Just like Rome, the United States wasn't built in a day – in fact it took 172 years for all 50 states to be added to the Union. The islands of Hawaii were the last state to join the U.S. on August 21, 1959.

13 colonies initially drafted and ratified the United States Constitution. Those turned into the first 13 states of the U.S. – Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, North and South Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia and Rhode Island. This process took from 1787 to 1790.

Vermont was the next one to join, and did so in 1791, followed by Kentucky and Tennessee before the turn of the century. By 1850, the U.S. had 31 states, with California having joined that year. In 1900, it counted 45 states, the last addition being Utah in 1896. Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico joined by 1912, completing the lower 48. It wasn’t until 1959 that Alaska and Hawaii became U.S. states.

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