# Canonical recap data for American Constitution Ratified (1788)
# Source: https://recap.at/1788/constitution-ratified
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: constitution-ratified
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1788/constitution-ratified"
title: American Constitution Ratified
aliases:
- U.S. Constitution
- Constitutional Convention
- Ratification of 1788
- Philadelphia Convention
subtitle: Ratification of the U.S. Constitution established the world's first modern constitutional republic and enduring separation of powers.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1788-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1788
decade: 1780
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitution defined the foundational structure of the federal government.
summaryLong: The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constitution defined the foundational structure of the federal government.
lede: In 1788, the United States adopted a new constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation, which had proven too weak to hold the young nation together. After ratification by nine of thirteen states, the document took effect on March 4, 1789, establishing the federal government structure—executive, legislative, and judicial branches—that still governs the country today. The Constitution created a system designed to balance power and protect individual liberties, though it took a civil war and centuries of amendments to live up to that promise.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Constitution_of_the_United_States%2C_page_1.jpg/1280px-Constitution_of_the_United_States%2C_page_1.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Constitution of the United States"
importance: 84
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Ratification threshold met
  value: June 21, 1788 (New Hampshire became the ninth state)
- label: Original number of articles
  value: "7"
- label: States that ratified
  value: 13 of 13
- label: Date effective
  value: March 4, 1789
- label: Constitutional Convention duration
  value: May 25–September 17, 1787 (Philadelphia)
- label: States voting against ratification
  value: Rhode Island and North Carolina initially refused; both ratified later (1790, 1789)
- label: Signatories at Convention
  value: 39 of 55 delegates
timeline:
- date: 1787-05-25
  title: Constitutional Convention opens
  description: Delegates from twelve states convene in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. George Washington presides.
- date: 1787-09-17
  title: Constitution signed
  description: Thirty-nine delegates sign the final document after four months of debate and compromise.
- date: 1787-12-07
  title: Delaware ratifies first
  description: Delaware becomes the first state to ratify, setting the ratification process in motion across the union.
- date: 1788-01-02
  title: Georgia ratifies
  description: Georgia becomes the third state to ratify the Constitution.
- date: 1788-06-21
  title: Ratification reaches threshold
  description: New Hampshire votes to ratify, becoming the ninth state and meeting the requirement for the Constitution to take effect.
- date: 1788-06-26
  title: Virginia ratifies
  description: Virginia's ratification, following a close debate led by James Madison and Patrick Henry, provides crucial endorsement.
- date: 1788-07-26
  title: New York ratifies
  description: New York ratifies after Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Papers campaign, securing the largest northern state.
- date: 1789-03-04
  title: Constitution takes effect
  description: The Constitution becomes the supreme law of the United States, replacing the Articles of Confederation.
- date: 1789-04-30
  title: George Washington inaugurated
  description: Washington is sworn in as the first President under the new Constitution.
- date: 1791-12-15
  title: Bill of Rights ratified
  description: The first ten amendments are ratified, addressing concerns from ratification debates about protecting individual liberties.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States"
  title: American constitution
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Constitution transformed thirteen fractious states into a functional federal union and created a governmental blueprint that outlasted most of its contemporaries. Its ratification didn't resolve America's foundational contradictions—slavery chief among them—but it established mechanisms flexible enough to accommodate amendment, judicial interpretation, and evolution across more than two centuries. Few documents have shaped political institutions as durably or sparked as much written interpretation.
categories:
- election
taxonomy:
domain: political
eventTypes:
- constitutional_reform
canonicalClasses:
- governance
- creation
- transformation
impactRadius: national
velocity: gradual
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: U.S. Constitution ratified in 1788, replacing the Articles of Confederation and establishing the federal government framework.
wikidataQid: Q11698
peoplesVoice:
- source: James Madison, Delegate to Constitutional Convention
  voiceType: official
  context: Madison reflected on the ratification victory in correspondence shortly after the Constitution secured its ninth state on June 21, 1788.
  excerpt: If the Constitution be a good one, is it not to be hoped that it will be so amended as by degrees to remove its defects? If it be a bad one, will not the same amending process gradually destroy it?
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Letter to Thomas Jefferson, June 28, 1788
  publishedAt: 1788-06-28
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Alexander Hamilton, Delegate and Federalist Advocate
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Hamilton championed the Constitution's ratification as a necessity for national survival, arguing against Anti-Federalist doubts in 1788.
  excerpt: This Constitution is a colossal monument to human wisdom - it is designed to last for ages. We are not to expect perfection in any institution devised by man.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - The Federalist Papers and speeches, 1787-1788
  publishedAt: 1788-06-21
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Patrick Henry, Virginia Anti-Federalist
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Henry delivered fierce opposition to ratification during Virginia's convention in June 1788, warning of centralized tyranny.
  excerpt: I smell a rat. This Constitution has a tendency to destroy our liberty. I have the most awful apprehension that this Constitution is calculated to consolidate the thirteen States into one.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 82
  attribution: Virginia Ratifying Convention speech, June 1788
  publishedAt: 1788-06-05
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Mercy Otis Warren, Historian and Political Observer
  voiceType: media
  context: Warren, a prominent writer and witness to the Revolution, assessed the Constitution's implications for republican virtue in late 1788.
  excerpt: The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid foundation of the consent of the governed - yet I fear this Constitution abandons republican simplicity for a dangerous aristocratic power.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 65
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Warren correspondence and observations, 1788
  publishedAt: 1788-10-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Benjamin Franklin, Delegate and Elder Statesman
  voiceType: expert
  context: Franklin offered a pragmatic endorsement upon the Constitution's completion, acknowledging compromise over perfection.
  excerpt: When you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices. I consent to this Constitution because I expect no better.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 78
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Convention remarks and letters, September 1787
  publishedAt: 1788-06-21
  originalLanguage: en
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260605180742/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-05
  label: American constitution
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States"
