List of U.S. states by date of statehood
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This is a list of U.S. states by date of statehood. It has the date when each U.S. state joined the Union. The first 13 states became states of the United States on the date of the Declaration of Independence, Thursday, July 4, 1776 but they are shown here as "joining" on the date each ratified the United States Constitution. The dates on this list do not deal with the time during the American Civil War when several states left the United States and later rejoined.
# | State | Date joined | What it was before becoming a state |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Delaware | Friday, December 7, 1787 ‡ | Lower Counties on Delaware, then sovereign state in Confederation |
2 | Pennsylvania | Wednesday, December 12, 1787 ‡ | Province of Pennsylvania, then sovereign state in Confederation |
3 | New Jersey | Tuesday, December 18, 1787 ‡ | Province of New Jersey, then sovereign state in Confederation |
4 | Georgia | Wednesday, January 2, 1788 ‡ | Province of Georgia, then sovereign state in Confederation |
5 | Connecticut | Wednesday, January 9, 1788 ‡ | Connecticut Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation |
6 | Massachusetts | Wednesday, February 6, 1788 ‡ | Province of Massachusetts Bay, then sovereign state in Confederation |
7 | Maryland | Monday, April 28, 1788 ‡ | Province of Maryland, then sovereign state in Confederation |
8 | South Carolina | Friday, May 23, 1788 ‡ | Province of South Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation |
9 | New Hampshire | Saturday, June 21, 1788 ‡ | Province of New Hampshire, then sovereign state in Confederation |
10 | Virginia | Wednesday, June 25, 1788 ‡ | Virginia Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation |
11 | New York | Saturday, July 26, 1788 ‡ | Province of New York, then sovereign state in Confederation |
12 | North Carolina | Saturday, November 21, 1789 ‡ | Province of North Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation |
13 | Rhode Island | Saturday, May 29, 1790 ‡ | Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, then sovereign state in Confederation |
14 | Vermont | Friday, March 4, 1791 | Province of New York and New Hampshire Grants (ownership disputed), Vermont Republic |
15 | Kentucky | Friday, June 1, 1792 | Virginia |
16 | Tennessee | Wednesday, June 1, 1796 | Province of North Carolina, Southwest Territory |
17 | Ohio | Tuesday, March 1, 1803* | Northwest Territory |
18 | Louisiana | Thursday, April 30, 1812 | Orleans Territory |
19 | Indiana | Wednesday, December 11, 1816 | Indiana Territory |
20 | Mississippi | Wednesday, December 10, 1817 | Mississippi Territory |
21 | Illinois | Thursday, December 3, 1818 | Illinois Territory |
22 | Alabama | Tuesday, December 14, 1819 | Alabama Territory |
23 | Maine | Wednesday, March 15, 1820 | Massachusetts |
24 | Missouri | Friday, August 10, 1821 | Missouri Territory |
25 | Arkansas | Wednesday, June 15, 1836 | Arkansas Territory |
26 | Michigan | Thursday, January 26, 1837 | Michigan Territory |
27 | Florida | Monday, March 3, 1845 | Florida Territory |
28 | Texas | Monday, December 29, 1845 | Republic of Texas |
29 | Iowa | Monday, December 28, 1846 | Iowa Territory |
30 | Wisconsin | Monday, May 29, 1848 | Wisconsin Territory |
31 | California | Monday, September 9, 1850 | California RepublicMexican Cession, Alta California |
32 | Minnesota | Tuesday, May 11, 1858 | Minnesota Territory |
33 | Oregon | Monday, February 14, 1859 | Oregon Territory |
34 | Kansas | Tuesday, January 29, 1861 | Kansas Territory |
35 | West Virginia | Saturday, June 20, 1863 | Virginia |
36 | Nevada | Monday, October 31, 1864 | Nevada Territory |
37 | Nebraska | Friday, March 1, 1867 | Nebraska Territory |
38 | Colorado | Tuesday, August 1, 1876 | Colorado Territory |
39 † | North Dakota | Saturday, November 2, 1889 | Dakota Territory |
40 † | South Dakota | Saturday, November 2, 1889 | Dakota Territory |
41 | Montana | Friday, November 8, 1889 | Montana Territory |
42 | Washington | Monday, November 11, 1889 | Washington Territory |
43 | Idaho | Thursday, July 3, 1890 | Idaho Territory |
44 | Wyoming | Thursday, July 10, 1890 | Wyoming Territory |
45 | Utah | Saturday, January 4, 1896 | Utah Territory |
46 | Oklahoma | Saturday, November 16, 1907 | Oklahoma Territory & Indian Territory |
47 | New Mexico | Saturday, January 6, 1912 | New Mexico Territory |
48 | Arizona | Wednesday, February 14, 1912 | Arizona Territory |
49 | Alaska | Saturday, January 3, 1959 | Alaska Territory |
50 | Hawaii | Friday, August 21, 1959 | Kingdom of Hawaii, Hawaii Territory |
[edit] Notes
- ‡ Date ratified United States Constitution.
- *Congress extended federal laws to Ohio on February 19, 1803, 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 making Ohio a state as of March 1, 1803, the date when Ohio's first legislature convened.
- † The actual statehood proclamations for North and South Dakota were intentionally shuffled so that no one actually knows which was admitted first. However, North Dakota's was published first in the Statutes at Large (since it is first in the alphabet); hence, it is considered admitted first by most sources (including the 50 State Quarters program).
[edit] References
- 50 State Quarter Program from the United States Mint (including dates of statehood) [Retrieved: 19 January 2006]
- Dates of statehood, via 50states.com (includes notes, retrieved 19 January 2006)