Vermont became the first new U.S. state after the original 13 in 1791. Congress admitted Vermont as the fourteenth state, effective March 4, 1791.
Vermont’s path to statehood was complicated by a long territorial dispute with New York. The Vermont government had operated independently for years, and New York eventually agreed to recognize Vermont’s admission after receiving $30,000 to settle competing land claims. Vermont’s convention then voted to join the federal Union.
Kentucky followed as the fifteenth state in 1792, although Congress passed the Kentucky admission act before the Vermont act took effect. This timing can cause confusion: Vermont is considered the fourteenth state because it entered the Union first. Vermont had already declared independence from New York in 1777 and adopted its own constitution, making its admission a distinctive episode in the early expansion of the United States.