Timeline of U.S. state admissions

One of the fifty entities that makes up the United States and has equal sovereignty with the federal government is known as a state. Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside due to the separation of powers. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

In the United States, the individual states are the most basic political entities. They have all the authority that isn't given to or restricted to the federal government. Local matters, such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of non-federal roads, are typically under the purview of the respective state's government. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which is made up of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. 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 most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. The Electoral College is the body that officially elects the President and Vice President of the United States, and each state has the right to send a number of its residents to that body's deliberations equal to its total number of congressional representatives 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. There are now fifty states, up from the original thirteen that existed when the United States was founded in 1776. There has been no discrimination against any of the new states in their admission. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the fifty states 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. (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. After that, each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
accepted; confirmed Constructed from 1   Delaware On this day in 1787, December 7: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania As of today (12 December 1787) [10]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, the Former Crown Colony 4   Georgia The date was January 2, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Dated: January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Royal Connecticut Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Royal Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The South Carolina Crown Colony 9   In the state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Founded as a British colony, New Hampshire 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Imperial Colony and British Dominions 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Carolina del Norte The 21st of November, 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) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (The Commonwealth of Kentucky[d] has a District in Virginia that encompasses nine counties.) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) State located in the South-Western part of the United States 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) France's Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Tuesday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois The date was December 3rd, 1818. [23]
(admitted) Specifically, the area of Illinois that is now known as the territory of 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) In the State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Monday, August 10, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Section 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 It's the 29th of December, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Separate Section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth Day of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Partial Minnesota Territory 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Partial Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Piece of Kansas Territory 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) State of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area [h]). 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Locale of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Its Name for the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado It all started on August 1st, 1876. [37]
(admitted) Territory of Colorado 39   The state of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) This portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (South) Tuesday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington Adopted: 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) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah It all started on this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) Land of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) It's both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Initially published: January 6, 1912
(admitted) Region of New Mexico 48   Arizona Wednesday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Alaskan Territory. 50   Hawaii Tuesday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) State or Province of Hawaii

When the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ 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 Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution took their place. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 State of South Carolina Day of the Week: February 5, 1778 3 New York Monday, February 6th, 1778 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island Wednesday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia February 26th, 1778 7 New Hampshire (state) 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 Sunday, February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• When Kansas Territory was still a territory, between 1854 and 1861, a series of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups, coming to be known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• 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 granted the people of those territories the same rights. necessitating a vote in a referendum to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska was officially accepted into the Union per the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connections outside the text [ edit ]

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