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, Americans hold dual citizenship. When referring to their full legal names, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia use the term "commonwealth" instead of "state."

The 50 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. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads not funded by the federal government, are generally under the purview of the respective state's government. 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, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives, from which citizens of all 50 states and the District of Columbia can elect their own representatives. There are two senators and at least one representative from every 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. The Electoral College is the body that officially 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 Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. As of today, there are 50 states, up from the original 13. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

The table below details the official statehood dates for each of the 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. Ratification dates for the AoC are listed in a separate table below.) [6] 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. 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)" Produced by 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Colonial Delaware[b]. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Originally, New Jersey was a 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) Royal Connecticut 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   Columbia, South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of South Carolina as a Crown Colony 9   Primarily Used in: New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of 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 Crown Colony 12   Asheville, 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) The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Independence in Vermont, a Republic[c] 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territory in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) French for "Orange Land"; the Orleans Region 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817 — December 10 — [22]
(admitted) State of Mississippi 21   Illinois Wednesday, December 3, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 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 January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Land of Florida 28   Texas Wednesday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Democratic Socialists of America 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Partial Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Date: September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Regions of Mexico and Other Cessions to Mexico[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29: [33]
(admitted) This portion of Kansas Territory 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada A Date Certain: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Region of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1: [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   This state is located in the northern part of the United States. As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) State of Dakota (in part) 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) The Dakotas, or a Portion of It 41   Montana Monday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) The State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Geographical ID: The Gem State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Sunday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The Utah Region 46   Oklahoma The Date Was Tuesday, November 16, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Saturday, January 6th, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona Date: February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Territorial Status: Arizona 49   Alaska Dated: January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii Dated: August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Aloha! Hawaii!

Times of Articles of Confederation ratification [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation 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 Carolina del Sur Five of February, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6: 4 To the State of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 That 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: February 1 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• Cali's incorporation into the Union was a part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850."
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered a 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 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 did the same for the people of those territories. having to hold 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 ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• dates of statehood 50states com