When was the Constitution ratified?

The Constitution was ratified in 1788, with the ninth state, New Hampshire, approving on June 21, 1788, the date that under Article VII formally established the document as the supreme law of the land. The 13 states ratified in stages between December 7, 1787 and May 29, 1790. Delaware acted first, ratifying unanimously on December 7, 1787, less than three months after the Constitution was signed in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania followed on December 12, 1787 by a vote of 46 to 23, New Jersey on December 18, 1787, Georgia on January 2, 1788, and Connecticut on January 9, 1788.

Massachusetts ratified narrowly on February 6, 1788 by 187 to 168 only after Federalists agreed to recommend amendments. Maryland ratified April 28, 1788 by 63 to 11, and South Carolina on May 23, 1788 by 149 to 73. New Hampshire became the crucial ninth state on June 21, 1788 by a vote of 57 to 47, technically launching the new government.

Article VII provided that the Constitution would take effect for the ratifying states upon the consent of nine, but practically a new government could not begin without Virginia, the largest state, and New York, the geographic and commercial center of the union. Virginia ratified on June 25, 1788 by 89 to 79 after intense debate in Richmond between Federalist James Madison and Anti-Federalist Patrick Henry. New York followed on July 26, 1788 by 30 to 27 after the news from Virginia weakened Anti-Federalist opposition.

With these eleven states aboard, Congress under the Articles of Confederation passed the Election Ordinance on September 13, 1788 setting January 7, 1789 for choosing presidential electors, February 4, 1789 for the Electoral College vote, and March 4, 1789 for the new federal government to begin operations in New York City.

North Carolina had rejected the Constitution at its first convention on August 4, 1788 by 184 to 84 and waited to see whether a Bill of Rights would be added. After Madison drafted what became the Bill of Rights in June 1789 and Congress sent the amendments to the states in September 1789, North Carolina ratified the Constitution on November 21, 1789 by 194 to 77. Rhode Island, which had refused even to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention, finally ratified on May 29, 1790 by 34 to 32 only after the new federal government threatened to treat the holdout as a foreign power.

The Bill of Rights was completed by Virginia's ratification on December 15, 1791.