Timeline of U.S. state admissions

One of the fifty entities that make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government is a state. Americans hold dual citizenship with the federal republic and the state in which they reside due to the separation of powers. To distinguish themselves from other states, the official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

U.S. administrative divisions are typically called "states." Neither the Constitution of the United States nor any state constitution can restrict the authority of the people. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance are typically left to the jurisdiction 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 the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. 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. There's also the Electoral College, which votes for the President and Vice President of the United States, of which each state gets a certain number of representatives and senators to represent it. [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. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Each of the 50 states' official statehood dates is listed below. 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. (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. The dates of admission for subsequent states are those officially recognized by law. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Produced by 1   Delaware Friday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) [b]The Colony of Delaware. 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Saturday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Nineteen Eighty-Eighth Day, January [12]
(ratified) The State of Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 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   Specifically, 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 Rule of the British 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, the Crown Colony" 12   Asheville, North Carolina1 Friday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former Crown 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) In its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia includes nine counties. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Territories to the Southwest 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Time Period: December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Valley 21   Illinois Sunday, December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Piece of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama As of today, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Regional Identifier for Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Commonwealth 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) Location: Arkansas, USA 26   Michigan Dated: January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Land of Florida 28   Texas Last Updated: 29 December 1845 [29]
(admitted) TX Republic 29   Iowa Monday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California This day in 1850, on September 9 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Mexican Cession [g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Area Including the State of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) The State of Oregon, or a Portion of It 34   Kansas Sunday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas Territory 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Tuesday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Geographical Location: Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Specifically: The State of Colorado 39   The State of North Dakota1 The date was November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) This portion of Dakota Territory 40   This is South Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana A Date in 1889: November [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington When: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) Locale of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) UT - Utah Valley 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico A Date: January 6, 1912
(admitted) An Area Now Part of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) Land of Arizona 49   Alaska On this day in 1959, January 3:
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Island

When the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

On this day in 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 Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur On this day in 1778, February 5: 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island Saturday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia Monday, February 26th, 1778 7 To the State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 In the state of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey The 19th of November, 1778 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2nd, 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.
• 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 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into states (with Dakota being split into two separate 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. call for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• Act of Statehood for Alaska, formally admitting that state to the Union as of January 3, 1959

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Connections outside the text [ edit ]

• United States of America Video Map History com
• Indicators of Statehood Dates 50states com