Delaware Becomes the First State to Ratify the Constitution
Delaware ratified the United States Constitution on December 7, 1787.
Published · Updated · 1 min read
The Event
Delaware ratified the United States Constitution on December 7, 1787. It became the first state to approve the proposed framework.
The Wider Story
The decision came through a state convention after the Philadelphia Convention had completed its work. Other states still had to debate and ratify the document.
Putting the Event in Perspective
This was ratification by one state, not the signing of the Constitution or the immediate beginning of the new federal government.
Reading the Historical Record
Those milestones belong to different dates.
About the Historical Recreation
The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: an eighteenth-century Delaware convention room with distant delegates and unreadable papers. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.
Sources
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