North Carolina and Rhode Island complete the thirteen

North Carolina’s first convention met at Hillsborough from 21 July to 4 August 1788 and voted 184 to 84 neither to ratify nor to reject the Constitution until a bill of rights was added. With the amendments on their way from Congress, a second convention at Fayetteville ratifies on 21 November 1789, 194 to 77.

Rhode Island, which sent no one to Philadelphia and rejected the Constitution in a referendum in 1788, holds out longest. Congress threatens to treat it as a foreign country for trade. The convention at Newport ratifies on 29 May 1790 by two votes, 34 to 32. All thirteen states that declared independence are now under the Constitution.

Sources

Pauline Maier, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787–1788 (2010).
Gordon S. Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (1969).

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