ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — On January 2, 1788, the state of Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution required extensive negotiations before it was set as the foundation of the country during the Constitutional Convention.

Six Georgians were elected to serve as delegates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but only four went and only two signed the final document.

Those two delegates were William Few and Abraham Baldwin.

After the convention, nine states needed to ratify the document before it became the Constitution. Delaware was the first state to formally ratify it, with Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut following soon after.

It wasn’t until June of 1788 that the ninth state — New Hampshire — ratified the document and it became the U.S. Constitution.

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