Philzone.org Discussion Board: Archive 2004: Politics Archive 2004: This day in 1789

New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

these dates suprised me for ratification:

Massachusetts March 2, 1939
Georgia March 24, 1939
Connecticut April 19, 1939

http://www.mikalac.com/cons/rightsratification.html

no way, those dates have got to be wrong.

nope, checked it out on other sites as well. very suprising.

i just can't believe it.

Whoe's got some answers?

holy shit.

Note: Amendment XXVII is actually before Amendment I in the original document, but was not passed until 1992.

Easy. Although those last three states "ratified" the Bill of Rights early last century, it was purely symbolic. They were part of the one quarter who didn't vote for ratification the first time around, but it didn't matter. Enough other states did ratify the Amendments in the latter part of the 18th century, and they became part of the Constitution at that time.