Editing 51st state (section)

{{Short description|Proposals to admit a new state into the United States}}
{{for-multi|the New Model Army song|51st State (song)|the film|The 51st State{{!}}''The 51st State''}}
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"'''51st state'''" is a phrase used in the [[United States of America]] to refer to the idea of adding an additional state to the current 50-state Union. Proposals for a 51st state may include granting statehood to one of the U.S. territories or [[Washington, D.C.]], splitting an existing state, or annexing part or all of a sovereign country. 

The U.S. has not admitted any new states to the union since 1959, when both [[Alaska]] (on January 3, 1959) and [[Hawaii]] (on August 21, 1959) were admitted. Before that, no states had been admitted since [[Arizona]] in February 1912. Before [[Alaska]] and [[Hawaii]] became states of the United States in 1959, the equivalent expression was "the 49th state"; see, for example, the [[National Movement for the Establishment of a 49th State]], a 1930s movement that sought to create a primarily [[Black people|Black]] state in the [[Southern United States]].

In recent years, the term has been used most often in reference to [[District of Columbia statehood movement|Washington, D.C.]] and [[Puerto Rico statehood movement|Puerto Rico]], both of which have active statehood movements and voted for statehood in recent referendums: [[2016 Washington, D.C. statehood referendum|D.C. in 2016]] and [[2020 Puerto Rican status referendum|Puerto Rico in 2020]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Election-Statehood-Council-Seats-400275901.html|title=DC Voters Elect Gray to Council, Approve Statehood Measure|date=November 7, 2016 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109221442/http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Election-Statehood-Council-Seats-400275901.html|archive-date=November 9, 2016|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/puerto-rico-votes-favor-statehood-island/story?id=74055630|title=Puerto Rico votes in favor of statehood. But what does it mean for the island?|work=ABC News|date=November 9, 2020|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130192230/https://abcnews.go.com/US/puerto-rico-votes-favor-statehood-island/story?id=74055630|archive-date=November 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Decades-long debates surrounding D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam statehood have been reignited. What's the best option?|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/04/30/statehood-dc-puerto-rico-and-guam-what-do-their-residents-want/7413044002/|access-date=2021-09-23|website=USA Today|language=en}}</ref> Their admission to the Union as states would require congressional approval.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://people.howstuffworks.com/new-state-in-us.htm|title=How do new states become part of the U.S.?|date=December 3, 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903073908/http://people.howstuffworks.com/new-state-in-us.htm|archive-date=September 3, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref> The two regions have different statuses within the U.S., with Puerto Rico as one of the five permanently inhabited [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territories]], while D.C. has unique status as a federal administrative district. The path to statehood for Puerto Rico in particular would have parallels to the admission process of most U.S. states outside of the original [[Thirteen Colonies|Thirteen British Colonies]], which started as territories before becoming states.

Since the [[2024 United States presidential election|2024 U.S. presidential election]], the phrase has frequently been invoked in reference to [[Canada]], as [[Donald Trump]] has used the phrase repeatedly while calling for the [[Movements for the annexation of Canada to the United States#Proposals to annex Canada by President Donald Trump|U.S. annexation of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Weissert |first1=Will |title=Trump's remarks on Canada becoming the 51st state raise a lot of questions |url=https://apnews.com/article/how-canada-could-become-us-state-42360e10ded96c0046fd11eaaf55ab88 |website=AP News |access-date=5 March 2025 |language=en |date=13 February 2025}}</ref> The U.S. has annexed sovereign nations as states in the past, including [[Republic of Texas|Texas]] and [[Vermont Republic|Vermont]], though this has not happened in recent history.

Some U.S. states have experienced movements to split into two states, often due to strong political disagreements between different regions of a state. There is precedent for such state-splitting moves in U.S. history, such as the creation of [[Kentucky]] and [[West Virginia]] from [[Virginia]], though, again, there have been no such moves in more than a century.

The phrase can also be used as a [[slang]] term in reference to regions or sovereign nations around the world that are not actually considered prospects for U.S. annexation, but are considered to be aligned with U.S. culture or political or military interests. This slang may be used in either a positive sense, or in a [[pejorative]] sense similar to the term [[Americanization]].<ref>"Sverige var USAs 51a delstat" [http://www.journalisten.se/artikel/20463/eu-kritiserar-svensk-tv "EU kritiserar svensk TV"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929120239/http://www.journalisten.se/artikel/20463/eu-kritiserar-svensk-tv |date=September 29, 2011 }}, ''Journalisten'' {{in lang|sv}}</ref> 
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