U.S. state membership timeline, ordered by their official entry into the Union

Each of the 50 states in the United States is a sovereign nation in its own right, with equal authority from the federal government and the people living there. Due to the separation of powers that exists in the United States, citizens of the federal republic are also citizens of the state in which they currently reside. For example, the full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 states are the most fundamental political units in America. They have all the authority that isn't given to or restricted to the federal government. Most matters not specifically delegated to the federal government fall under the purview of the respective state governments. This includes, but is not limited to, intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance. Republican principles form the basis for each state's constitution and government, which consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch. [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. 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. Additionally, 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 add new states in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1. The original 13 states of the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to 50. New states have been admitted on an equal footing with the rest. [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 original 13 states entered the Union of States in the years between 1777 and 1781 and ratified the Articles of Confederation. (A separate table detailing the ratification of the Acts of Confederation is provided below.) The states are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a legally binding statute. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(approved or permitted) Prompted by 1   Delaware The 7th of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania It was on December 12th, 1787, that the Declaration of Independence was signed. [10]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of 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) The Georgia Colony was a Crown Colony. 5   Connecticut The 9th of January, 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts Tuesday, February 6th, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay, a British Crown Colony 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Maryland Colony was a colonial possession. 8   Carolina del Sur May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Colonial South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   State of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) New Hampshire, a British Crown Colony 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. Monday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) Republican State of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Northern Virginia (including nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d]) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Southwest Area 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) District of Orleans 19   Indiana On this day in 1816 (December 11)
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi On this day in 1817 — December 10 — [22]
(admitted) Geographical Region of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Partial 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 A.D. 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Section of Missouri. 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) This is Arkansas State 26   Michigan Tuesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan, or the Upper Peninsula 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Location of Florida as a Separate Political Entity 28   Texas On this date in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa When: Sunday, December 28, 1846
(admitted) Specifically, the portion of Iowa's territory that is called 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) A Section of Wisconsin 31   California Nine September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Partially Organized Lands / Cession to Mexico[g]. 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) Territory in Minnesota, Sectional. 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Friday, January 29, 1861 [33]
(admitted) Part of Kansas Territory 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada October 31st, 1864
(admitted) Region of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Its Name for the State of Nebraska 38   Colorado On this day in 1876, August 1. [37]
(admitted) Aspects of the Colorado Territory1 39   The State of North Dakota1 As of today's date, November 2nd, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) It's a piece of Dakota Territory. 41   Montana Tuesday, November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana 42   Washington 11 November 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah On this day in 1896: January 4 [43]
(admitted) A Land Named Utah 46   Oklahoma When: Tuesday, November 16, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) It's the State of New Mexico 48   Arizona On this day in 1912, February 14th,
(admitted) In the Territory of Arizona 49   Alaska A Date To Remember: January 3, 1959
(admitted) Alaskan Territory 50   Hawaii When: 21 August 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's home territory

Ratification of the Articles of Confederation [ edit ]

On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were formally approved for ratification by the individual states by the Second Continental Congress. Following ratification by the required 13 states, the Articles of Confederation entered into force on March 1, 1781. The current federal government, established by the Constitution, succeeded the general government under the Articles on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777, December 16 2 Carolina del Sur 05 Février 1778 3 New York Saturday, February 6th, 1778 4 The State of Rhode Island The Nineteenth of February, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia This day in 1778, on February 26th, 7 Granite State, New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Specifically, the state of North Carolina. April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey On this day in 1778, November 19 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland The date was February 2nd, 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.
• There were a number of violent conflicts in Kansas Territory between anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups in the years 1854-1861. This period is known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• 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 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 to decide if the two areas should be united as one state.
• Upon passage of the Alaska Statehood Act on December 2, 1958, Alaska was officially admitted to the Union as the 49th state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Referring to Resources Outside This Article [ edit ]

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