Timeline of U.S. state admissions

The 50 individual states that make up the United States are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside. Four U.S. states—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia—have commonwealth in their official names instead of state.

The fifty states are the main administrative divisions of the USA. When it comes to authority, they have everything the federal government doesn't and can't. 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. 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. 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. Furthermore, the Electoral College, the body that elects the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to choose a number of electors to vote in the election proportional to the number of its representatives and senators in Congress. [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]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. When they signed on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the original 13 states officially became sovereign nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation to form the first United States of America constitution. (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. For each succeeding state, the on-list admission date represents the legally binding date established by legislation. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted or approved) Composed of 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Sunday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a Proprietary Province 3   New Jersey Thursday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a private colony. 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a former British 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, Royal Colony and Independent State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   To the State of North Carolina1 Monday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations and the State of Rhode Island and Connecticut, British North America 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont[c] 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) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Part of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Region of Orleans 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Area containing Indiana 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817, December 10: [22]
(admitted) Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) State of Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Locales in the State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Sunday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) State of Arkansas 26   Michigan Dated: January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The Florida Peninsula 28   Texas Saturday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa On this day in 1846:
(admitted) It's a piece of Iowa territory. 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) Separate Section of Wisconsin 31   California Sunday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / Mexican Cession (Part)[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this date in 1861: January 29 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas 35   Western Virginia June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) There are fifty counties in Virginia that are included in the Trans-Allegheny statistical area. 36   Nevada A Date Certain: October 31, 1864
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado It all started on August 1st, 1876. [37]
(admitted) Region of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 Earlier today, on November 2nd, 1889, [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 40   Specifically, South Dakota1 It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) Region of Dakota 41   Montana The Date of November 8, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington This day in 1889, November 11 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) It's the state of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) There's a lot of Wyoming here. 45   Utah Dated: January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Geographical Regions of Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico January 6th, 1912
(admitted) Region of New Mexico 48   Arizona Sunday, February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Arizona State 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Thursday, August 21, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

When the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress recommended to the states that they ratify the Articles of Confederation. On March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states, the Articles of Confederation officially took effect. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Yesterday, on the sixteenth of December, 1777 2 The State of South Carolina. The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Monday, February 9, 1778 5 Connecticut February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia The 26th of February, 1778 7 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 Dated: November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland As of today, February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was one of the provisions of the Compromise of 1850, a collection of acts passed by Congress.
• 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.
• 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 gave the people of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory the right to organize a state government and gain admission to the Union as a single state. The New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts did the same for the people of those territories. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which 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