The order in which the states joined the United States

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, Americans hold dual citizenship. There are four states (Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) whose official names do not include the word "state," but rather "commonwealth."

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. In other words, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government in 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 fall under the purview of state governments. Each state has a government that includes an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Two senators and one representative are guaranteed to each state by the Constitution; the number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is determined by the population of the state as of the most recent decennial census. In addition, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

The Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in 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. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates of all 50 US 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. (An additional table detailing the dates of AoC ratification is provided below.) Each of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) United States of America. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally mandated deadline. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Developed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Province of Delaware[b] 2   Pennsylvania As of today (12 December 1787) [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Formerly-Imperial Crown Colony 4   Georgia Time: Tuesday, January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina as a Crown Colony 9   This New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominion 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   Cary, North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 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 Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Indiana State 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Where the Mississippi River Meets the Gulf of Mexico 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Located in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) To be specific, the District of Maine[f] in Massachusetts. 24   Missouri It was August 10th, 1821. [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) State of Arkansas 26   Michigan As of today, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Sunday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa Wednesday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Region of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Part of Minnesota 33   Oregon Date: February 14, 1859
(admitted) Portions of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The Mountain State, West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in the state of Virginia that are part of the Trans-Allegheny metropolitan area. 36   Nevada It is now October 31, 1864
(admitted) State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Frontier State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   We're in North Dakota1. The Date Was November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   The State of South Dakota1 Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) A Place Called Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Located in the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) Utah, the Territories 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico The sixth of January, 1912
(admitted) A portion of the state of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) The Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Thursday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaiian Home Islands

Dates of ratification of the articles of confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved for submission to state legislatures for ratification by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were formally abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution took their place. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Instance created: February 5th, 1778 3 New York Tuesday, February 6th, 1778 4 Location: Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this date in 1778, February 26th, 7 In the state of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 This is the state of North Carolina. April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland It all started on February 2nd, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• As part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850," California's incorporation into the Union was guaranteed.
• In the years leading up to Kansas's admission to the Union as a state, from 1854 to 1861, the territory was the site of a series of violent conflicts between pro- and anti-slavery groups known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into states (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 Indian Territory the legal 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.
• 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 ]

The term "external links" is used to indicate links to websites [ edit ]

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