The Admission Act, formally An Act to Provide for the Admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union is a statute enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower which dissolved the Territory of Hawaii and established the State of Hawaii as the 50th state to be admitted into the Union. Statehood became effective on August 21, 1959. Hawaii remains the most recent state to join the United States.
Copy of an official ballot (inset) and referendum results approving the Admission Act
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from April 30, 1900, until August 21, 1959, when most of its territory, excluding Palmyra Island, was admitted to the United States as the 50th U.S. state, the State of Hawaii. The Hawaii Admission Act specified that the State of Hawaii would not include Palmyra Island, the Midway Islands, Kingman Reef, and Johnston Atoll, which includes Johnston Island and Sand Island.
Cartoon depicting the United States, its territories, and U.S. controlled regions as a classroom with belligerent Philippines, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Cuba
Matson Navigation Company advertised Hawaii as a tourist destination for the first time in the late 1890s.
All islands voted at least 93 percent in favor of Admission acts. Ballot (inset) and referendum results for the Admission Act of 1959.
Image: Lowering the Hawaiian flag at Annexation ceremony (PPWD 8 3 006)
