Article VII of the US Constitution:  Ratification

Article VII is the final Article of the Constitution proper (the rest are the Amendments), and consists of one sentence (see full text, below).  It states that the Constitution shall be established and put into effect when ratified by nine states.  There was controversy and discussion attending the wording of this article – states wanted to be sure that they would not be subject to the provisions of a Constitution they had NOT yet adopted.  So this article is written such that the Constitution becomes valid only after nine states ratify, and then only between the States that have ratified.  Other states became subject to its provisions upon ratification by their own state legislatures. 

The end of Article VII affirms that all the states (through their representatives present at the Convention) agreed to the provisions of the Constitution as presented.  They give the date of final approval of September 17th, 1787 (now known as Constitution Day), and follow by signatures of all present.  It was presented to the states with a letter of recommendation and a plan for the initial establishment of the new government upon ratification by the ninth state.  This letter was also presented by unanimous order of the Convention, and signed by George Washington, President of the Convention.  It would take another two years (and many papers written by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay, now known collectively as “The Federalist Papers”) before the Constitution was ratified and implemented.

The Constitution went into effect on June 21, 1788, with the ratification vote by New Hampshire.  The 13th of the original states to ratify was Rhode Island, in January of 1791.

references:

*Constitution of the United States of America
*Badnarik, Michael “Good To Be King” 2004 The Writer’s Collective
*Skousen, W. Cleon “The 5,000 Year Leap” 2006 National Center for Constitutional Studies
*Hamilton, Madison, Jay “The Federalist Papers” 2001 Dover
*Heritage Guide to the Constitution www.heritage.org
*Justia US Law law.justia.com
*Publius Huldah’s blog at http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com
*Wikipedia (ratification dates)

©2012 by the author

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.