51st state
Legal requirements
!This 2022 [Congressional Research Service report examines the legal processes for admission to the Union.](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/StatehoodProcessandPoliticalStatusofU.S.Territories-BriefPolicyBackground.pdf/page1-250px-StatehoodProcessandPoliticalStatusofU.S.Territories-BriefPolicyBackground.pdf.jpg)
Legal requirements
Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution authorizes Congress to admit new states into the United States (beyond the thirteen already in existence at the time the Constitution went into effect in 1788). Historically, most new states brought into being by Congress have been established from an organized incorporated territory, created and governed by Congress. In some cases, an entire territory became a state; in others, some part of a territory became a state. As defined in a 1953 U.S. Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, the traditionally accepted requirements for statehood are:
Legal requirements
• The inhabitants of the proposed new state are imbued with and are sympathetic toward the principles of democracy as exemplified in the American Constitution. • A majority of the electorate wish for statehood. • The proposed new state has sufficient population and resources to support state government and carry its share of the cost of Federal Government.
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