ratify

Examples of ratify in the following topics:

• Ratification of the Constitution

  • In order for all states to ratify, a compromise over a bill of rights had to be made.
  • Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787.
  • On August 2, 1788, North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution without amendments, but relented and ratified it a year later.
  • Vermont became the last state to ratify the Constitution on January 10, 1791.
  • Here is a summary of the ten amendments ratified on that day:

• Article VII

  • Article Seven of the United States Constitution provides how many state ratifications were necessary in order for the Constitution to take effect and how a state could ratify it.
  • The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.

• The Federalist Papers

  • The Federalist Papers were written between 1788-9 and encouraged people to ask their representatives to ratify the Constitution.
  • During 1788 and 1789, there were 85 essays published in several New York State newspapers, designed to convince New York and Virginia voters to ratify the Constitution.
  • On December 7, 1787, Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution.
  • Pennsylvania followed on December 12, and New Jersey ratified on December 18, also in a unanimous vote.
  • On August 2, 1788, North Carolina refused to ratify the Constitution without amendments, but it relented and ratified it a year later.

• The Ratification Debate

  • The process of ratifying the proposed United States Constitution led to prolonged debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
  • Each state was to hold a convention to debate, and ratify or reject, the Constitution.
  • Massachusetts finally ratified it by a close margin of 187 to 168.
  • Maryland and South Carolina also ratified, and then New Hampshire provided the all-important ninth ratification.
  • By May 1790, all 13 states had ratified.

• The Final Document

  • Despite quarreling between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, the Constitutional Convention ratified the Constitution in September 1788.
  • Delaware, on December 7, 1787, became the first State to ratify the new Constitution, with its vote being unanimous.
  • Pennsylvania ratified on December 12, 1787, by a vote of 46 to 23 (66.67%).
  • New Jersey ratified on December 19, 1787, and Georgia on January 2, 1788, both with unanimous votes.
  • Ultimately only North Carolina and Rhode Island would wait for amendments from Congress before ratifying.

• The Constitution

  • To date, all amendments, whether ratified or not, have been proposed by a two-thirds vote in each house of Congress.
  • It was ratified by conventions in 11 states.
  • It can be proposed by Congress and ratified by the states.
  • The first 10, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified simultaneously by 1791.
  • The next 17 were ratified separately over the next two centuries.

• The Ratification of the Constitution

  • Furthermore, many state governments were interested in retaining their powers and resistant to ratifying a new, stronger, centralized government.
  • Each state was to hold a convention to debate the Constitution and ratify or reject it.
  • However, the states that did not ratify the Constitution in that year included the extremely important states of Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia.
  • The Bill of Rights was then created under the new Constitution, leading to North Carolina, and finally Rhode Island agreed to ratify.
  • By May 1790, all 13 states had ratified the Constitution.

• The 24th Amendment

  • The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.
  • Ratification of the amendment took only slightly more than a year, however, as it was rapidly ratified by state legislatures across the country from August 1962 to January 1964.

• Amending the Constitution

  • Alternatively, an amendment can be ratified by three-fourths of specially convoked state convention.
  • On December 5, 1933, these so-called "wets" asked for specially called state conventions and ratified repeal.
  • Thus, Article V of the US Constitution, ratified in 1788, prohibited any constitutional amendments before 1808 which would affect the foreign slave trade, the tax on slave trade, or the direct taxation on provisions of the constitution.

• The Holdouts: Virginia and New York

  • The document that the Philadelphia Convention presented was technically only a revision of the Articles of Confederation, but the last article of the new instrument provided that when ratified by conventions in nine states (or 2/3 at the time), it should go into effect among the states so acting.
  • Furthermore, by the time New York came to a vote, 10 states had already ratified the Constitution and it had thus already passed—the earlier ratification of the Constitution in Virginia, the tenth state to do so, placed extra pressure on New York to also ratify.
  • As for Virginia, which only ratified the Constitution at its convention on June 25, Hamilton writes in a letter to Madison that the collected edition of "The Federalist" had been sent to Virginia for the purpose of advocating in favor of the Constitution.