In the ratification of the United States Constitution, Delaware voted first, on December 7, 1787. Its convention approved the Constitution unanimously, by a vote of 30–0.
Delaware’s early ratification earned it the nickname “The First State.” Pennsylvania followed on December 12, New Jersey on December 18, and Georgia on January 2, 1788. The sequence continued as the proposed national framework was debated across the former thirteen colonies.
Article Seven required nine states to ratify the Constitution for it to take effect among the ratifying states. New Hampshire became the ninth state on June 21, 1788, allowing the new federal government to proceed. The original-state process was not complete until Rhode Island ratified on May 29, 1790.
Delaware’s first-place status concerns ratification of the Constitution, not admission to the Union as a new state. Delaware was one of the original thirteen states and had already declared independence from British rule in 1776.