What was the last state to ratify?

Rhode Island was the last of the 13 original states to ratify the Constitution, voting 34 to 32 at its convention in Newport on May 29, 1790, more than two and a half years after Delaware became the first state on December 7, 1787 and well after the new federal government had begun operations on March 4, 1789. Rhode Island's reluctance had deep roots. The colony had been founded by Roger Williams in 1636 on principles of religious freedom and limited government, and its small farmers and merchants distrusted concentrated authority. The state had a strong populist faction loyal to paper money policy, the so-called Country Party, that feared the new Constitution would force payment of debts in hard currency favored by creditors.

Rhode Island did not even send delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the only state to refuse. After ratification it stayed out of the union for fourteen months while the other twelve organized the new government, sent representatives to the First Congress, and watched President George Washington take office on April 30, 1789 in New York City. Rhode Island's first ratifying convention met in March 1790 in South Kingstown but adjourned without voting.

The decisive turn came when Congress passed legislation threatening to treat Rhode Island as a foreign country, severing trade ties and imposing duties on goods crossing into the state. Senator Pierce Butler of South Carolina warned that Rhode Island would face economic ruin if it persisted. The convention reconvened in Newport on May 24, 1790 and after intense lobbying by Federalists and reassurances about a Bill of Rights, ratified by the narrow margin of 34 to 32 on May 29, 1790. The vote completed the union of the original 13 states.

Rhode Island's reluctance contributed indirectly to the Bill of Rights, since the Anti-Federalist pressure across multiple states forced James Madison to draft amendments protecting individual liberties. The first ten amendments, ratified by Virginia on December 15, 1791, became the federal Bill of Rights. Although Rhode Island was last in 1790, it had been first in symbolic ways earlier: its General Assembly was the first colonial body to renounce allegiance to the British Crown on May 4, 1776, two months before the Declaration of Independence.

Today Rhode Island remains the smallest state by area at about 1,212 square miles and the eighth smallest by population. Its late ratification is part of state lore and reflects the broader Anti-Federalist concerns that the framers had to address before all 13 colonies would join the federal union.