<P> As allies of the British, the Iroquois were forced out of New York, although they had not been part of treaty negotiations . They resettled in Canada after the war and were given land grants by the Crown . In the treaty settlement, the British ceded most Indian lands to the new United States . Because New York made treaty with the Iroquois without getting Congressional approval, some of the land purchases have been subject to land claim suits since the late 20th century by the federally recognized tribes . New York put up more than 5 million acres (20,000 km) of former Iroquois territory for sale in the years after the Revolutionary War, leading to rapid development in upstate New York . As per the Treaty of Paris, the last vestige of British authority in the former Thirteen Colonies--their troops in New York City--departed in 1783, which was long afterward celebrated as Evacuation Day . </P> <P> New York City was the national capital under the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first government . That organization was found to be insufficient, and prominent New Yorker Alexander Hamilton advocated a new government that would include an executive, national courts, and the power to tax . Hamilton led the Annapolis Convention (1786) that called for the Philadelphia Convention, which drafted the United States Constitution, in which he also took part . The new government was to be a strong federal national government to replace the relatively weaker confederation of individual states . Following heated debate, which included the publication of the now quintessential constitutional interpretation--The Federalist Papers--as a series of installments in New York City newspapers, New York was the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788 . New York remained the national capital under the new constitution until 1790, and was the site of the inauguration of President George Washington, the drafting of the United States Bill of Rights, and the first session of the United States Supreme Court . Hamilton's revival of the heavily indebted United States economy after the war and the creation of a national bank significantly contributed to New York City becoming the financial center of the new nation . </P> <P> Both the Dutch and the British imported African slaves as laborers to the city and colony; New York had the second - highest population of slaves after Charleston, South Carolina . Slavery was extensive in New York City and some agricultural areas . The state passed a law for the gradual abolition of slavery soon after the Revolutionary War, but the last slave in New York was not freed until 1827 . </P> <P> Transportation in western New York was by expensive wagons on muddy roads before canals opened up the rich farm lands to long - distance traffic . Governor DeWitt Clinton promoted the Erie Canal that connected New York City to the Great Lakes, by the Hudson River, the new canal, and the rivers and lakes . Work commenced in 1817, and the Erie Canal opened in 1825 . Packet boats pulled by horses on tow paths traveled slowly over the canal carrying passengers and freight . Farm products came in from the Midwest, and finished manufactured moved west . It was an engineering marvel which opened up vast areas of New York to commerce and settlement . It enabled Great Lakes port cities such as Buffalo and Rochester to grow and prosper . It also connected the burgeoning agricultural production of the Midwest and shipping on the Great Lakes, with the port of New York City . Improving transportation, it enabled additional population migration to territories west of New York . After 1850, railroads largely replaced the canal . </P>

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