05/29/2026
On This Day in History — May 29, 1790
236 years ago today, the United States finally became truly united.
Rhode Island — the last of the original 13 colonies — ratified the U.S. Constitution by the slimmest of margins: 34 to 32.
It hadn't been easy. Rhode Island had rejected calls to ratify more than a dozen times, refused to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention, and even held a statewide referendum that voted it down. The state fiercely guarded its independence and deeply distrusted a powerful central government.
It took Congress threatening to treat Rhode Island as a foreign nation — cutting off all trade — before the state finally came to the table.
When the vote passed that afternoon, church bells rang out across the state. The governor immediately sent word to President Washington. The Union was complete.
236 years later, Rhode Island's story is a reminder that American unity has never come easy — but it's always been worth fighting for.
