Ohio has long been recognized as the 17th state, having been admitted to the Union on March 1, 1803 but the story of its ratification has a fun footnote*.
On November 29, 1802, the Ohio state convention decided to seek admittance into the Union. Congress approved this request on February 19, 1803, but failed to complete the process for statehood as the 7th Congress (March 4, 1801–March 4, 1803) overlooked a crucial step: the ratification of Ohio's state constitution. In other words, the official acceptance of Ohio as the 17th state likely fell between the cracks as the 7th Congress transitioned to the 8th. For the next 150 years, February 19, 1803 was recognized as Ohio’s official birthdate.
In 1953, as the Buckeye State was preparing to celebrate its sesquicentennial—31 states after its supposed admission—some Ohio school teachers traveled to Washington, D.C. to gather documents related to Ohio's statehood in 1803. Their goal was to bring history alive by showing students the actual documents rather than just reading about them in textbooks.
However, upon their arrival at the Library of Congress, they encountered a problem: the legislation that officially granted statehood to Ohio was missing. This realization led to the stunning discovery that Ohio had never been legally admitted into the United States in 1803. Without congressional approval of the state constitution, Ohio technically remained part of the Northwest Territory.
On January 13, 1953, Ohio congressman George H. Bender introduced legislation to retroactively grant Ohio statehood. Bender highlighted this legislative oversight, stating, "The State constitutional convention presented the Constitution of Ohio to Congress on February 19, 1803, and Congress chose to ignore the whole business."
Members of the 83rd Congress made light of the oversight at the expense of their Ohio colleagues. Representative John E. Lyle of Texas humorously remarked, "If Ohio is not a member of the Union and we have some illegal members of the Senate and the House here, I should like to know it."
On May 19, 1953, the House approved legislation to retroactively ratify the state constitution and admit Ohio to the Union as of March 1, 1803. (Rumor has it that the vote was not unanimous but I could not find any record of who voted against it; if true, Texas congressman John E. Lyle would be my first suspect.) On August 1, 1953, the Senate concurred.
On August 7, 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a law ending the dispute about the actual calendar day Ohio was admitted into the Union.
