RATIFICATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION. The Constitution was adopted by a Convention of the States September 17, 1787, and was subsequently ratified by the several States, in the following order, viz: Delaware, December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania, December 12, 1787. New Jersey, December 18, 1787. South Carolina, May 23, 1788. New Hampshire, June 21, 1788. Virginia, June 26, 1788. New York, July 26, 1788. North Carolina, November 21, 1789. Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. The State of Vermont, by convention, ratified the Constitution on the 10th of January, 1791, and was, by an act of Congress of the 18th of February, 1791, "received and admitted into this Union as a new and entire member of the United States of America." 72 RATIFICATIONS OF THE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. The first ten of the preceding articles of amendment, (with two others which were not ratified by the requisite number of States,) were submitted to the several State Legislatures by a resolution of Congress which passed on the 25th of September, 1789, at the first session of the First Congress, and was ratified by the Legislatures of the following States: New Jersey, November 20, 1789. Maryland, December 19, 1789. North Carolina, December 22, 1789. The acts of the Legislatures of the States ratifying these amendments were transmitted by the governors to the President, and by him communicated to Congress. The Legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Georgia, do not appear by the record to have ratified them. The eleventh article was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States by a resolution of Congress passed on the 5th of March, 1794, at the first session of the Third Congress; and on the 8th of January, 1798, at the second session of the Fifth Congress, it was declared by the President, in a message to the two Houses of Congress, to have been adopted by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States, there being at that time sixteen States in the Union. The twelfth article was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, there being then seventeen States, by a resolution of Congress passed on the 12th of December, 1803, at the first session of the Eighth Congress; and was ratified by the Legislatures of threefourths of the States, in 1804, according to a proclamation of the Secretary of State dated the 25th of September, 1804. The thirteenth article was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, there being then thirty-six States, by a resolution of Congress passed on the 1st of February, 1865, at the second session of the Thirty-eighth Congress, and was ratified, according to a proclamation of the Secretary of State dated December 18, 1865, by the Legislatures of the following States: Illinois, February 1, 1865. Rhode Island, February 2, 1865. Michigan, February 2, 1865. Maryland, February 3, 1865. New York, February 3, 1865. Maine, February 7, 1865. Kansas, February 7, 1865. Massachusetts, February 8, 1865. Missouri, February 10, 1865. 75 Indiana, February 16, 1865. Nevada, February 16, 1865. Louisiana, February 17, 1865. Minnesota, February 23, 1865. Wisconsin, March 1, 1865. Vermont, March 9, 1865. Tennessee, April 7, 1865. Arkansas, April 20, 1865. Connecticut, May 5, 1865. New Hampshire, July 1, 1865. South Carolina, November 13, 1865. Alabama, December 2, 1865. North Carolina, December 4, 1865. Georgia, December 9, 1865. The following States not enumerated in the proclamation of the Secretary of State also ratified this amendment: Oregon, December 11, 1865. California, December 20, 1865. Texas, February 18, 1870. The fourteenth article was submitted to the Legislatures of the several States, there being then thirty-seven States, by a resolution of Congress passed on the 16th of June, 1866, at the first session of the Thirty-ninth Congress; and was ratified, according to a proclamation of the Secretary of State dated July 28, 1868, by the Legislatures of the following States: Connecticut, June 30, 1866. *New Jersey, September 11, 1866. Oregon, September 19, 1866. Vermont, November 9, 1866. New York, January 10, 1867. Illinois, January 15, 1867. West Virginia, January 16, 1867. Kansas, January 18, 1867. Maine, January 19, 1867. Nevada, January 22, 1867. Missouri, January 26, 1867. Indiana, January 29, 1867. Nebraska, June 15, 1867. Iowa, April 3, 1868. Arkansas, April 6, 1868. Florida, June 9, 1868. § North Carolina, July 4, 1868. Louisiana, July 9, 1868. § South Carolina, July 9, 1868. Alabama, July 13, 1868. § Georgia, July 21, 1868. § The State of Virginia ratified this amendment on the 8th of Octo * New Jersey withdrew her consent to the ratification in April, 1868. Oregon withdrew her consent to the ratification October 15, 1868. North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia had previously rejected the amendment. |