New Hampshire ratifies the first state constitution on January 5, 1776.

In May 1776, Congress votes to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority.

Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey create their constitutions before July 4.

Rhode Island and Connecticut simply take their existing royal charters and delete all references to the crown.

The new states are all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices.

They decide what form of government to create, and also how to select those who will craft the constitutions and how the resulting document will be ratified.

The resulting constitutions in states such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York, and Massachusetts feature:

    Property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lower property qualifications)
    Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower
    Strong governors with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority
    Few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government
    The continuation of state-established religion

In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, the resulting constitutions embodied:

    universal manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey enfranchises some property-owning widows, a step that it will retract twenty-five years later)
    strong, unicameral legislatures
    relatively weak governors without veto powers, and with little appointing authority
    prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts