Article Seven of the United States Constitution

Portion regarding requirements for ratification

For the closing endorsement following Article Seven, see Signing of the United States Constitution

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Dates the 13 states ratified the Constitution

Article Seven of the United States Constitution sets the number of state ratifications necessary for the Constitution to take effect and prescribes the method through which the states may ratify it. Under the terms of Article VII, constitutional ratification conventions were held in each of the thirteen states, with the ratification of nine states required for the Constitution to take effect. Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution, doing so on December 7, 1787. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, thereby placing the Constitution into effect. Rhode Island was the last of the thirteen original states to ratify the Constitution under Article VII, doing so on May 29, 1790.

## Text

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> The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.[1]

## Background

[edit]

On September 20, 1787, three days after its adoption by the Constitutional Convention, the drafted Constitution was submitted to the Congress of the Confederation for its endorsement. After eight days of debate, the opposing sides came to the first of many compromises that would define the ratification process. The Confederation Congress voted to release the proposed Constitution to the states for their consideration, but neither endorsed nor opposed its ratification.[2]

## Ratification

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The Constitution was ratified by the 13 states between December 7, 1787, and May 29, 1790, as follows:[3]

| State and date  | Votes  | PCT

|
|
|

Yea  | Nay
1  | Delaware - December 7, 1787  | 30  | 0  | 100%
2  | Pennsylvania - December 12, 1787  | 46  | 23  | 67%
3  | New Jersey - December 18, 1787  | 38  | 0  | 100%
4  | Georgia - January 2, 1788  | 26  | 0  | 100%
5  | Connecticut - January 9, 1788  | 128  | 40  | 76%
6  | Massachusetts - February 6, 1788  | 187  | 168  | 53%
7  | Maryland - April 28, 1788  | 63  | 11  | 85%
8  | South Carolina - May 23, 1788  | 149  | 73  | 67%
9  | New Hampshire - June 21, 1788  | 57  | 47  | 55%
10  | Virginia - June 25, 1788  | 89  | 79  | 53%
11  | New York - July 26, 1788  | 30  | 27  | 53%
12  | North Carolina - November 21, 1789  | 194  | 77  | 72%
13  | Rhode Island - May 29, 1790  | 34  | 32  | 52%
Total:  | 1071  | 577  | 65%

## Implementation

[edit]

Further information: Confederation Period § Struggle for ratification

In 1787 and 1788, following the Constitutional Convention, a great debate took place throughout the United States over the Constitution that had been proposed. The supporters of the Constitution began the ratification campaign in those states where there was little or no controversy, postponing until later the more difficult ones.

On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, thus establishing it as the new framework of governance for the United States. Though officially enacted, four states, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island remained outside the new government. The Congress of the Confederation chose March 4, 1789, as the day "for commencing proceedings under the Constitution."[4] Virginia and New York ratified the Constitution before the members of the new Congress assembled on the appointed day to bring the new government into operation.

After twelve amendments, including the ten in the Bill of Rights, were sent to the states in June 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution. Finally, Rhode Island, after having rejected the Constitution in a March 1788 referendum, called a ratifying convention in 1790. Faced with the threat of being treated as a foreign government, it ratified the Constitution by just two votes.[5]

## See also

[edit]

* Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution
* The Federalist Papers
* Anti-Federalist Papers

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Article VII, Ratification". Cornell University Law School. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
2. ^ "The Ratification Process: State by State". ushistory.org. U.S. History. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
3. ^ "The States and the Ratification Process". Center for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin–Madison Department of History.
4. ^ "Article VII. Ratification". Justia.
5. ^ "Observing Constitution Day". National Archives. August 15, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Article VII of the United States Constitution

* Gary Lawson & Guy Seidman, When Did the Constitution become Law, 77Notre Dame L. Rev.1 (2001)
* Steve Mount, The Federalists and Anti-Federalists, usconstitution.net (2003)

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* George Washington

|

New Hampshire|

* John Langdon
* Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts|

* Nathaniel Gorham
* Rufus King

Connecticut|

* William Samuel Johnson
* Roger Sherman

New York|

* Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey|

* William Livingston
* David Brearley
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* Jonathan Dayton

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* Benjamin Franklin
* Thomas Mifflin
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* George Clymer
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Delaware|

* George Read
* Gunning Bedford Jr.
* John Dickinson
* Richard Bassett
* Jacob Broom

Maryland|

* James McHenry
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* Daniel Carroll

Virginia|

* John Blair
* James Madison

North Carolina|

* William Blount
* Richard Dobbs Spaight
* Hugh Williamson

South Carolina|

* John Rutledge
* Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
* Charles Pinckney
* Pierce Butler

Georgia|

* William Few
* Abraham Baldwin

Convention Secretary|

* William Jackson

Related|

* Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787
* Jacob Shallus
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