This is a timeline of the states' admission to 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. Because of 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" instead of "state."

The 50 states make up the main 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. The federal government does not have jurisdiction over local issues, so it is up to the states to handle things like intrastate commerce, elections, new municipalities, public school policy, and non-federal road building and maintenance. Every state has its own government, with its own constitution and set of laws based on republican principles. [2]

Congress, the federal legislature, is a bicameral body consisting 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]

Constitutional law states that Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states to the Union. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. Upon admission, each new state joins the union on an equal footing with the others. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally became independent nations in their own right on July 4th, 1776, and ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, between 1777 and 1781. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification of the AoC.) The order in which these states are listed reflects the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) United States of America. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Developed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Thursday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia Day of the Year 1788, January [8]
(ratified) Colony of the British Crown in Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Colony of Connecticut Under the Crown 6   Massachusetts The sixth of February in the year 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a Crown Colony 8   This is the state of 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) Commonwealth of Virginia, Dominion of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte 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, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in 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) A Portion of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Its Location: The Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi The 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois On this day in 1818, December 3: [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Instance created: 14 December 1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Specifically, the State of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan It's the 26th of January, 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) Independent Texas 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) The Iowa Territory, Part 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) This is a section of Wisconsin. 31   California This day in 1850, on September 9 [31]
(admitted) The Mexican Cession (Part): An Unorganized Region 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon Monday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) The Oregon Region, Specifically 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas Territory 35   "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 Monday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) In the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado It all started on August 1st, 1876. [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   There's a lot of room in North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 40   The Badlands of South Dakota1 The date of November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana Dated: November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah The date of January 4, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Geographical Utah 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) Places in New Mexico that Are Not in Texas 48   Arizona Wednesday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Sunday, January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Wednesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Location: Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

In order for the Articles of Confederation to be ratified by the separate states, the Second Continental Congress approved them on November 15, 1777. Articles of Confederation entered into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur Dated: February 5th, 1778 3 New York Dated: February 6th, 1778 4 Place Name: Rhode Island Saturday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut The date was February 12th, 1778. 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Here in good ol' NC April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Earlier today, on November 19th, 1778, 12 Delaware On this day in 1779, February 1st, 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• It was included in the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress, that California was finally admitted 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.
• This was made possible by the Enabling Act of 1889, which allowed the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories to organize themselves politically as states (with Dakota being split in half) 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. It also granted the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories the same right. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Related Sites [ edit ]

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