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

Each of the fifty United States' constituent entities, known collectively as "states," shares sovereignty with the federal government. Citizenship in the United States is dual, with the federal government and the state in which one resides each having some degree of authority over its citizens. [1]The full official names of the states of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all include the word "commonwealth" rather than "state."

The 50 individual states make up the basic organizational unit 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. Each of the fifty states has a government that consists of an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, all of which are established by a constitution based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of senators and representatives from all 50 states. A minimum of one senator and one representative from each state are guaranteed by the Constitution; the number of representatives each state has in the House of Representatives is determined by the state's population 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]

The Constitution clearly gives Congress the power to decide whether or not 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 new states have been granted full membership with no special treatment. [5]

Below is a table with information about when each of the 50 states became independent. By signing on to the Declaration of Independence in July 1776, the first 13 states were officially established, and from 1777 to 1781, they all became part of the original Union of States by ratifying the Articles of Confederation. (A separate table with dates of AoC ratification is provided 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
(approved or permitted) Produced by 1   Delaware On this day in 1787: [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) The New Jersey Colony, a Crown Colony 4   Georgia Day of the Year 1788, January [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of Georgia 5   Connecticut 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony of the British Crown 6   Massachusetts Adopted: 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony of Massachusetts Bay 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Carolina del Sur 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 Crown 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Virginia, Dominated Colony of the British Empire 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Royal Colony 12   Asheville, North Carolina1 Tuesday, November 21st, 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   The Ocean State: Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, British Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) Nine counties in Virginia's District in Kentucky(d) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) South-Western Part of the Country 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Canada's Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Orleans Territory 19   Indiana On this day in 1816 (December 11)
(admitted) State of Indiana 20   Mississippi This day in 1817, on the 10th, [22]
(admitted) The Mississippi Delta Region 21   Illinois The date was December 3rd, 1818. [23]
(admitted) Territory in Illinois, Part 22   Alabama Thursday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) State of Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) District of Maine (Massachusetts) 24   Missouri Saturday, August 10th, 1821 [26]
(admitted) Region of Missouri 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) The Arkansas Valley 26   Michigan Wednesday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) Those Parts of the United States That Are Currently Cal 28   Texas On this day in 1845, December 29th, [29]
(admitted) Texas Republic 29   Iowa This day in 1846, on December 28th,
(admitted) Section of Iowa That Was Once Known As 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) Its portion of Minnesota 33   Oregon Monday, February 14, 1859
(admitted) The State of Oregon, or (a portion of) the Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Saturday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) The State of Kansas, or Part of It 35   Mountain State of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada On this day in 1864, October 31st,
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado It all started on August 1st, 1876. [37]
(admitted) The Colorado Region 39   We're in North Dakota1. The date of November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 40   Dakota (State) On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) A Section of Dakota Territory 41   Montana This day in 1889, November 8 [41]
(admitted) Location: Montana, USA 42   Washington Dated: November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) State of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) This is the territory of Idaho. 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Location: Wyoming, USA 45   Utah Wednesday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Locale of Utah 46   Oklahoma Thursday, November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Territory of Oklahoma and Indian Territory 47   New Mexico 6 January 1912
(admitted) State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska January 3, 1959
(admitted) Region of Alaska 50   Hawaii The Day That Started It All in 1959: August 21
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

Dates of ratification of the articles of confederation [ edit ]

By a vote of 15 to 1, the Second Continental Congress approved the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777. 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 under the Constitution was established. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia On this day in 1777 2 Southeastern United States, Specifically, the State of South Carolina The date of February 5, 1778 3 New York The date was February 6, 1778. 4 The Ocean State: Rhode Island A Date in History: February 9th, 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia On this day in 1778, February 26 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 Carolina del Norte April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey November 19th, 1778 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: February 1 13 Maryland The Date Is February 2, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• One of the acts included in the "Compromise of 1850" legislation package was one that allowed California to join 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 New Mexico and Arizona Admission Acts and the Oklahoma Enabling Act respectively granted permission for the people of New Mexico and the Indian Territory to organize a state government and to seek admission to the Union as a new state. calling for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state
• State of Alaska officially joined the Union on January 3, 1959, thanks to the Alaska Statehood Act.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Websites outside the scope of this paper [ edit ]

• Title: "Videos of the 50 States of the USA" History com
• "Independence Day" 50states com