Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution
- Timeline of drafting and ratification of the United States Constitution
From the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which recommended the calling of a Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, to the end of the last state ratifying convention in 1790, the process of drafting and ratifying the United States Constitution took nearly four years. This timeline documents important events in that process.
After the Annapolis Convention, the states, with the exception of Rhode Island, elected delegates to the Constitutional Convention, which finally began deliberations on May 25 1787. The Convention lasted until September 17 1787. (Events at the Convention are listed on a blue background.) Once the Constitution was endorsed and signed by the Convention, it was transmitted to the states for ratification.
The process for ratification in each state was approximately the same: the state legislature called a state ratifying convention to decide whether or not that state would ratify the proposed Constitution. Delegates were elected to the ratifying conventions, and ultimately each state ratified the Constitution, although North Carolina had to hold a second convention after the first refused to ratify. (State ratifications are listed on a red background.) In addition to documenting these processes, this timeline includes other important events, such as the progress of the newly formed government and the publication of significant documents relating to the ratification debates.
General references
* "The Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution". Vol. XIII-XIV. Ed. John P. Kaminski and Gaspare J. Saladino. Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1981. (Appears in notes as "DHRC".) A timeline appears on pp. xl-xlii in vol. XIII. Aside from material carrying a citation linking it to another source, all events on this timeline appear in this resource.
* "The Anti-Federalist". Ed. Herbert Storing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985.
* "The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787". 2 vols. Ed. Max Farrand. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966. (Appears in notes as "Records".)
Notes
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