Meeting in Augusta, Georgia's ratifying convention approved the Constitution without a single dissenting vote. Vulnerable to Spanish Florida and Native American resistance on its borders, Georgia saw a strong federal union as essential to its survival, making it an early and enthusiastic supporter of the new national government.
Georgia in 1788 was a thin strip of settled land backed by vast, contested frontier. Creek and Cherokee nations controlled most of the territory the state claimed, and Spanish Florida sat uncomfortably close to its southern border. State leaders calculated that only a strong federal government, capable of raising an army and negotiating as a unified nation, could guarantee Georgia's security.
That calculation produced remarkable unanimity. When delegates gathered in Augusta, then serving as the state capital, they ratified the Constitution 26-0, a stark contrast to the bitter, closely fought conventions in states like Virginia and New York. Georgia's isolation and vulnerability, rather than any special enthusiasm for federal power in principle, made the case simple.
Georgia's quick ratification made it the fourth state to join the Union under the new Constitution, following Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It was a small, practical decision by a frontier state, but it added crucial momentum to the ratification process at a moment when the Constitution's fate remained genuinely uncertain.