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 – Thursday, 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.

States

#		State	Ratification‡ or Admission	Preceding Entity
1		Delaware	Wednesday, December 7, 1787 ‡	Lower Counties on Delaware, then sovereign state in Confederation
2		Pennsylvania	Monday, December 12, 1787 ‡	Province of Pennsylvania, then sovereign state in Confederation
3		New Jersey	Sunday, December 18, 1787 ‡	Province of New Jersey, then sovereign state in Confederation
4		Georgia	Monday, January 2, 1788 ‡	Province of Georgia, then sovereign state in Confederation
5		Connecticut	Monday, January 9, 1788 ‡	Connecticut Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
6		Massachusetts	Monday, February 6, 1788 ‡	Province of Massachusetts Bay, then sovereign state in Confederation
7		Maryland	Saturday, April 28, 1788 ‡	Province of Maryland, then sovereign state in Confederation
8		South Carolina	Wednesday, May 23, 1788 ‡	Province of South Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
9		New Hampshire	Thursday, June 21, 1788 ‡	Province of New Hampshire, then sovereign state in Confederation
10		Virginia	Monday, June 25, 1788 ‡	Virginia Colony, then sovereign state in Confederation
11		New York	Thursday, July 26, 1788 ‡	Province of New York, then sovereign state in Confederation
12		North Carolina	Thursday, November 21, 1789 ‡	Province of North Carolina, then sovereign state in Confederation
13		Rhode Island [and Providence Plantations]	Thursday, May 29, 1790 ‡	Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, then sovereign state in Confederation
14		Vermont	Wednesday, March 4, 1791	Province of New York and New Hampshire Grants (ownership disputed), Vermont Republic
15		Kentucky	Wednesday, June 1, 1792	Virginia (Kentucky County)
16		Tennessee	Monday, June 1, 1796	Province of North Carolina, Southwest Territory
17		Ohio	Monday, March 1, 1803*	Northwest Territory
18		Louisiana	Wednesday, April 30, 1812	Territory of Orleans
19		Indiana	Tuesday, December 11, 1816	Indiana Territory
20		Mississippi	Tuesday, December 10, 1817	Mississippi Territory
21		Illinois	Wednesday, December 3, 1818	Illinois Territory
22		Alabama	Monday, December 14, 1819	Alabama Territory
23		Maine	Tuesday, March 15, 1820	District of Maine in Massachusetts
24		Missouri	Thursday, August 10, 1821	Missouri Territory
25		Arkansas	Tuesday, June 15, 1836	Arkansas Territory
26		Michigan	Wednesday, January 26, 1837	Michigan Territory
27		Florida	Sunday, March 3, 1845	Florida Territory
28		Texas	Sunday, December 29, 1845	Republic of Texas
29		Iowa	Sunday, December 28, 1846	Iowa Territory
30		Wisconsin	Sunday, May 29, 1848	Wisconsin Territory
31		California	Sunday, September 9, 1850	California Republic
32		Minnesota	Monday, May 11, 1858	Minnesota Territory
33		Oregon	Sunday, February 14, 1859	Oregon Territory
34		Kansas	Monday, January 29, 1861	Kansas Territory
35		West Virginia	Friday, June 20, 1863	Virginia (divided up)
36		Nevada	Sunday, October 31, 1864	Nevada Territory
37		Nebraska	Thursday, March 1, 1867	Nebraska Territory
38		Colorado	Monday, August 1, 1876	Colorado Territory
39 †		North Dakota	Friday, November 2, 1889	Dakota Territory
40 †		South Dakota	Friday, November 2, 1889	Dakota Territory
41		Montana	Thursday, November 8, 1889	Montana Territory
42		Washington	Sunday, November 11, 1889	Washington Territory
43		Idaho	Wednesday, July 3, 1890	Idaho Territory
44		Wyoming	Wednesday, July 10, 1890	Wyoming Territory
45		Utah	Friday, January 4, 1896	Utah Territory
46		Oklahoma	Saturday, November 16, 1907	Oklahoma Territory and 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	Russia and then Alaska Territory
50		Hawaii	Friday, August 21, 1959	Kingdom of Hawai'i, Republic of Hawai'i and then Hawaii Territory

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-

 ‡ 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).

• 50 State Quarter Program from the United States Mint (including dates of statehood) [Retrieved: January 19, 2006]
• Dates of statehood, via 50states.com (includes notes, retrieved January 19, 2006)

See also

• United States
• U.S. state
• 51st state

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