New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on June 21, 1788.
Article Seven required ratification by conventions in nine of the 13 states for the Constitution to take effect. New Hampshire supplied that decisive ninth approval, although four states—Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island—had not yet ratified at that moment.
The New Hampshire convention’s final vote was 57 to 47. The result established the Constitution as the new framework of national government, but political leaders still wanted the remaining states to join the Union. Virginia ratified four days later, and New York followed on July 26, 1788.
The Confederation Congress had already selected March 4, 1789, as the date for the new government to begin proceedings. North Carolina ratified in November 1789, and Rhode Island completed the original states’ ratification sequence in May 1790.