Article Seven of the United States Constitution facts for kids

Article Seven of the Constitution of the United States is a short but very important part of the U.S. Constitution. It explains how the Constitution would become the official law of the land. It said that nine out of the thirteen states at the time needed to agree to it. To do this, each state would hold a special meeting called a "Convention" to vote on the Constitution.

What Article Seven Says

Article Seven states:

The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

In simpler words, this means: If nine states approve this Constitution through their special Conventions, it will officially start for those states.

Why a New Constitution?

Before the U.S. Constitution, the United States had a different set of rules called the Articles of Confederation. These Articles created a very weak central government. It was more like a loose group of independent states working together. The main government body was called the Congress of the Confederation.

After a few years, the leaders of the country, known as the Founding Fathers, realized the Articles of Confederation weren't working well. They decided the U.S. needed a stronger government and a new constitution. So, they formed a group called the Constitutional Convention. This group worked hard and finished writing the new Constitution on September 17, 1787.

Three days later, they sent their suggested Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation. Congress had many debates about it. Members couldn't agree on whether they should tell the states to approve it or not. Finally, on September 28, they reached a compromise. They decided to simply send the Constitution to the states and let them decide for themselves. Congress would not tell states what to do. This way, each state's decision would be truly their own.

How the States Approved It

In 1787 and 1788, there were big discussions all over the United States about the new Constitution. Each state had its own Convention where people would vote on it. For a state to approve the Constitution, more than half of the people at its Convention had to vote "yes."

On December 7, 1787, Delaware made history by becoming the first state to approve the Constitution. All 30 members of its Convention voted in favor!

Then, on June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve the Constitution. This was a huge moment! Since nine states had now said "yes," the Constitution officially became the supreme law of the United States. This meant the U.S. would start a new form of government based on the Constitution's ideas.

The Last States to Join

Even though the Constitution was now official, four states had not yet approved it. These states were Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. If they didn't approve it, they wouldn't be part of the new U.S. government.

The Congress of the Confederation decided that the new Constitution would officially start on March 4, 1789. Before that date, both Virginia and New York joined by ratifying the Constitution. North Carolina and Rhode Island joined later, making it all 13 original states.

Order of Approval

Here is the order in which the states approved the Constitution:

Images for kids

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  This map shows the dates when each of the 13 states approved the U.S. Constitution.

See also

In Spanish: Artículo VII de la Constitución de los Estados Unidos para niños