During ratification of the U.S. Constitution, Delaware became the first state to approve it. Its ratifying convention voted on December 7, 1787, just over two months after the Constitutional Convention signed the proposed document in Philadelphia.
Delaware’s vote was unanimous: all 30 delegates supported ratification. The state’s early approval earned it the enduring nickname “The First State,” also reflected in its official state quarter and many civic references. Pennsylvania followed on December 12, making Delaware’s lead only five days long.
Article VII of the Constitution required approval from nine of the 13 states for the new government to take effect among the ratifying states. New Hampshire supplied the crucial ninth ratification on June 21, 1788. Delaware was first, but it was not the final state; Rhode Island became the last of the original 13 to ratify, doing so in 1790. This sequence is sometimes confused with the order in which states joined the Union, a separate process that began with Delaware in 1787.