This final post on the original Constitution is part of a series that will make more sense if it is read in order. If you haven’t read the earlier posts in this series, please click here to start with the first one. One reason I’ve broken this series into fairly small parts is that we have a tendency to rush through reading the Constitution and miss a lot of it. I hope the readers of this series will ponder the points in each session. I also hope you will comment on each post as we go along.

Throughout this series on the Constitution, my comments will be in black normal font, and the text of the document will be in this color and italicized.

ARTICLE VII.

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

DONE in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth

IN WITNESS whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,

GO. WASHINGTON—President and deputy from Virginia

[Signed also by the deputies of twelve States.]

Delaware New Hampshire

GEO: READ JOHN LANGDON

GUNNING BEDFORD JUN NICHOLAS GILMAN

JOHN DICKINSON

RICHARD BASSETT Massachusetts

JACO: BROOM NATHANIEL GORHAM

RUFUS KING

Maryland Connecticut

JAMES MCHENRY WM. SAML. JOHNSON

DAN OF ST THOS JENIFER ROGER SHERMAN

DANL CARROLL

Virginia New York

JOHN BLAIR ALEXANDER HAMILTON

JAMES MADISON JR.

North Carolina New Jersey

WM BLOUNT WIL: LIVINGSTON

RICHD. DOBBS SPAIGHT DAVID BREARLEY

HU WILLIAMSON WM. PATERSON

JONA: DAYTON

South Carolina Pennsylvania

J. RUTLEDGE B FRANKLIN

CHARLES COTESWORTH PINCKNEY THOMAS MIFFLIN

CHARLES PINCKNEY ROBT MORRIS

PIERCE BUTLER GEO. CLYMER

THOS. FITZSIMONS

Georgia JARED INGERSOLL

WILLIAM FEW JAMES WILSON

ABR BALDWIN GOUV MORRIS

Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON Secretary

The only substantive provision of this article was that it went into force when nine states ratified it. Since there were thirteen original states, that did not constitute a three-fourths majority, as is required to amend it; however, the wording says that it only applied to those states that did ratify it, so the first nine became one hundred per cent of those it originally covered.

Actually, twelve of the thirteen state ratified it very quickly. Rhode Island, which didn’t even send representatives to the convention, was the only holdout. Theoretically, it could have refused to join the union, since original ratification was voluntary, but on May 29, 1790, it became the last state to ratify and join.

It’s interesting to see the difference in the number of representatives sent by the various states. Those states closest to Philadelphia generally sent more delegates than others, even though they were not the most populous.

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Benjamin Franklin, exiting Constitutional Convention:

“We’ve given you a republic, if you can keep it.”

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