Delaware became the first state to ratify the United States Constitution before America250.
Delaware ratified the Constitution on December 7, 1787. Its ratifying convention approved the document unanimously, with a vote of 30–0. The state’s early action earned Delaware the nickname “The First State,” a name still widely used.
Article Seven required ratification by nine states for the Constitution to take effect among the ratifying states. New Hampshire became the ninth state on June 21, 1788, while Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen states to ratify, doing so in 1790.
Delaware’s constitutional distinction is separate from the Declaration of Independence. Delaware was one of the thirteen colonies in 1776, but “first state” refers specifically to the order of Constitution ratification, not to the order in which independence was declared.