Which colony adopted the first state constitution during the American Revolution?

New Hampshire adopted the first state constitution during the American Revolution.

The New Hampshire Constitution was adopted on January 5, 1776, while the colonies were still formally in rebellion against Britain and months before the Declaration of Independence. It created a provisional government for New Hampshire and replaced the authority of the royal governor and other Crown officials.

The document was temporary and relatively brief, reflecting the urgent wartime need for local government. It established a legislature with a Council and a House of Representatives, while leaving executive authority less clearly defined than in many later state constitutions.

Other colonies soon created their own governing frameworks. Virginia adopted its constitution in June 1776, and Pennsylvania adopted one in September 1776. Massachusetts later produced a constitution in 1780 that remains the world’s oldest functioning written constitution. New Hampshire’s 1776 document therefore has priority as the first, even though it was not the model used by every later state.