BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — On this day in 1788, New Hampshire made history by becoming the ninth and last necessary state to ratify to U.S. Constitution, making it the law of the land.
According to History, the Continental Congress had endorsed plans to draft a new U.S. Constitution in 1787, due to several flaws in the previous document, the Articles of Confederation, including the central government's lack of ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce.
Following three months of debates moderated by George Washington, the new U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.
However, Article VII dictated that the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states.
By early December 1787, the first five states had ratified the new constitution in fairly quick succession; Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut.
Massachusetts was among the states that stood in early opposition to the proposed document. As the History channel reports, that was because the state thought "it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press."
With assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed, Massachusetts, Maryland and South Carolina ratified the U.S. Constitution in February 1788.
New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, making it binding throughout the states, on June 21, 1788.
The agreed was made that the government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789.
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