Because the history of the state constitution differs from the federal constitution, the New York Court of Appeals has seen fit to interpret analogous provisions differently from United States Supreme Court's interpretation of federal provisions.

The legislature is granted the power to enact measures allowing the continuity of government, and "provide for prompt and temporary succession" of public offices if they were to become unavailable in the event of an emergency caused by "enemy attack or by disasters (natural or otherwise)".

The governor can veto legislative bills, is the commander-in-chief of the state's military, can convene the legislature "on extraordinary occasions", and has the power to grant pardons for all offenses except treason and impeachment.

Article VI describes the judicial branch, including the court systems, the operation of trials, and the conditions for appointing and removing judges and justices.

The Province of New York was established after the naval invasion and absorption of the previous Dutch Colony of New Netherlands.

Its Colonial Charter was under authority from the Monarch, (the King or Queen of Great Britain) of the Kingdom of England and later of Great Britain, after the Act of Union of 1707 which united England and Wales and the formerly independent kingdom of Scotland The First Constitution of 1777, which replaced this Colonial Charter with its royal authority, for the newly independent "State of New York" was framed by a Convention which assembled at White Plains, New York, (just north of New York City) on Sunday evening, July 10, 1776.

There were repeated adjournments and changes of location, caused by the increasingly desperate war situation, with General George Washington's ragged Continental Army, forced out of New York City by crushing defeats in the New York and New Jersey campaign.

The work of creating a democratic and free independent state continued by the Convention through the bitter winter with the British quartered in the City of New York and Washington's few thousand troops camped in winter quarters to the southwest in Morristown, New Jersey.

It was drafted by John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, (new Chancellor of the State of New York), and Gouverneur Morris, who would subsequently help write the U.S.

It called for a weak bicameral legislature (Assembly and State Senate) and a strong executive branch with a governor.

It retained provisions from the Colonial Charter such as the substantial property qualification for voting and the ability of the Governor to prorogue (dismiss) the Legislature.

This imbalance of power between the branches of state government kept the elite firmly in control, and disenfranchised the majority of the male New York population.

The Council of Revision was composed of the governor, the chancellor, and the justices of the Supreme Court, reflecting a blend of executive and judicial authority.

If the council found a bill improper, it could veto the legislation by returning it to the legislature with written objections.

It served as a model for aspects of James Madison's Virginia Plan, introduced at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

The Virginia Plan proposed a similar council for the federal government, composed of the national executive (the president) and members of the judiciary, to review and veto legislation passed by Congress.

James Madison, a proponent of the plan, saw the Council of Revision as a mechanism to check legislative overreach while maintaining the separation of powers.

Among the delegates were DeWitt Clinton (future governor), James Clinton, William Floyd, Ezra L'Hommedieu, Smith Thompson, Daniel D. Tompkins, John Vernon Henry, William P. Van Ness, and Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr, who presided.

The changes in this version of the Constitution were: In 1821, the power struggle between Governor DeWitt Clinton and the Bucktails faction of the Democratic-Republican Party led to the call for a Constitutional Convention by the Bucktail members of the legislature, against Clinton's fierce opposition.

During the regular session (beginning in January 1821), the Legislature passed a new bill that put the question to the people.

Ira Harris, George W. Patterson, Ambrose L. Jordan, Charles H. Ruggles, David R. Floyd-Jones, Charles O'Conor, Samuel J. Tilden (future New York Governor and 1876 presidential candidate who won popular vote but lost in electoral college to Rutherford B. Hayes), Levi S. Chatfield, William B. Wright, Michael Hoffman and William C. Bouck were among the delegates.

Afterwards the draft was discussed in the New York State Legislature for another year and a half, the questions being if to vote for the whole Constitution or separately for some or all articles.

Waldo Hutchins, William M. Evarts, George Opdyke, George William Curtis, Horace Greeley, Ira Harris, Martin I. Townsend, Charles Andrews, Charles J. Folger, Augustus Frank, Augustus Schell, Henry C. Murphy, Homer A. Nelson, David L. Seymour, George F. Comstock, John Magee, Sanford E. Church, Marshall B. Champlain, Teunis G. Bergen, William D. Veeder, John G. Schumaker, Stephen J. Colahan, Elbridge T. Gerry, Gideon J. Tucker, Samuel J. Tilden, Edwards Pierrepont, James Brooks, William Hitchman, Abraham B. Tappen, B. Platt Carpenter, Erastus Corning, Amasa J. Parker, Marius Schoonmaker, Edwin A. Merritt, Leslie W. Russell, Thomas G. Alvord, Horatio Ballard, Hobart Krum, Ezra Graves, Elbridge G. Lapham, Frank Hiscock,[14] Seth Wakeman, and Israel T. Hatch were among the delegates.

The Commission had four members from each senatorial district, appointed by the Governor, and confirmed by the State Senate, equally divided between the two major political parties.

Among the members were: Robert H. Pruyn who presided; George Opdyke, Augustus Schell, John D. Van Buren, Erastus Brooks, Benjamin D. Silliman, George C. Burdett, Francis Kernan, Elias W. Leavenworth, Daniel Pratt, John F. Hubbard Jr., Barna R. Johnson, Lucius Robinson, George B. Bradley, Van Rensselaer Richmond, Lysander Farrar, Lorenzo Morris and Sherman S.

Green; Stephen S. Blake; William Church Osborn; Willard H. Mase; Roswell A. Parmenter; A. Bleecker Banks; Abram B. Steele; Chester B. McLaughlin; Elon R. Brown; Henry J. Cookinham; John C. Davies; Louis Marshall; Milo M. Acker; Merton E. Lewis; I. Sam Johnson; Henry W. Hill; George Allen Davis; and Charles J. Kurth.

The delegates included: Elihu Root (the President of the Convention), Edgar T. Brackett, Jacob Brenner, Alphonso T. Clearwater, Patrick W. Cullinan, Seth Low, Louis Marshall, John Lord O'Brian, Herbert Parsons, Adolph J. Rodenbeck, Jacob Gould Schurman, Henry L. Stimson, George W. Wickersham, Franklin A. Coles, Harry E. Lewis, Meier Steinbrink, Harry Heyman, John F. Ahearn, Abraham Harawitz, Alfred E. Smith, Harry E. Oxford, Morgan J. O'Brien, John B. Stanchfield, James A. Foley, De Lancey Nicoll, William F. Sheehan, Thomas Francis Smith, Thomas Maurice Mulry, John Thomas Dooling, John Godfrey Saxe II, Robert F. Wagner, Courtlandt Nicoll, Frederick C. Tanner, Mark Eisner, William M. K. Olcott, Martin Saxe, J. Sidney Bernstein, Nathan Burkan, Anthony J. Griffin, Louis F. Haffen, Francis W. Martin, George A. Blauvelt, Eugene Lamb Richards, Francis A. Winslow, Frank L. Young, Caleb H. Baumes, Lemuel E. Quigg, William Barnes Jr., Harold J. Hinman, Victor M. Allen, W. Barlow Dunlap, Louis M. Martin, Ray B. Smith, Israel T. Deyo, George E. Green, Jesse S. Phillips, James Wolcott Wadsworth, Frank M. Jones, Benjamin Rush Rhees, Homer E. A. Dick, Charles B. Sears, Matthias Endres, Frank W. Standart, and James S. Whipple.

Governor Herbert Lehman appointed Charles Poletti to head a committee to gather information for the convention's use.

Unlike all of the other Conventions, the candidates for membership ran in partisan elections of which the Democrats won a majority.

[29][30] In November 2024, 62.5% of voters approved of adding sexual orientation and gender identity - plus abortion protections within the New York State Constitution itself.