When they were admitted to the Union, the states of the United States are listed below.

The 50 individual states that make up the United States are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the separation of powers between the federal government and the individual states, 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 United States is divided primarily into individual states. They have complete authority over all matters not specifically delegated to the federal government or expressly prohibited by the United States Constitution. Concerns such as intrastate commerce, elections, the formation of local governments, public school policy, and non-federal road construction and maintenance fall under the purview of state governments. The government of each state is divided into an executive, legislative, and judicial branch, and is based on republican principles as outlined in the state's own constitution. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and it includes representatives from every state and every citizen. 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. As an added measure, [3] the Electoral College, the body that chooses the President and Vice President of the United States, allows each state to send a number of electors to Congress equal to the sum of its representatives and senators. [4]

Constitutional law states that Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states to the Union. The original thirteen states in the United States have since been joined by another 33, bringing the total to fifty. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

In the table below, you'll find information about when each of the 50 states became independent. As of July 4, 1776, upon ratification of the United States Declaration of Independence by the first 13 states, they were recognized as independent nations; between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the country's first constitution, and formally joined the Union. (See below for a separate table detailing the ratification dates of the AoC.) Each state is listed in the order in which it ratified the Constitution in 1787 and thus became a part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is an official, statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or confirmed) Created by 1   Delaware The Seventh of December, 1787 [8]
(ratified) Delaware [b] Colony. 2   Pennsylvania Wednesday, December 12th, 1787 [10]
(ratified) Kingdom of Pennsylvania Colony 3   New Jersey On this day in 1787: [11]
(ratified) New Jersey, a former British colony. 4   Georgia On this day in 1788 [8]
(ratified) Georgia, a British Crown Colony 5   Connecticut Earlier today, on January 9th, 1788, [12]
(ratified) Connecticut, a Colony under the Crown 6   Massachusetts It was February 6th, 1788. [8]
(ratified) Royal Colony of Massachusetts Bay 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Maryland, a colonial possession 8   Specifically, the state of South Carolina1. May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) South Carolina, a Crown Colony 9   The state of New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Kingdom of New Hampshire 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Dominion of the Crown Colony of Virginia 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) The New York Crown Colony 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   State of Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Royal Colony 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) The Republic of Vermont 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) (Kentucky is represented by nine counties in Virginia) 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) Continent's Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) A section of the Northwest Territories 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Located in the Orleans Territory 19   Indiana This day in 1816, on December 11
(admitted) The State of Indiana 20   Mississippi Dated: 12-10-1817 [22]
(admitted) Area encompassing the present-day state of Mississippi 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) An Area of Illinois 22   Alabama Sunday, December 14th, 1819 [24]
(admitted) Locales in Alabama 23   Maine March 15, 1820 [25]
(admitted) Specifically, the State of Massachusetts (Maine[f] District). 24   Missouri Tenth of August, 1821 [26]
(admitted) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Arkansas Territory 26   Michigan January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Last Updated: 29 December 1845 [29]
(admitted) The State of Texas as a Democratic Republic 29   Iowa Friday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) A Portion of Iowa Territory 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) This is 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) Part of Minnesota 33   Oregon 14 February 1859
(admitted) A Section of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas The Day That Began the Year 1861, January 29 [33]
(admitted) Piece of Kansas Territory 35   There's no place like West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Virginia (all fifty counties in the Trans-Allegheny area[h]). 36   Nevada Date: October 31, 1864
(admitted) The State of Nevada 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) Territorial Status: Nebraska 38   Colorado Monday, August 1st, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Geographical Definition of Colorado 39   We're in North Dakota1. It all started on November 2nd, 1889. [38][i]
(admitted) South Dakota Section 40   Dakota (State) This day in 1889, November [38][i]
(admitted) A Portion of the Dakotas 41   Montana November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) That Part of the Country Known as Montana 42   Washington Wednesday, November 11th, 1889 [42]
(admitted) Region of Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) The State of Wyoming 45   Utah Wednesday, January 4th, 1896 [43]
(admitted) Territory of Utah 46   Oklahoma November 16th, 1907 [44]
(admitted) Lands in Oklahoma and Indian Country 47   New Mexico This day in 1912, on January 6
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona 14 February 1912
(admitted) The State of Arizona 49   Alaska On this date in 1959:
(admitted) Geographical Term for Alaska 50   Hawaii On this date in 1959:
(admitted) State or Province of Hawaii

Moments in time when the Articles of Confederation were ratified [ edit ]

On this day in 1777, the Second Continental Congress voted to send the Articles of Confederation to the individual states for ratification. After being ratified by the required number of states (13 in this case), the Articles of Confederation took effect on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation were abolished and replaced by the present Constitutional government on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia The date was December 16th, 1777. 2 Colony State of South Carolina As of this date in 1778 (2/5) 3 New York Dated: February 6th, 1778 4 Location: Providence, Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Sunday, February 26th, 1778 7 This 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 It's the 19th of November in the year 1778. 12 Delaware The First of February, 1779 13 Maryland On this day in 1781, February 2

See also [ edit ]

• As part of the legislative package known as the "Compromise of 1850," California's incorporation into the Union was guaranteed.
• During the years 1854–1861, when Kansas was still considered part of the territory rather than a state, a number of violent conflicts broke out between pro- and anti-slavery groups in the territory.
• 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 whether or not the two jurisdictions should be merged 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 ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• Video Clips of the 50 United States History com
• Constitutional ratification and statehood formation dates 50states com