Timeline of U.S. state admissions

A state is one of the fifty individual entities that together make up the United States of America and share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of the separation of powers that exists between the federal government and the individual states, all U.S. citizens have dual citizenship. In their official state names, Commonwealth states like Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia distinguish themselves from other states by using the term "commonwealth."

The 50 states are the main 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 non-federal road construction and maintenance, are generally under the purview of state governments. Generally speaking, republican principles form the basis for each individual state's constitution and government, which is made up of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. [2]

The U.S. Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, that includes representatives from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Depending on its population, as determined by the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution, each state is allotted a certain number of representatives in the House of Representatives, with a minimum of one representative and a maximum determined by the Constitution. Moreover, the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, grants each state a number of electors equal to the sum of its congressional deputies and senators. [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 was founded in 1776, and since then the number of states has grown from 13 to the current 50. All new states have been granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

In the table below, you'll find information about when each of the 50 states became independent. The first 13 states accepted the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, and they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and joined the first Union of States between 1777 and 1781. [6] (A separate table is included below showing AoC ratification dates These states are listed in the order in which they joined the new (and current) federal government upon ratification of the Constitution in 1787. Each succeeding state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
admitted; approved Developed from 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) Province of Delaware[b] 2   Pennsylvania Monday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Thursday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia Sunday, January 2nd, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Former British Crown Colony in the South 5   Connecticut This day in 1788, January 9 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a former British colony 6   Massachusetts It was February 6th, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) State of Maryland, a Private Colony 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colony of the Crown of South Carolina 9   It's in the Granite State, New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, Royal Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominion of the Crown and Proud Colony 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte Tuesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina was a colony established by the British Crown. 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, a Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) In its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia includes nine counties. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) States Constituting the South-Western Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) A section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this date in 1816:
(admitted) Situated in the state of Indiana 20   Mississippi Monday, December 10, 1817 [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois Three Days After Christmas, 1818 [23]
(admitted) A Section of Illinois 22   Alabama Tuesday, December 14, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri On this day in 1821, August 10: [26]
(admitted) State of Missouri (in part) 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) This is Arkansas State 26   Michigan On this date in 1837, January 26 [28]
(admitted) Land of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Places in Florida 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Confederate States of America 29   Iowa Dated: December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A section of Wisconsin 31   California The Nineteenth of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Frontiers without government oversight / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) This section of Minnesota is called the Minnesota Territory. 33   Oregon On this day in 1859, February 14th, the world changed.
(admitted) An Area of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861: [33]
(admitted) Area Including Kansas 35   That State in the Mountaineer State June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada The 31st of October, 1864
(admitted) Located in the state of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territorial Status: Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Its Colorado Territory1 39   That Place Called North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Section of Dakota Territory 40   Location: South Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) An Area of Dakota 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) The State of Montana 42   Washington Tuesday, November 11, 1889 [42]
(admitted) In the 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) The Utah Region 46   Oklahoma Wednesday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) In the Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska Starting on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Instance Date: 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. By March 1, 1781, all 13 states had ratified the Articles of Confederation, making them legally binding. The Articles of Confederation were abolished on March 4, 1789, and the present federal government under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York Sunday, February 6th, 1778 4 Specifically, the state of Rhode Island Wednesday, February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut Wednesday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia The 26th of February, 1778 7 Primarily Used in: 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 November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware One Day in 1779: February 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2

See also [ edit ]

• With the passage of the Compromise of 1850, Congress passed a series of bills that included a provision for California's entry into the Union.
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory of Kansas, a series of violent conflicts broke out between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups, earning the region the nickname "Bleeding Kansas."
• The Enabling Act of 1889 granted the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the right to organize themselves into new states and join the Union.
• With the passage of the Oklahoma Enabling Act, residents of the Indian Territory and the Oklahoma Territory were granted permission to unite under a single state government and were admitted to the Union as a single state. calling for a vote to decide whether or not the two areas should be united as one state.
• On January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a state thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Links outside the org [ edit ]

• Videos Relating to Individual U.S. States History com
• "Independence dates" 50states com