Delaware was the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.
Delaware’s constitutional convention approved ratification on December 7, 1787. Because it acted first, Delaware is widely known by the nickname “The First State.”
The Constitution was drafted in Philadelphia in 1787, eleven years after the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Ratification required approval from nine states for the Constitution to take effect, and New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it in June 1788.
Delaware’s first-place position is sometimes confused with Pennsylvania, which hosted the Constitutional Convention, or Virginia, whose ratification debate involved major figures such as George Washington, James Madison, and Patrick Henry. The fact connects the 1776 independence milestone to the later creation of the federal government.