New Hampshire's vote put the U.S. Constitution into effect
On this day · 21 June 1788
On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, the magic number that turned a proposal into the law of the land.
The 1787 Constitution was only a draft until enough states agreed to it. Article VII set the bar: once nine of the thirteen states ratified, the document would take effect among them. For months that ninth vote hung in the balance.
It fell to New Hampshire. The state’s convention had nearly collapsed earlier in 1788, adjourning after just a week rather than reject the document outright. When delegates reconvened, the contest was close. On June 21, 1788, they ratified by a narrow 57 to 47, making New Hampshire the ninth state and pushing the Constitution over the threshold.
On June 21, 1788, the Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States.
Virginia and New York followed within weeks, lending the new government crucial weight. The original blurb credited “ratification” broadly; more precisely, this was the decisive ninth ratification that activated the Constitution.
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