The states that made up the United States, ordered by when they joined the union.

The 50 individual states that make up the United States of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the division 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 is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes, but is 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. State governments are based on republican principles and have their own constitutions, as well as separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. Two senators and at least one representative are assigned to each state, with the size of a state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by that state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. 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 clearly gives Congress the power to decide whether or not to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. The original 13 states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to 50. All new states have been granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

Here's a handy table with all 50 states and the days they became independent. 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. (The dates of each AoC ratification are listed in a separate table below.) 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 established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Made up of 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Friday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) 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) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Earlier today, on January 9th, 1788, [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony under the Crown 6   Massachusetts Adopted: 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Citing South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, 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, a Royal Colony 12   The state of North Carolina1. On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Royal Colony of North Carolina 13   The Ocean State: 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) The Commonwealth of Virginia (which includes nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]). 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) In the South-Western Part of the Country 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 The 11th of December, 1816
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Called 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Places in the Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois When: Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Specifically, the area of Illinois that is now known as the territory of 22   Alabama Friday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Region of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) To be specific, the District of Maine[f] in Massachusetts. 24   Missouri Date: August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Part of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Specifically, the Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Friday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Saturday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa The 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) The Iowa Territory, Part 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Area of Wisconsin That Was Once Called the Wisconsin Territory 31   California This day in 1850, on September 9 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Territory in Minnesota, Sectional. 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) A Section of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Area encompassing present-day Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) This is Colorado Country. 39   The State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 40   Dakota (State) Monday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) Regional portion of Dakotas 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) This is Montana Country. 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) It's the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Where Wyoming Is Located 45   Utah The Fourth of January, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Tuesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Bordering Oklahoma is Indian Territory. 47   New Mexico The date was January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Thursday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Land of Arizona 49   Alaska Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii As of the 21st of August, 1959
(admitted) Islands of Hawaii

Moments in time when the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the states on November 15, 1777, after being approved by the Second Continental Congress. On March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force. It was on March 4, 1789, that the Articles of Confederation were formally dissolved and the present Federal Constitution came into effect. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Sunday, December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Instance created: February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6: 4 That place called Rhode Island Monday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut On this day in 1778, February 12 6 Georgia Sunday, February 26, 1778 7 Primarily Used in: 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 Saturday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Monday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland A Date to Remember: February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• Part of the "Compromise of 1850," a collection of legislative acts that included a clause admitting California to 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.
• Enabling Act of 1889, allowing citizens of the Dakota (to be split into two states), Montana, and Washington territories to organize state governments 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 gave the people of those territories the same rights. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• State-specific video content from the United States History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com