New York

New York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. New York became an independent state on July 9, 1776 and enacted its constitution in 1777. The state ratified the United States Constitution on July 26, 1788 to become the 11th state.

During the 17th century, Dutch trading posts established for the purchase of pelts from the Iroquois and other tribes expanded into the colony of New Netherlands. The first of these trading posts were Fort Nassau, Fort Orange, Fort Amsterdam and Esopus. The British captured the colony during the Second Anglo-Dutch War and governed it as the Province of New York. Agitation for independence during the 1770s brought the American Revolution, which for New York was also a civil war. New York endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776. The New York state constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains, New York on July 10, 1776. On Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, the new constitution was adopted with but one dissenting vote. It was not submitted to the people for ratification. It was drafted by John Jay. On 30 July 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston.

The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga provided the cannon and gunpowder necessary to force a British withdrawal from the Siege of Boston in 1775. The first major battle of the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared and the largest battle of the entire war was fought in New York at the Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776, the first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, influencing France to ally with the revolutionaries.

The withdrawal of General George Washington from Manhattan Island was followed by the British making New York City their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the center of attention for Washington's intelligence network. Four of the Iroquois nations fought on the side of the British. They were defeated in the Sullivan Expedition of 1779. Suffering privations, many members moved to Canada. Most, lost their land after the war. As per the Treaty of Paris the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies - their troops in New York City - departed in 1783, which was long afterwards celebrated as Evacuation Day.