November 19, 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 provision 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.
• By the Oklahoma Enabling Act, the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma were granted permission to unite under a single state government and to seek admission to the Union. Similarly, the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories were granted permission to unite under a single state government and to seek admission to the Union. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• Effective January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became the 49th state in the Union thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• US State Videos History com
• Times when nations were officially established 50states com