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 of America are co-sovereign entities with the central government. Due to the division 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 50 states are the most basic political units in America. Neither the Constitution of the United States nor any state constitution can restrict the authority of the people. The federal government does not have jurisdiction over local issues, so it is up to the states to handle things like intrastate commerce, elections, new municipalities, public school policy, and non-federal road building and maintenance. Every state has its own government, with its own constitution and set of laws based on republican principles. [2]

The United States Congress is a bicameral legislature, made up 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 that state's population as of the most recent decennial census required by the Constitution. Each state has the right to send a number of electors to the Electoral College, the body that votes for President and Vice President, equal to the sum of its congressional deputies. [4]

This power to Union" target="_blank">admit new states into the Union is delegated to Congress by Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The original 13 states of the United States have been joined by 47 others since 1776. All newly admitted states have been given full voting rights. [5]

Below is a table detailing the official admission dates for each of the 50 states into the Union. In July 1776, after agreeing to the United States Declaration of Independence, the first 13 colonies became states. Between 1777 and 1781, they ratified the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, and became members of the Union. (An AoC ratification timeline is provided in a separate table below.) These states are listed in the order in which they ratified the Constitution in 1787 and became part of the newly formed (and still existing) federal government. Each subsequent state's admission date is a statutory deadline established by Congress. [a]

List of U S states [ edit ]

State Date
(acknowledged or confirmed) Prompted by 1   Delaware When: 7 December 1787 [8]
(ratified) State of Delaware as a Colony[b] 2   Pennsylvania Dated: 12 December 1787 [10]
(ratified) Pennsylvania, a Crown Colony 3   New Jersey Wednesday, December 18th, 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 9 January 1788 [12]
(ratified) State of Connecticut, Royal Colony 6   Massachusetts 6 February 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the British Empire 7   Maryland April 28, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Capital of the Maryland Colony 8   Specifically, the State of South Carolina1 May 23, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal Province of South Carolina 9   Granite State, New Hampshire1 June 21, 1788 [8]
(ratified) Royal New Hampshire Colony 10   Virginia June 25, 1788 [8]
(ratified) The Commonwealth of Virginia, British Dominions 11   New York July 26, 1788 [13]
(ratified) New York, a Colony Held in Trust for the Crown 12   Carolina del Norte On this day in 1789 [14]
(ratified) North Carolina, a former British colony 13   A Place Called Rhode Island1 May 29, 1790 [8]
(ratified) Providence Plantations, Rhode Island, and the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations 14   Vermont March 4, 1791 [15]
(admitted) We are a republic in Vermont. 15   Kentucky June 1, 1792 [16]
(admitted) With nine counties in its District of Kentucky[d], Virginia is a large state. 16   Tennessee June 1, 1796 [18]
(admitted) The Southwestern Region 17   Ohio March 1, 1803 [19][e]
(admitted) Territories in the Northwest 18   Louisiana April 30, 1812 [21]
(admitted) Louisiana's Orleans Province 19   Indiana Time Period: December 11th, 1816
(admitted) Location: Indiana Territory1 20   Mississippi As of today, December 10th, 1817 [22]
(admitted) Specifically, the Mississippi Delta region 21   Illinois December 3rd, 1818 [23]
(admitted) Part of Illinois Territory 22   Alabama Friday, December 14, 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) A Portion of Missouri Territory 25   Arkansas June 15, 1836 [27]
(admitted) Locale of Arkansas 26   Michigan Thursday, January 26th, 1837 [28]
(admitted) The State of Michigan 27   Florida March 3, 1845
(admitted) The State of Florida 28   Texas Friday, December 29, 1845 [29]
(admitted) Texas Confederate States 29   Iowa Friday, December 28th, 1846
(admitted) Region of Iowa 30   Wisconsin May 29, 1848 [30]
(admitted) (Of) Wisconsin Territory 31   California The 9th of September, 1850 [31]
(admitted) Regions without government control / Mexican Cession (Part)[g] 32   Minnesota May 11, 1858 [32]
(admitted) A Section of Minnesota 33   Oregon A Date: 14 FEBRUARY 1859
(admitted) This portion of Oregon Territory 34   Kansas Saturday, January 29th, 1861 [33]
(admitted) A Portion of Kansas 35   The state of West Virginia1 June 20, 1863 [34]
(admitted) Fifty counties in Virginia's Trans-Allegheny area. 36   Nevada Monday, October 31st, 1864
(admitted) This is Nevada Country. 37   Nebraska March 1, 1867
(admitted) The State of Nebraska 38   Colorado The First of August, 1876 [37]
(admitted) Colorado, the Territory 39   The State of North Dakota1 Sunday, November 2, 1889 [38][i]
(admitted) The State of Dakota, etc. 40   A State in the Midwestern U.S. On this day in 1889, November 2 [38][i]
(admitted) Part of the Dakota Territory 41   Montana The Date Was November 8th, 1889 [41]
(admitted) Area encompassing the state of Montana 42   Washington On this day in 1889, November 11: [42]
(admitted) A Territorial Statement for Washington 43   Idaho July 3, 1890
(admitted) The State of Idaho 44   Wyoming July 10, 1890
(admitted) Where Wyoming Is Located 45   Utah On this day in 1896: [43]
(admitted) This is Utah Country. 46   Oklahoma The Date Was November 16, 1907 [44]
(admitted) This is Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. 47   New Mexico Initially published: January 6, 1912
(admitted) The State of New Mexico 48   Arizona It all started on this date in 1912: February 14
(admitted) Arizona State 49   Alaska Earlier this month, on January 3rd, 1959
(admitted) Arctic Alaskan Territories 50   Hawaii Friday, August 21st, 1959
(admitted) Hawaii's Home Islands

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. Once all 13 states ratified the Articles of Confederation, they became effective on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation, the precursor to the present United States Constitution, were formally abolished on March 4, 1789. [45]

State Date 1 Virginia Dated: December 16th, 1777 2 Carolina del Sur The date was February 5th, 1778. 3 New York On this day in 1778, February 6 4 Specifically, the state of Rhode Island 9 February 1778 5 Connecticut 12 February 1778 6 Georgia Thursday, February 26th, 1778 7 This New Hampshire March 4, 1778 8 Pennsylvania March 5, 1778 9 Massachusetts March 10, 1778 10 The State of North Carolina April 5, 1778 11 New Jersey It's the 19th of November in the year 1778. 12 Delaware On this day in 1779: 13 Maryland Initially published: 2 February, 1781

See also [ edit ]

• The admission of California to the Union was a part of the Compromise of 1850, a set of legislative acts passed by Congress.
• 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 gave the people of the Dakota, Montana, and Washington territories the legal right to organize state governments (with Dakota being split into two states) 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. which calls for a vote on whether or not the two areas should be united as a single state.
• The Alaska Statehood Act, which officially made Alaska a state on January 3, 1959.

Notes [ edit ]

References [ edit ]

Internet resources [ edit ]

• "Videos of the 50 States" History com
• State formation dates 50states com