The order in which the states joined the United States

One of the fifty separate entities that together make up the United States of America and share sovereignty with the federal government is 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 Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 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. Issues of local concern are typically delegated to the respective state governments, and these include the management of intrastate commerce, the conduct of elections, the formation of local governments, the direction of public schools, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal 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 the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it is comprised of representatives from all 50 states and their citizens. 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]

New states may be Union" target="_blank">admitted into the Union as provided for in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. There are currently 50 states, up from the original 13. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the dates of statehood for each of the fifty US states. In July 1776, upon agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the first 13 colonies became states; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, and became full members of the Union. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) The order in which these states are listed reflects the order in which they voted to join the new (and current) federal government after ratifying 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
Accepted or confirmed Consisting of 1   Delaware Saturday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia It all began on January 2nd, 1788. [8]
(ratified) The Georgian Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut Saturday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony and now a state 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a royal possession. 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Colony State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) British possession in the American colony of South Carolina 9   Primarily Used in: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Geographical Indication: North Carolina1 In the year 1789, on November 21st, [14]
(ratified) Royal Colony of North Carolina 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Colony of the British Crown 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 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) The Province of Orleans 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois On this day in 1818 — December 3 — [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Located in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Hampshire 24   Missouri Observed on August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Partial Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) State of Arkansas 26   Michigan Monday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Land of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) In the Florida Panhandle 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texan Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Piece of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Frontiers without government oversight / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Area Including the State of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859 — February 14
(admitted) Specifically, the Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   A state located in western Virginia. June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Sunday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Expansion of the Nebraska Territory1 38   Colorado On this day in 1876: [37]
(admitted) Specifically: The State of Colorado 39   There's a lot of room in North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   The State of South Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Thursday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) State of Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Wyoming, the Territorial State 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Tuesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Geographical Regions of Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico Starting on January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) This is Arizona State Land 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, January 3:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Timelines for the 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 the 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation on March 1, 1781, they became law. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the current federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 To the South 05 Février 1778 3 New York Date: February 6, 1778 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island The date was February 9, 1778. 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Tuesday, February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Cary, North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey A Date: Tuesday, November 19, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: February 1 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 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 granted the people of those territories the same rights. necessitating a vote in a referendum to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• This was made possible by the Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made January 3, 1959, the day Alaska was admitted to the Union as the 49th state.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Web Resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• Definition of Terms: "Date of Statehood" 50states com