On September 13, 1788, the Congress of the Confederation, meeting in New York City, adopted the resolution that put the newly ratified U.S. Constitution into operation. The measure established the timetable for selecting presidential electors, choosing the nation’s first president, and convening the new federal government.
The resolution set the first Wednesday in January 1789—January 7—as the day for states that had ratified the Constitution to appoint presidential electors. It designated the first Wednesday in February—February 4—for those electors to meet in their respective states and vote for president. Finally, it named the first Wednesday in March—March 4—as the date, and New York City as the place, for commencing proceedings under the Constitution.
This was a crucial practical step in the transition from the Articles of Confederation to the new constitutional system. Rather than merely endorsing the Constitution in principle, Congress established the mechanism through which the new government would begin operating. The process ultimately produced George Washington’s unanimous electoral victory, although not all states appointed electors in the first contest.
The September 1788 resolution therefore marks an important institutional milestone: it translated the Constitution from a ratified document into a functioning framework for a national legislature and executive. It helped create an orderly path toward the opening of the First Congress and Washington’s inauguration on April 30, 1789.
Image: “A parade in honor of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, 1788,” New York Public Library Digital Collections, public domain.
