Delaware was the first state to ratify the United States Constitution, a founding milestone connected with the history commemorated by America250.
Delaware’s convention ratified the Constitution unanimously on December 7, 1787. Because it was the first state to do so, Delaware is often nicknamed “The First State.” The state’s early ratification helped begin the process by which the new federal framework came into effect.
The Constitution required ratification by nine states before it could become operative among the ratifying states. New Hampshire supplied the decisive ninth ratification in June 1788, but Delaware acted more than six months earlier.
Delaware’s first-place status concerns ratification of the Constitution, not the Declaration of Independence. The state also has Revolutionary-era significance, and its delegates participated in the Continental Congress. Keeping those two constitutional milestones separate prevents confusion between independence in 1776 and constitutional ratification beginning in 1787.