The order in which the states joined the United States.

A state is one of the fifty individual entities that together make up the United States of America and share sovereignty 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."

Individual states are the most basic administrative divisions of the USA. They have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government. In most cases, state governments are vested with the authority to manage matters of local significance, including but not limited to intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction 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 senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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. Furthermore, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to choose a number of electors to vote in the election proportional to the number of its representatives and senators in Congress. [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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. When a new state joins, it joins on equal footing with the others. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the 50 US states. Each of the first 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, in the years between 1777 and 1781, making them eligible to join the Union of States in July 1776. (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 legally binding deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
Accepted or confirmed Shaped by 1   Delaware On this day in 1787, December 7: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony 2   Pennsylvania Sunday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey This day in 1787, on the 18th, [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia Two Hundred and Eighty-Eighth Day of the Year [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut The Nineteen Eighty-First Day of the Year, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the British Empire 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Maryland as a Private State 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   Specifically, the state of New Hampshire1. June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Crown Colony and Currently Reigning Monarchy 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Asheville, North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) British North Carolina Colony 13   It's in Rhode Island1. May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) It's 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) The Southwestern Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) North West Territories, Segment 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Province of Orleans 19   Indiana Friday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Indiana State 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Area 21   Illinois Three Days After Christmas, 1818 [23]
(admitted) An Area of Illinois 22   Alabama On this day in 1819, December 14th, [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) (Maine F District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Wednesday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Separate Section of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Regional Term for Arkansas 26   Michigan On this date in 1837, January 26 [28]
(admitted) Province of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Affirmative: Florida's Home State 28   Texas Monday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The Texas Republic 29   Iowa It's the 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Section of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Partial Wisconsin Territory 31   California Saturday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) In a state of disarray / the Mexican Cession, part 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) The State of Minnesota and Adjacent Lands 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas The 29th of January, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Monday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Its Name for the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado It all started on August 1st, 1876. [37]
(admitted) Said of the area now known as Colorado: 39   To the north: North Dakota1 The Date Was November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of Dakota Territory 40   "South Dakota1" On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Tuesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Locale of Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Places in Idaho that are technically part of the United States 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Time: Thursday, January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territories of Oklahoma and Indians in Oklahoma 47   New Mexico Dated: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) A portion of the state of New Mexico 48   Arizona As of today (14 February 1912)
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Monday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaiian Home Islands

Timeline of the Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On this date in 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual 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 Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 An Acronym for the State of South Carolina Instance created: February 5th, 1778 3 New York Tuesday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island Earlier today, on February 9th, 1778, 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12: 6 Georgia February 26th, 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 This day in 1778, November 19 12 Delaware It all started on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland Wednesday, February 2nd, 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.
• 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. to hold a vote on whether or not the two areas should be merged into a single 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 ]

Websites outside the scope of this paper [ edit ]

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