During westward expansion, the United States gained large areas of land that were called territories. What is a territory?

A territory has finished every step and now waits for a decision on its request for statehood. Which part of the national government has the power to admit a new state to the Union?

A wide stretch of frontier land now belongs to the United States, and settlers are starting to move onto it. What is the first step on the road to statehood?

Year after year, pioneer families cross the frontier by wagon train and start homesteads in a territory. How does this help the territory move toward statehood?

A territory has grown and its people are ready to ask for statehood. What must they write before they apply?

The people of a territory meet for months and write a constitution. What does that constitution do for them?

A territory has grown and its people have written their constitution. What does the territory send to Congress at this step?

A territory has just been admitted to the Union. What changes for the people who live there?

Texas was an independent country before it joined the United States as a state.

Think about the whole path from open frontier land to a new star on the flag. Which step happens LAST?

Which of these places is a U.S. territory today?

A territory's people have written a state constitution. Before they asked Congress for statehood, what did the territory's voters usually do with it?

True or False: Washington, D.C., is one of the 50 states.

New towns are growing in a territory. Under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, how many free people had to live there before it could become a state?

When a new state joins the Union, what is added to the American flag?

When a territory was first organized, before its people elected their own lawmakers, who usually ran its government?

True or False: The first 13 states became part of the United States by approving the Constitution, not by first being territories.

Congress votes to let a territory join the Union as a full member. Which word names what the territory has gained?

Why did settlers often move into U.S. territories?

Which was the first state formed from the Northwest Territory?

True or False: The first 13 states all began as U.S. territories.

What did the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 help explain?

Which territory was the most recent one to become a state?

The U.S. flag has one star for each state. How many stars are on the flag today?

True or False: Puerto Rico is still a U.S. territory today, not a state.

How many U.S. senators does each state have?

A state's number of U.S. House representatives is based mainly on what?

Why did territories often create local governments?

True or False: A new state joins the Union with the same powers as the states that joined before it.

Which document is the highest law of the United States and allows Congress to admit new states?

Which place was a U.S. territory before it became a state in 1959?

True or False: Every U.S. territory automatically becomes a state after one year.

What is a governor?

What does it mean for a territory to petition Congress?

Why were maps important as territories became states?

True or False: State boundaries can help show where one state’s government authority ends and another begins.

Which answer is an example of a responsibility a new state government might have?

What is one reason Congress might review a proposed state constitution?

Before becoming a state, many U.S. territories went through several steps. What is the best order for these steps?

What usually changed about how a territory picked its governor once it became a state?