List of U.S. states by date of statehood

This is a list of U.S. states by date of statehood, that is, the date when each U.S. state joined the Union. Although the first 13 states can be considered to have been members of the United States from the date of the Declaration of Independence – July 4, 1776 – or from the date on which they ratified the Articles of Confederation, they are presented here as being "admitted" on the date each ratified the present United States Constitution; most other such lists, including the 50 State Quarters program, do the same.

The admission dates for later states were set by either the act of admission or a later resolution issued under that act, except for Ohio, whose date of admission was determined by act of Congress in 1953 as March 1, 1803 when its legislature first met because of a clerical error of omission — the original act omitted setting a date the act took effect.[1]

This list does not account for the secession of 11 states during the American Civil War to form the Confederate States of America, the subsequent restoration of those states to representation in Congress (sometimes called "readmission") between 1866 and 1870, or the end of Reconstruction in those states; since their secession was declared illegal by the Supreme Court in Texas v. White, they never legally left the Union. It also does not account for secessionist governments formed in two other states, as their Unionist governments generally remained in control.

# State Admission [2] Preceding Entity
!C 1 Delaware 01787-12-07 December 7, 1787[2] Lower Counties on Delaware i.e. lower counties of Pennsylvania, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9993068528194 2 Pennsylvania 01787-12-12 December 12, 1787[2] Province of Pennsylvania, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9989013877113 3 New Jersey 01787-12-18 December 18, 1787[2] Province of New Jersey, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9986137056388 4 Georgia 01788-01-02 January 2, 1788[2] Province of Georgia, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9983905620875 5 Connecticut 01788-01-09 January 9, 1788[2] Connecticut Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9982082405307 6 Massachusetts 01788-02-06 February 6, 1788[2] Province of Massachusetts Bay, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9980540898509 7 Maryland 01788-04-28 April 28, 1788[2] Province of Maryland, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9979205584583 8 South Carolina 01788-05-23 May 23, 1788[2] Province of South Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9978027754226 9 New Hampshire 01788-06-21 June 21, 1788[2] Province of New Hampshire, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9976974149070 10 Virginia 01788-06-25 June 25, 1788[2] Virginia Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9976021047272 11 New York 01788-07-26 July 26, 1788[2] Province of New York, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9975150933502 12 North Carolina 01789-11-21 November 21, 1789[2] Province of North Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
!B9974350506425 13 Rhode Island 01790-05-29 May 29, 1790[2] Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, then sovereign state
!B9973609426703 14 Vermont 01791-03-04 March 4, 1791 Province of New York and New Hampshire Grants (ownership disputed), Vermont Republic
!B9972919497988 15 Kentucky 01792-06-01 June 1, 1792 Split off from Virginia with consent of that state. The former huge, westmost Kentucky County
!B9972274112777 16 Tennessee 01796-06-01 June 1, 1796 Formed from western land donated to the Federal Government by North Carolina
!B9971667866559 17 Ohio 01803-03-01 March 1, 1803[1] The Northwest Territory, land donated to the Federal Government by the East Coast states such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and New York
!B9971096282421 18 Louisiana 01812-04-30 April 30, 1812 Territory of Orleans
!B9970555610208 19 Indiana 01816-12-11 December 11, 1816 Indiana Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
!B9970042677264 20 Mississippi 01817-12-10 December 10, 1817 Mississippi Territory, formed from land donated to the Federal Government by Georgia
!B9969554775622 21 Illinois 01818-12-03 December 3, 1818 Illinois Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
!B9969089575466 22 Alabama 01819-12-14 December 14, 1819 Alabama Territory, formed from the Mississippi Territory, formerly part of the State of Georgia
!B9968645057840 23 Maine 01820-03-19 March 19, 1820 Split off from Massachusetts with consent of that state (the former District of Maine)
!B9968219461696 24 Missouri 01821-08-10 August 10, 1821 Missouri Territory
!B9967811241751 25 Arkansas 01836-06-15 June 15, 1836 Arkansas Territory
!B9967419034619 26 Michigan 01837-01-26 January 26, 1837 Michigan Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
!B9967041631339 27 Florida 01845-03-03 March 3, 1845 Florida Territory
!B9966677954898 28 Texas 01845-12-29 December 29, 1845 Republic of Texas
!B9966327041700 29 Iowa 01846-12-28 December 28, 1846 Iowa Territory
!B9965988026183 30 Wisconsin 01848-05-29 May 29, 1848 Wisconsin Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
!B9965660127955 31 California 01850-09-09 September 9, 1850 Directly admitted from the Mexican Cession
!B9965342640972 32 Minnesota 01858-05-11 May 11, 1858 Minnesota Territory
!B9965034924385 33 Oregon 01859-02-14 February 14, 1859 Oregon Territory
!B9964736394753 34 Kansas 01861-01-29 January 29, 1861 Kansas Territory
!B9964446519385 35 West Virginia 01863-06-20 June 20, 1863 Divided off from Virginia
!B9964164810615 36 Nevada 01864-10-31 October 31, 1864 Nevada Territory, with part of Arizona Territory and New Mexico Territory added on later
!B9963890820873 37 Nebraska 01867-03-01 March 1, 1867 Nebraska Territory
!B9963624138402 38 Colorado 01876-08-01 August 1, 1876 Colorado Territory
!B9963364383538 39[3] North Dakota 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 Dakota Territory
!B9963111205458 40[3] South Dakota 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 Dakota Territory
!B9962864279332 41 Montana 01889-11-08 November 8, 1889 Montana Territory
!B9962623303817 42 Washington 01889-11-11 November 11, 1889 Washington Territory
!B9962387998843 43 Idaho 01890-07-03 July 3, 1890 Idaho Territory
!B9962158103660 44 Wyoming 01890-07-10 July 10, 1890 Wyoming Territory
!B9961933375102 45 Utah 01896-01-04 January 4, 1896 Utah Territory
!B9961713586035 46 Oklahoma 01907-11-16 November 16, 1907 Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory
!B9961498523982 47 New Mexico 01912-01-06 January 6, 1912 New Mexico Territory
!B9961287989890 48 Arizona 01912-02-14 February 14, 1912 Arizona Territory
!B9961081797018 49 Alaska 01959-01-03 January 3, 1959 Russian America, Department of Alaska, District of Alaska and then Alaska Territory
!B9960879769945 50 Hawaii 01959-08-21 August 21, 1959 Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, Republic of Hawaii and then Hawaii Territory

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Congress recognized the state of Ohio on February 19, 1803 ("An act to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States, within the state of Ohio", Seventh Congress, Session II, Chapter VII), but no formal date of statehood was set by the act of admission or a later resolution, as occurred with all other new states. On August 7, 1953, Congress passed a law retroactively setting the date of Ohio's statehood at March 1, 1803, the date when Ohio's first legislature convened.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Original 13 states since 1776 by order of ratification.
  3. ^ a b The actual statehood proclamations for North and South Dakota were intentionally shuffled so that no one actually knows which was admitted first; President Benjamin Harrison always refused to tell the order in which he signed the two statehood bills. However, North Dakota's proclamation was published first in the Statutes at Large (since it is first alphabetically).

See also

United States state-related lists
Demographics
Economy
Energy and Envr.
Geography
Health
Law and crime
Misc.