Which law made Hawaii the 50th state of the United States?

The Hawaii Admission Act made Hawaii the 50th state of the United States.

Congress passed the act in March 1959, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it on March 18. Statehood became effective on August 21, 1959, when Hawaii entered the Union as the nation’s 50th state. Hawaii remains the most recent state admitted to the United States.

The law dissolved the Territory of Hawaii and established the State of Hawaii. It followed a long period in which Hawaii was an organized incorporated U.S. territory, beginning with the Hawaiian Organic Act of 1900. Statehood supporters and opponents debated political representation, economic interests, cultural identity, and Hawaii’s relationship with the federal government.

Hawaii’s admission came shortly after Alaska became the 49th state in January 1959. The two admissions completed the modern 50-state map. Hawaii’s statehood is distinct from the 1898 annexation of the Hawaiian Islands and from the 1900 act that created the territorial government; those earlier measures did not make Hawaii a state.