This is a timeline of the states' admission to the United States.

A state is one of the 50 individual entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Due to the division of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens 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."

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. They have all authority not specifically granted to or prohibited by 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. The government of each state is divided into an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and is based on republican principles as outlined in the state's own constitution. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, from which citizens of all 50 states and the District of Columbia can elect representatives. 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 last decennial census required by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that votes for President and Vice President of the United States. [3] Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [4]

The power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is vested in 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. Each newly admitted state has been given full voting rights alongside all the others. [5]

Each of the 50 states' official statehood dates is listed below. After signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally entered the Union of States between 1777 and 1781 by ratifying its first constitution, the Articles of Confederation. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) Each state is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. When a new state is admitted, the date on the list is the one officially recognized by law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
admitted; approved Created by 1   Delaware The 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania On this date in 1787: [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) The New Jersey Crown Colony 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Monday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) State of Connecticut, Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown 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, a Crown Colony 9   Element: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony under the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Virginia, British Dominions 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony Under the Crown 12   Purpose: The State of North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) Colonial North Carolina, a Crown Colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Colony of the British Crown 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of 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) Province of the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Region of Indiana 20   Mississippi As of today, December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Places in the Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois Time: Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Specifically, the area of Illinois that is now known as the territory of 22   Alabama It was on this date in 1819, December 14th, that [24]
(admitted) Regional Identifier for Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Province of New Hampshire 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10 [26]
(admitted) Extent of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) State of Texas as a Separate Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846, December
(admitted) Part of Iowa was once known as the Iowa Territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disorganized land / the Mexican Cession, part [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Section of Kansas Territory 35   Situated in western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Specifically, the fifty counties that make up Virginia's Trans-Allegheny region. 36   Nevada Instance Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado Beginning on August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Colorado, The Territorial State 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 Day of the Dead, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of the Dakotas 40   Dakota (State) Dated: November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, USA 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) State of Wyoming 45   Utah Fourteenth day of the first month of 1896 [43]
(admitted) In the State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Tuesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territory of Oklahoma and Indian Territory 47   New Mexico Sixteen hundred and twelve: January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Location: New Mexico, USA 48   Arizona Instance: Thursday, February 14, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska It all started on this day in 1959, January 3rd.
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Located in Hawaii's territorial waters

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were approved by the Second Continental Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation took effect 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 This day in 1777, on the 16th of December, 2 Specifically, the state of South Carolina. The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York Thursday, February 6th, 1778 4 That place called Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 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 The state of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey Friday, November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware Monday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland Two-Fourths of February, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• One of the acts included in the "Compromise of 1850" legislation package guaranteed that California would be admitted to the Union.
• 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."
• 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 legal right to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as a single state. A similar law gave the people of New Mexico and Arizona the legal right to organize a state government and seek admission to the Union as separate states. calling for a vote on whether or not the two jurisdictions should be united into one state.
• In 1959, the Alaska Statehood Act was passed, officially welcoming Alaska into the Union.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

References outside the text [ edit ]

• U.S. State Videos History com
• dates of statehood 50states com