New York State’s Debate on the Ratification of the US Constitution with Judge Albert Rosenblatt

From 1660 until 1776, New York was a colony of England ruled by King George III. We considered ourselves English and were subjects of the Crown, but we had no voice. In the 1770s our grievances reached the point of rebellion, and on the fourth of July 1776, we proclaimed ourselves free of England in our Declaration of Independence. We had lived under the weak Articles of Confederation for about a decade, and in 1787, we drafted the United States Constitution. In 1788, Dutchess County played a significant role in New York’s ratification of the U.S. Constitution, which took place in Poughkeepsie, the State's capital at the time.