New York State Secretary of State Engrossed Copy of the United States Constitution Ratified by the Convention of New York State…

This copy of the proposed United States Constitution and of the ratification instrument was engrossed by order of the Poughkeepsie Convention, July 26, 1788. It consists of seven folio parchment sheets bearing the text of the Constitution and of the "Declaration of Rights, Ratification of the Constitution and Explanatory Amendments" adopted by the Convention on July 25. It also contains an appeal to other states to call a second convention. Both parts are signed by the president and other officers of the Convention.

A "no third term" proposition "That no person shall be eligible to the Office of the President of the United States a third Time," which was not put in the Bill of Rights, was later adopted by the 80th Congress and presented for approval to the states as the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.

There is also one folio parchment sheet bearing the resolution of the U.S. Congress amending the Constitution (the proposed amendment, never ratified, concerned the judicial power of the U.S. over suits against a state by citizens of another state or of a foreign country). The proposed amendment is signed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and by the President of the Senate and is dated December 2, 1793.

Proceedings of the 1788 Poughkeepsie Convention are published in "Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution," (Jonathan Elliot, ed., 1836) and "Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution," (Merrill Jensen, ed.). Text of the ratification and proposed amendments is in "The Eleventh Pillar: New York State and the Federal Constitution," (Linda Grant De Pauw, 1966).

High resolution images of the original documents that comprise this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

This item was part of the Freedom Train exhibit that traveled the state from January 1949 to February 1950 (L. 1948, Ch. 659).

Access to original records is restricted: digitized and published versions are first-use copies.