The order in which the states joined the United States

In the United States, each of the fifty individual states is a sovereign nation in its own right, with the federal government also having authority over its citizens. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the states, Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside. [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 can be broken down into its constituent parts, which are called "states." They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. Most matters not specifically delegated to the federal government fall under the purview of the respective state governments. This includes, but is not limited to, intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance. 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 includes representatives from every state and every citizen. 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 the state's population as of 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. 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 dates of statehood for all fifty 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 in the years 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 subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or confirmed) Constructed from 1   Delaware Tuesday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania The 12th of December, 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary State 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Formerly-Imperial Crown Colony 4   Georgia Initially published: January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut On this day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts Sixteen years ago today, on February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland as a Private Colony 8   State of South Carolina1 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, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, the Queen's Most Favored Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, the Royal Colony 13   This is the state of Rhode Island1. May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) District of Kentucky[d] (consisting of nine counties) in the Commonwealth of Virginia. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Its Southwestern Parts 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) North West Territories, Segment 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) French for "Orange Land"; the Orleans Region 19   Indiana On this date in 1816, December 11
(admitted) Frontier State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Tuesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) To the West of the Mississippi River 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Wednesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Alabam's Home State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Maine(f] District) Massachusetts 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Section of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) State of Florida 28   Texas It's the 29th of December, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas 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) Part of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   There's no place like West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) One hundred and fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Monday, August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   In the state of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Location: South Dakota1 It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Friday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Where We Live Is the Greatest Place on Earth 42   Washington Tuesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Geographical Region Called Wyoming 45   Utah Monday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Land of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territory of Oklahoma and Indian Territory 47   New Mexico Sunday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona As of today (14 February 1912)
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska As of this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) State or Province of Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the individual states on November 15, 1777, after being approved by the Second Continental Congress. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation became active 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 It was on December 16th, 1777, that 2 The State of South Carolina 05 Février 1778 3 New York Tuesday, February 6th, 1778 4 That place called Rhode Island Friday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 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 It's the 19th of November in the year 1778. 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• Included in the "Compromise of 1850" set of legislative acts was a provision for California's entry into the Union.
• 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 granted the people of the Indian Territory and the State of Oklahoma 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. which calls for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Videos of the 50 United States History com
• "Independence dates" 50states com