Ratification

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution

Article VII: Ratification

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,

G°. Washington Presidt. and deputy from Virginia

Delaware

  • Geo: Read
  • Gunning Bedford jun
  • John Dickinson
  • Richard Bassett
  • Jaco: Broom

Maryland

  • James McHenry
  • Dan of St Thos. Jenifer
  • Danl. Carroll

Virginia

  • John Blair
  • James Madison Jr.

North Carolina

  • Wm. Blount
  • Richd. Dobbs Spaight
  • Hu Williamson

South Carolina

  • J. Rutledge
  • Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
  • Charles Pinckney
  • Pierce Butler

Georgia

  • William Few
  • Abr Baldwin

New Hampshire

  • John Langdon
  • Nicholas Gilman

Massachusetts

  • Nathaniel Gorham
  • rufus King

Connecticut

  • Wm. Saml. Johnson
  • Roger Sherman

New York

  • Alexander Hamilton

New Jersey

  • Wil: Livingston
  • David Brearley
  • Wm. Paterson
  • Jona: Dayton

Pennsylvania

  • B Franklin
  • Thomas Mifflin
  • Robt. Morris
  • Geo. Clymer
  • Thos. FitzSimons
  • Jared Ingersoll
  • James Wilson
  • Gouv Morris

Attest William Jackson, Secretary

 

x
Essays on Article VII

Understanding the Guide

About This Guide

The Heritage Guide to the Constitution is intended to provide a brief and accurate explanation of each clause of the Constitution as envisioned by the Framers and as applied in contemporary law. Its particular aim is to provide lawmakers with a means to defend their role and to fulfill their responsibilities in our constitutional order.

Read More

What the Constitution Means

The Constitution of the United States has endured for over two centuries. It remains the object of reverence for nearly all Americans and an object of admiration by peoples around the world. William Gladstone was right in 1878 when he described the U.S. Constitution as "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man."

Read More

How It Was Formed

The creation of the United States Constitution—John Adams described the Constitutional Convention as "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen"—was a seminal event in the history of human liberty. The story of that creation in the summer of 1787 is itself a significant aspect in determining the meaning of the document.

Read More

Contributors

These are the contributors to The Heritage Guide to the Constitution.
Read More

The Originalist Perspective

Written constitutionalism implies that those who make, interpret, and enforce the law ought to be guided by the meaning of the United States Constitution—the supreme law of the land—as it was originally written. This view came to be seriously eroded over the course of the last century with the rise of the theory of the Constitution as a "living document" with no fixed meaning, subject to changing interpretations according to the spirit of the times.

Read More