Rhode Island was the last of the original thirteen states to ratify the U.S. Constitution, a constitutional milestone relevant to the founding history revisited by America250.
Rhode Island declined to send delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and remained strongly protective of state sovereignty. Because the Constitution required only nine states for it to take effect, the new federal government began operating in 1789 even though Rhode Island had not joined the union under the new framework.
Pressure increased when the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would have restricted trade with Rhode Island. The state’s General Assembly then ratified the Constitution by a narrow vote on May 29, 1790, making Rhode Island the thirteenth and final ratifying state.
Rhode Island’s late decision is sometimes confused with New Hampshire’s ratification, which was the ninth and therefore the vote that brought the Constitution into effect. Rhode Island’s action completed the original states’ ratification process more than two years later.