The 50th State

Did you think that Hawaii was the fiftieth state? Well, you (and most other people) might have been wrong.

Poring over historical records a few years ago, a retired North Dakota history teacher, John Rolczynski, noticed something missing when their state’s constitution was drawn up in 1889. The U.S. Constitution mandates that senators, representatives, state legislators and “all executive and judicial officers” take an oath to uphold the Constitution. By failing to include that line in the new state constitution, Rolczynski believes North Dakota failed to meet the constitutional requirements for statehood.

State Senator Tim Mathern introduced a bill this year to fix the error, but changes to the state constitution require a popular referendum. North Dakotans are voting this month on whether to “clarify” their statehood.

Before Rolczynski’s discovery, it was assumed that North Dakota was either the thirty-ninth or the fortieth State. When the papers were signed, along with the adjoining state of South Dakota, U.S. Secretary of State James Blaine (instructed by the President, Benjamin Harrison, not to pick favorites) deliberately shuffled the papers so that nobody knew which of the two states was first to sign. North Dakota is officially listed as #39, simply because “North” comes before “South” in the alphabet.