This Was the First State Admitted to the Union

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Apr 30, 12:00PM EDT

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This Was the First State Admitted to the Union — © Sean Pavone / iStock via Getty Images

The United States seemed to start in stages. The Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775. The Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on July 4, 1776. The name “United States of America” became official on Sept. 9 of that year. The Constitution was written on Sept. 17, 1787, but wasn’t ratified by the requisite nine states until June 21, 1788 (and George Washington wasn’t sworn in as president until April 30, 1789).

The first state to ratify the Constitution – and thus the first state to officially join the Union – was Delaware, on Dec. 7, 1787. The Constitution didn’t become the official framework for the American government, however, until New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it, on June 21, 1788. (This is how your state was founded.)

Although the current president, Joe Biden, has lived in Delaware since he was 10, the state’s importance to the country has slipped considerably in 200 years. It does not even have a million residents. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 989,948, placing it 46th among all states.

Delaware’s rank by square miles is even smaller than its rank by population. It covers 2,488.72 square miles. Only Rhode Island is smaller at 1,544.89. Because of its physical size, Delaware is among the most densely populated states, at 508 people per square mile. (See how each state’s population has changed since 2010.)

It is also one of only seven states that, because of its small population, has only one member of the House of Representatives. (She is Lisa Blunt Rochester, known, according to Govtrack, as an “at-large” representative, because she represents the entire state.)

24/7 Tempo sourced information on the date each state was admitted to the Union from Britannica. Population figures are from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Population and Housing State Data report.

Click here to see the first states admitted to the Union

50. Hawaii
> Date of admission: Aug. 21, 1959
> 2020 population: 1,455,271

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49. Alaska
> Date of admission: Jan. 3, 1959
> 2020 population: 733,391

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48. Arizona
> Date of admission: Feb. 14, 1912
> 2020 population: 7,151,502

47. New Mexico
> Date of admission: Jan. 6, 1912
> 2020 population: 2,117,522

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46. Oklahoma
> Date of admission: Nov. 16, 1907
> 2020 population: 3,959,353

45. Utah
> Date of admission: Jan. 4, 1896
> 2020 population: 3,271,616

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44. Wyoming
> Date of admission: July 10, 1890
> 2020 population: 576,851

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43. Idaho
> Date of admission: July 3, 1890
> 2020 population: 1,839,106

42. Washington
> Date of admission: Nov. 11, 1889
> 2020 population: 7,705,281

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41. Montana
> Date of admission: Nov. 8, 1889
> 2020 population: 1,084,225

40. South Dakota
> Date of admission: Nov. 2, 1889
> 2020 population: 886,667

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39. North Dakota
> Date of admission: Nov. 2, 1889
> 2020 population: 779,094

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38. Colorado
> Date of admission: Aug. 1, 1876
> 2020 population: 5,773,714

37. Nebraska
> Date of admission: March 1, 1867
> 2020 population: 1,961,504

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36. Nevada
> Date of admission: Oct. 31, 1864
> 2020 population: 3,104,614

35. West Virginia
> Date of admission: June 20, 1863
> 2020 population: 1,793,716

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34. Kansas
> Date of admission: Jan. 29, 1861
> 2020 population: 2,937,880

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33. Oregon
> Date of admission: Feb. 14, 1859
> 2020 population: 4,237,256

32. Minnesota
> Date of admission: May 11, 1858
> 2020 population: 5,706,494

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31. California
> Date of admission: Sept. 9, 1850
> 2020 population: 39,538,223

30. Wisconsin
> Date of admission: May 29, 1848
> 2020 population: 5,893,718

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29. Iowa
> Date of admission: Dec. 28, 1846
> 2020 population: 3,190,369

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28. Texas
> Date of admission: Dec. 29, 1845
> 2020 population: 29,145,505

27. Florida
> Date of admission: March 3, 1845
> 2020 population: 21,538,187

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26. Michigan
> Date of admission: Jan. 26, 1837
> 2020 population: 10,077,331

25. Arkansas
> Date of admission: June 15, 1836
> 2020 population: 3,011,524

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24. Missouri
> Date of admission: Aug. 10, 1821
> 2020 population: 6,154,913

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23. Maine
> Date of admission: March 15, 1820
> 2020 population: 1,362,359

22. Alabama
> Date of admission: Dec. 14, 1819
> 2020 population: 5,024,279

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21. Illinois
> Date of admission: Dec. 3, 1818
> 2020 population: 12,812,508

20. Mississippi
> Date of admission: Dec. 10, 1817
> 2020 population: 2,961,279

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19. Indiana
> Date of admission: Dec. 11, 1816
> 2020 population: 6,785,528

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18. Louisiana
> Date of admission: April 30, 1812
> 2020 population: 4,657,757

17. Ohio
> Date of admission: March 1, 1803
> 2020 population: 11,799,448

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16. Tennessee
> Date of admission: June 1, 1796
> 2020 population: 6,910,840

15. Kentucky
> Date of admission: June 1, 1792
> 2020 population: 4,505,836

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14. Vermont
> Date of admission: March 4, 1791
> 2020 population: 643,077

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13. Rhode Island
> Date of admission: May 29, 1790
> 2020 population: 1,097,379

12. North Carolina
> Date of admission: Nov. 21, 1789
> 2020 population: 10,439,388

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11. New York
> Date of admission: July 26, 1788
> 2020 population: 20,201,249

10. Virginia
> Date of admission: June 25, 1788
> 2020 population: 8,631,393

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9. New Hampshire
> Date of admission: June 21, 1788
> 2020 population: 1,377,529

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8. South Carolina
> Date of admission: May 23, 1788
> 2020 population: 5,118,425

7. Marchyland
> Date of admission: April 28, 1788
> 2020 population: 6,177,224

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6. Massachusetts
> Date of admission: Feb. 6, 1788
> 2020 population: 7,029,917

5. Connecticut
> Date of admission: Jan. 9, 1788
> 2020 population: 3,605,944

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4. Georgia
> Date of admission: Jan. 2, 1788
> 2020 population: 10,711,908

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3. New Jersey
> Date of admission: Dec. 18, 1787
> 2020 population: 9,288,994

2. Pennsylvania
> Date of admission: Dec. 12, 1787
> 2020 population: 13,002,700

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1. Delaware
> Date of admission: Dec. 7, 1787
> 2020 population: 989,948

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.