The First State: How Delaware Won the Race to Ratify
On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution. The nickname it earned that day still defines the place.
Every Delaware license plate carries the same proud boast: "The First State." The claim is not idle. On December 7, 1787, Delaware became the first of the thirteen states to ratify the new federal Constitution, edging out its larger neighbors and earning a nickname it has worn ever since.
The speed was deliberate. As one of the smallest states, Delaware had feared being dominated by its bigger neighbors under the old system, and the new Constitution's promise of equal representation in the Senate protected exactly the kind of small state Delaware was. Its delegates saw their interest clearly and moved fast.
The vote in Dover was unanimous, a rare moment of consensus in a fractious era, and it gave Delaware a permanent place at the head of the national story. Being first, it turned out, was a distinction worth keeping.
More than two centuries later, the identity endures. "The First State" is on the plates, in the tourism campaigns, and in the way Delawareans talk about themselves — a small place that, at the founding moment, managed to be first in line.
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