Category: Ratifications

State Ratification Grid This page presents a table showing each state on the vertical axis and each constitutional amendment on the horizontal axis. This chart will allow you to quickly see if your state ratified any one amendment or group of amendments. For ratification dates, see the Ratification Page. Colored cells with an “R” inside…

Ratification Dates and Votes Advertisement Each of the original thirteen states in the United States was invited to ratify the Constitution created in Philadelphia in 1787. The Constitution specified that nine ratifications would be sufficient to consider the Constitution accepted. Some states ratified quickly, others had to hold several conventions to accept the Constitution —…

Vermont’s Ratification Advertisement Vermont was admitted to the United States on March 4, 1791. On February 9, 1791, the Congress received the state’s transmission to Congress its intent to hold a convention for the purposes of ratifying the United States Constitution and the results of that convention. The notice and the ratification announcement of the…

Virginia’s Ratification Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Virginia, June 26, 1788. Virginia ratified the Constitution in two steps. The first was the declaration of ratification. The second was a recommendation that a bill of rights be added to the Constitution, and that a list of amendments also be added in accordance with…

South Carolina’s Ratification Ratification of the Constitution by the State of South Carolina, May 23, 1788. South Carolina was the eighth state to do so. South Carolina’s ratification message included several small suggested changes to the Constitution, including one to say “no other religious test” rather than “no religious test” in Article 6, an indication…

Rhode Island’s Ratification Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. Rhode Island was the thirteenth state to do so. Rhode Island’s ratification message is lengthy, with a list similar to that of New York’s, listing a bill of rights and listing several proposed amendments. Most of the amendments were…

Pennsylvania’s Ratification Ratification of the Constitution by the State of Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787. Pennsylvania was the second state to do so. Pennsylvania’s ratification message was short and to the point. The following text is taken from the Library of Congress’s copy of Elliot’s Debates. In the Name of the People of Pennsylvania. Be it…

New York’s Ratification Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New York, July 26, 1788. New York was the eleventh state to do so. The assent of Virginia and of New York was seen as essential to the success of the Constitution, and though they were tenth and eleventh to ratify, it is generally…

New Jersey’s Ratification Advertisement Ratification of the Constitution by the State of New Jersey, December 18, 1787. New Jersey was the third state to do so. New Jersey’s ratification message included several paragraphs describing the Constitutional Convention and several more of technical legal phrasing that described when the state legislature met to discuss the ratification…