Timeline of U.S. state admissions

For those unfamiliar, a state is one of the 50 individual entities that together make up the United States and share sovereignty with the federal government. Since the federal government and the individual states share power, Americans hold dual citizenship. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 states make up the main divisions of the USA. In other words, they have all the authority that isn't specifically given to or forbidden to the federal government in the United States Constitution. In most cases, local matters that affect a state's citizens fall under the purview of that state's government. This includes, but is not limited to, intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and the construction and maintenance of roads that are not funded by the federal government. Each state has its own government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and its own constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. There are two senators and at least one representative from each state, with the size of each state's delegation in the House of Representatives determined by that state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. In addition, the number of electors a state can choose to represent it in the Electoral College, the body responsible for electing the President and Vice President of the United States, is equal to the sum of its congressional deputies. [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 original 13 states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to 50. 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. After signing on to the United States Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states formally became independent nations in their own right on July 4th, 1776, and ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, between 1777 and 1781. (The dates of each ratification of the AoC are listed in a separate table below.) 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 subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(accepted; confirmed) Developed from 1   Delaware Sunday, December 7th, 1787 [8]
(ratified) The State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Sunday, December 18th, 1787 [11]
(ratified) Jersey, a former British colony now a state 4   Georgia Tuesday, January 2, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, the Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a Crown Colony 8   State Name: South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a former Crown Colony 9   That State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a Colony of the Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the Crown 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   The state of North Carolina1 On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a 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) Vermont's [c]Republic 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d). 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) The Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana Wednesday, December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Area containing Indiana 20   Mississippi The 10th of December, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Mississippi Country 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Wednesday, 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) Area of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Monday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) Province of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Monday, December 29th, 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Democratic Republic 29   Iowa It's the 28th of December, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Disordered Lands / The Mexican Cession, Part (g) 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas On this day in 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   "West Virginia1" June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) The state of Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Tuesday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Location: Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Territory of Colorado 39   State of North Dakota1 On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Geographical Indicator: South Dakota1 This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 41   Montana It all started on November 8th, 1889. [41]
(admitted) Area encompassing the state of Montana 42   Washington On this date in 1889 [42]
(admitted) Washington State 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) The State of Utah 46   Oklahoma On this day in 1907, November 16 [44]
(admitted) The Indian and Oklahoma Territories 47   New Mexico This day in 1912, on January 6
(admitted) State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska Time: Wednesday, January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan territory 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Oahu, Hawaii

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

Articles of Confederation were approved for ratification by the states on November 15, 1777, after being approved by the Second Continental Congress. On March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation became operational after being ratified by all 13 states. The current federal government, established under the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Wednesday, December 16th, 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 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut Monday, February 12th, 1778 6 Georgia In other words, on this date in 1778, February 26th, 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Cary, North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey On this day in 1778, November 19 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland The date was February 2, 1781.

See also [ edit ]

• Cali's incorporation into the Union was a part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850."
• 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 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. It also granted the people of the New Mexico and Arizona Territories the same right. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be combined into one state.
• As of January 3, 1959, Alaska officially became a member of the United States as a result of the passage of the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Inbound links [ edit ]

• U.S. State Video Collection History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com