Every year, advocates of an all-powerful federal government claim that June 21 is New Hampshire’s “birthday” because it ratified the Constitution on that day in 1788. Representative Chris Pappas made that absurd claim on Bluesky:

I suppose similar claims are made that the other states weren’t “born” till the Constitution gave them permission. The idea seems to be that in 1788 the federal government brought the states into existence in exchange for ratification. Don’t ask who did the ratifying.

In New Hampshire, we’d been around for a century before that. The first town, Dover, was founded in 1623. It’s older than Boston. New Hampshire was considered part of Massachusetts for a while, but in 1679 King Charles II recognized New Hampshire as a distinct colony. It was briefly assumed into the Dominion of New England but became a separate colony again in 1692. In January 1776 New Hampshire became the first colony to adopt a constitution as an independent state.

The federal government did not give birth to New Hampshire on June 21, 1788. It was the reverse. The new Constitution required the ratification of nine states to go into effect. New Hampshire was the ninth. That day was the birth not of New Hampshire from a parent USA, but rather then birth of the United States under its present Constitution. New Hampshire could be considered the midwife. So I could have called this post “Birth of a Nation,” but you know…