The modern United States received its crowning star when
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation
admitting Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state.
The president also issued an order for an American flag
featuring 50 stars arranged in staggered rows: five six-star
rows and four five-star rows. The new flag became official
July 4, 1960.
On July 3, 1890, Idaho entered the Union as the 43rd state.
The name of the new state was first used during the 1850s
to designate a region in what is now Colorado that was later
known as Idaho Springs.
The word Idaho is derived from the Shoshone Ee-Da-How,
referring possibly to the ubiquitous purple flowers of the
area, but also translated as “gem of the mountains” or
“behold the sun coming down the mountain.”
Idaho was originally part of the vast northwest Oregon, or
Columbia River, country claimed by Spain, Russia, Great
Britain, and the United States.
In 1818 a treaty provided for joint rule of the area by the
United States and Great Britain. At first limited to ten years,
joint rule was later extended.
In 1846 the United States gained sole possession of the
Oregon country below the 49th parallel.
The American claim to this northwestern area stemmed
primarily from the explorations by Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark (below) in 1805.
Georgia voted to ratify the U.S. Constitution, becoming
the fourth state in the modern United States on this day
in 1788.
Named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was
first settled by Europeans in 1733, when a group of British
debtors led by English philanthropist James E. Oglethorpe
traveled up the Savannah River and established Georgia’s
first permanent settlement—the town of Savannah.
In 1742, as part of a larger conflict between Spain and
Great Britain, Oglethorpe defeated the Spanish on St.
Simons Island in Georgia, effectively ending Spanish
claims to the territory of Georgia.
King George II (1727 – 1760)
James Edward Oglethorpe
(1696 – 1785)
Six months after the congress of the Republic of Texas
accepts U.S. annexation, Texas was admitted into the
United States as the 28th state.
After gaining independence from Spain in the 1820s,
Mexico welcomed foreign settlers to sparsely populated
Texas, and a large group of Americans led by Stephen F.
Austin settled along the Brazos River.
The Americans soon outnumbered the resident Mexicans,
and by the 1830s attempts by the Mexican government to
regulate these semi-autonomous American communities
led to rebellion.
In March 1836, in the midst of armed conflict with the
Mexican government, Texas declared its independence
from Mexico.
Stephen Fuller Austin (1793 – 1836)
The modern United States received its crowning star when
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation
admitting (Native spelling: Hawai‘i) into the Union as the
50th state on this day in 1959.
The president also issued an order for an American flag
featuring 50 stars arranged in staggered rows: five six-
star rows and four five-star rows. The new flag became
official July 4, 1960.
