New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on June 21, 1788, a milestone in America250 history.
Article Seven required nine states to ratify the Constitution before it could take effect for the states approving it. New Hampshire supplied that ninth ratification, following Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina.
The ninth ratification did not mean that every original state had already approved the document. Virginia ratified four days later, and New York followed in July. North Carolina waited until November 1789, while Rhode Island became the thirteenth and final original state to ratify on May 29, 1790.
This date is separate from both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution’s signing. The Declaration was adopted in 1776, the Constitution was signed in 1787, and the ratification process continued through 1790. America250’s broader historical story therefore includes several distinct constitutional milestones.