1788: The Convention of the State of New York, meeting in Poughkeepsie, voted to ratify the Constitution of the United States. With its ratification of the Constitution, New York entered the new union as the eleventh of the original thirteen colonies to join together as the United States of America. The city of Poughkeepsie, where ratification took place, is approximately eighty miles north of New York City and eighty-five miles south of Albany, the state capital. The city is located along the Hudson River, which flows more than 300 miles from its source in the Adirondacks to the New York Harbor. The natural beauty of New York State includes an abundance of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, and coastal waters - from the Hudson Valley to the Finger Lakes region in central New York to Niagara Falls. (Source: Library of Congress)