Video: 'Rhode Island: A Tour of the 50 States [13]'

(Saturday, May 29, 1790) — Rhode Island, located in the New England region of the United States, became the 13th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution today, thereby becoming the last of the original founding colonies to enter the Union.

Rhode Island was the only state that failed to send a representative to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, which had approved the final draft on Sept. 17, 1787. The state acted reluctantly, not only after the federal government had opened for business on April 1, 1789, but also after the First Congress had already voted for 12 proposed amendments to the original document.

In order for the Constitution to become the official governing document of the United States, nine of the 13 states needed to ratify it. That milestone was reached on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire ratified it.

Rhode Islanders finally acted after several neighboring states threatened to tax its exports as though it were a foreign country.