New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on June 21, 1788, putting the new constitutional framework into effect.
Article VII specified that ratification by nine of the thirteen states would be sufficient for the Constitution to take effect among the states that approved it. New Hampshire’s vote therefore crossed the required threshold, even though four states had not yet ratified.
The vote in New Hampshire was not unanimous. The state convention approved the Constitution 57–47 after Federalists and Anti-Federalists debated the powers of the proposed federal government. Concerns about the lack of a bill of rights helped make ratification difficult in several states.
Virginia ratified four days later, followed by New York in July. North Carolina waited until November 1789, and Rhode Island did not ratify until May 1790. The Constitution’s effective date did not mean that the national government began operating immediately; the First Congress convened on March 4, 1789.