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The handwritten manuscript draft of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State’s 1777 state constitution, adopted in Kingston on April 20, 1777, will be on public display on the 11^th floor of the Cultural Education Center (222 Madison Avenue, Albany) from Monday, April 15 through Saturday, April 20 from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm. The display marks the 242^nd anniversary of the state constitution and the establishment of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ as a state.

The handwritten draft contains numerous strikeouts, additions and corrections. The complete, official text was published as the Constitution of the State of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ by Samuel Loudon, State Printer, at Fishkill in 1777. A final copy of the 1777 Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State Constitution does not exist; it is possible that the complete document was destroyed after it was sent to the printer in Fishkill. A digital scan of the handwritten draft held by the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State Archives is available online at the .

The first Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State Constitution was written and approved by a group of 14 delegates called the Convention of Representatives of the State of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ elected by property holders. While it was important to the delegates that the constitution represented the will of the people, the first constitution did not go to the people for a vote due to the ongoing Revolutionary War. By writing a constitution, the representatives were creating a government and a political system that did not exist in Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ before the document was written.

Following the adoption of the state constitution, the first elections were held in June 1777 and the elected officials took office in September of that year. George Clinton was elected the first governor, John Jay was appointed the first chief justice of the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State Supreme Court, and Robert R. Livingston was appointed the chancellor.

The Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State Archives is a program of the State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Established in 1971, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ State Archives preserves and makes accessible over 250 million records of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­â€™s State and colonial governments dating from 1630 to the present. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the State Archives is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on legal holidays. Further information can be obtained by visiting the .