On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution. Under Article VII, the new government automatically went into effect at this point. This did not bind those states which hadn’t yet ratified, however, and four states remained outside of the Union for a time. Two major players, Virginia and New York, were in the middle of a fierce fight over the Constitution when New Hampshire chose to join. Faced with the reality that the Constitution was already in effect, they soon ratified as well. The remaining two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, took even longer. The former didn’t assent until November 21, 1789, and the latter not until May 29, 1790, over a year after George Washington had been inaugurated as President.