That's what you might have heard around here in the 1770s!!  We had a brand new state, now we needed a good plan for that new government!  They got a group together, called the Convention of the Representatives of New York,   and said "Let's do it right!!!!"  So they took their time, and they did it right!    The document they finally approved in 1777 was called the New York State Constitution.

The Constitution could almost be called a "How To" for a government!    It included:

	how the government was set up or organized,
	definitions of each branch of government
	the limitations on the power, and
	written plans for safeguarding liberties.

In 1776 (during the Revolutionary War) a group of 106 representatives met to set up the new government.  Because it was during the war, they had to be very secretive.  It they were captured by the British, they would have been killed. So they met in a different city each time!  They met in New York City, then White Plains, then Fishkill, and finally it was completed while meeting in Kingston.  Each of those cities therefore, was the capital of New York for a while!

First Senate House in Kingston, NY

The convention chose a group of 14 members to actually do the writing of the plan.  John Jay was a lawyer and did much of the writing. He had helped to write the Declaration of Independence for the new nation, and he wanted to make sure that many of those ideas would be in our state Constitution.

Our state government, like the Federal government, is divided into three branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.  To review the 3 Branches of State Government follow this link :

As in the federal government, the writers included the very important concept of Checks and Balances to make sure that no one branch is more powerful than another branch.  It limits the powers of each branch.

After the Constitution was ratified, a Bill of Rights was added in 1821 to guarantee the rights of New York's citizens.  They gave individuals the freedom to say and write what they want and to worship as they please.  These are known as the freedoms of "speech, press, and religion".  

In summary, New York State has a written plan of government, called the Constitution, which describes how the government is organized, and defines and limits the three branches of government.

DEFINITIONS:

Constitution: a plan of government

representatives: someone chosen to speak or vote for others

capital: the place where the government meets.

Checks and Balances: the system in which the power of each branch of government is balanced by the powers of the other branches.

Let's Practice!