List of U.S. states by date of statehood

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The order in which the original 13 states ratified the constitution, then the order in which the others were admitted to the union

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 – 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 (see note below).

This list does not account for the secession during the American Civil War of 13 states, 11 of which formed the Confederate States of America, and 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.

[edit] States

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# United States State Ratification‡ or Admission Preceding Entity
1 Delaware Delaware 01787-12-07 December 7, 1787 Lower Counties on Delaware, then sovereign state in Confederation
2 Pennsylvania Pennsylvania 01787-12-12 December 12, 1787 Province of Pennsylvania, then sovereign state in Confederation
3 New Jersey New Jersey 01787-12-18 December 18, 1787 Province of New Jersey, then sovereign state in Confederation
4 Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia 01788-01-02 January 2, 1788 Province of Georgia, then sovereign state in Confederation
5 Connecticut Connecticut 01788-01-09 January 9, 1788 Connecticut Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
6 Massachusetts Massachusetts 01788-02-06 February 6, 1788 Province of Massachusetts Bay, then sovereign state in Confederation
7 Maryland Maryland 01788-04-28 April 28, 1788 Province of Maryland, then sovereign state in Confederation
8 South Carolina South Carolina 01788-05-23 May 23, 1788 Province of South Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
9 New Hampshire New Hampshire 01788-06-21 June 21, 1788 Province of New Hampshire, then sovereign state in Confederation
10 Virginia Virginia 01788-06-25 June 25, 1788 Virginia Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
11 New York New York 01788-07-26 July 26, 1788 Province of New York, then sovereign state in Confederation
12 North Carolina North Carolina 01789-11-21 November 21, 1789 Province of North Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
13 Rhode Island Rhode Island [and Providence Plantations] 01790-05-29 May 29, 1790 Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, then sovereign state
14 Vermont Vermont 01791-03-04 March 4, 1791 Province of New York and New Hampshire Grants (ownership disputed), Vermont Republic
15 Kentucky Kentucky 01792-06-01 June 1, 1792 Split off from Virginia with that state's consent. The former huge Kentucky County
16 Tennessee Tennessee 01796-06-01 June 1, 1796 formed from western land donated to the U.S. by North Carolina
17 Ohio Ohio 01803-03-01 March 1, 1803* The Northwest Territory, land donated to the U.S. by East Coast states |such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York
18 Louisiana Louisiana 01812-04-30 April 30, 1812 Territory of Orleans
19 Indiana Indiana 01816-12-11 December 11, 1816 Indiana Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
20 Mississippi Mississippi 01817-12-10 December 10, 1817 Mississippi Territory, formed from land donated to the U.S. by Georgia
21 Illinois Illinois 01818-12-03 December 3, 1818 Illinois Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
22 Alabama Alabama 01819-12-14 December 14, 1819 Alabama Territory, formed from land donated to the U.S. by Georgia
23 Maine Maine 01820-03-15 March 15, 1820 split off from Massachusetts with that state's consent (the former District of Maine)
24 Missouri Missouri 01821-08-10 August 10, 1821 Missouri Territory
25 Arkansas Arkansas 01836-06-15 June 15, 1836 Arkansas Territory
26 Michigan Michigan 01837-01-26 January 26, 1837 Michigan Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
27 Florida Florida 01845-03-03 March 3, 1845 Florida Territory
28 Texas Texas 01845-12-29 December 29, 1845 Republic of Texas
29 Iowa Iowa 01846-12-28 December 28, 1846 Iowa Territory
30 Wisconsin Wisconsin 01848-05-29 May 29, 1848 Wisconsin Territory, formed from the Northwest Territory
31 California California 01850-09-09 September 9, 1850 Directly admitted from land taken/purchased from Mexico
32 Minnesota Minnesota 01858-05-11 May 11, 1858 Minnesota Territory
33 Oregon Oregon 01859-02-14 February 14, 1859 Oregon Territory
34 Kansas Kansas 01861-01-29 January 29, 1861 Kansas Territory
35 West Virginia West Virginia 01863-06-20 June 20, 1863 divided off from Virginia with the questionable consent of that state
36 Nevada Nevada 01864-10-31 October 31, 1864 Nevada Territory, with part of Arizona Territory added on later
37 Nebraska Nebraska 01867-03-01 March 1, 1867 Nebraska Territory
38 Colorado Colorado 01876-08-01 August 1, 1876 Colorado Territory
39 † North Dakota North Dakota 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 Dakota Territory
40 † South Dakota South Dakota 01889-11-02 November 2, 1889 Dakota Territory
41 Montana Montana 01889-11-08 November 8, 1889 Montana Territory
42 Washington Washington 01889-11-11 November 11, 1889 Washington Territory
43 Idaho Idaho 01890-07-03 July 3, 1890 Idaho Territory
44 Wyoming Wyoming 01890-07-10 July 10, 1890 Wyoming Territory
45 Utah Utah 01896-01-04 January 4, 1896 Utah Territory
46 Oklahoma Oklahoma 01907-11-16 November 16, 1907 Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory
47 New Mexico New Mexico 01912-01-06 January 6, 1912 New Mexico Territory
48 Arizona Arizona 01912-02-14 February 14, 1912 Arizona Territory
49 Alaska Alaska 01959-01-03 January 3, 1959 Russian America, Department of Alaska, District of Alaska and then Alaska Territory
50 Hawaii Hawaii 01959-08-21 August 21, 1959 Kingdom of Hawai'i, Republic of Hawai'i and then Hawaii Territory

[edit] Notes and references

U.S. states by date of statehood      1776-1790     1791-1799     1800-1819     1820-1839     1840-1859     1860-1879     1880-1899     1900-1950     1950-1959

 ‡ Original 13 states. All became states on July 4, 1776. They are listed here, however, by their dates of ratifying the Constitution.

 * Congress recognized the state of Ohio on February 19, 1803[1], 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.

 † 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).

[edit] See also