Timeline of U.S. state admissions

As one of the 50 federally recognized entities that make up the United States, a state has a degree of autonomy from the federal government. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens are considered citizens of both the federal republic and the state in which they currently reside. (First) the full official names of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

For the most part, the United States can be broken down into its individual states. They have all the authority that is not specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government by the United States Constitution. The federal government does not have jurisdiction over local issues, so it is up to the states to handle things like intrastate commerce, elections, new municipalities, public school policy, and non-federal road building and maintenance. Republics are the norm in the United States, but each state has its own constitution and system of government (the executive, the legislature, and the courts). [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. One senator and one representative are guaranteed to each state by the Constitution; the number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is determined by the population of its citizens as of the last decennial census. 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]

Congress has the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union per Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The United States' original 13 states have since doubled in number to 50. New states have been admitted on an equal footing with the rest. [5]

In the table below, you'll find information about when each of the 50 states became independent. 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 of these states is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the fledgling (and now established) United States of America. 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
(approved or permitted) Shaped by 1   Delaware Monday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania On this date in 1787: [10]
(ratified) Colonial Pennsylvania 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia As of today, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) During the time of the British, Georgia was a crown colony. 5   Connecticut Wednesday, January 9th, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the 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 province 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a former British colony 9   New Hampshire June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Hampshire 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Royal Colony and Dominated State 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony Under the Crown 12   Here in good ol' NC On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations, Rhode Island, and the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republic of Vermont (Vermont) 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) State 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) Alaska, Northwest, and Canadian Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiane's Territories 19   Indiana It was on this date in 1816 that the United States declared independence from France.
(admitted) State of Indiana 20   Mississippi The 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Dated: 12/14/1819 [24]
(admitted) Location: The State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Separate Section of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan It's the 26th of January, 1837. [28]
(admitted) Territorial Government of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Florida's Homestead 28   Texas This day in 1845, on December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Confederate States of America 29   Iowa Friday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) (Of) Wisconsin Territory 31   California Monday, September 9, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Regions without government control / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Separate Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) This portion of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas 35   State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Sunday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Places in Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Nebraska State 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1: [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   The State of North Dakota1. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Specifically, South Dakota1 Sunday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana On this day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) There's a lot of Wyoming here. 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) In the State of Utah 46   Oklahoma Thursday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico Initially published: January 6, 1912
(admitted) There's a lot of new territory in New Mexico. 48   Arizona The date February 14th, 1912
(admitted) Territorial Status: Arizona 49   Alaska This day in 1959, on January 3:
(admitted) Located in Alaska 50   Hawaii Dated: August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's home territory

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 On this day in 1777 2 This is the state of South Carolina. Sunday, February 5th, 1778 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 The Ocean State, Rhode Island Saturday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Thursday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia In other words, on this date in 1778, February 26th, 7 State of New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey It's the 19th of November in the year 1778. 12 Delaware It all started on February 1st, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• It was included in the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress, that California was finally admitted to the Union.
• 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.
• 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. 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 combined into one state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Various Videos Relating to Individual States in the USA History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com