Delaware was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution, a founding document connected to America250.
Delaware’s ratifying convention approved the Constitution unanimously on December 7, 1787. That decision earned Delaware the enduring nickname “The First State.” Pennsylvania followed five days later, and New Jersey became the third state to ratify.
Article Seven of the Constitution required ratification by conventions in nine states before the new federal government could take effect. New Hampshire supplied the decisive ninth ratification on June 21, 1788. The Constitution therefore became operative before all thirteen states had approved it.
Delaware’s first-place status is sometimes confused with the order in which states joined the Union or ratified the Articles of Confederation. The distinction matters: this question concerns ratification of the Constitution drafted in Philadelphia in 1787. Rhode Island was the last original state to ratify, doing so in 1790.