<P> The Sons of Liberty were organized in New York City during the 1760s, largely in response to the oppressive Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament in 1765 . The Stamp Act Congress met in the city on October 19 of that year, composed of representatives from across the Thirteen Colonies who set the stage for the Continental Congress to follow . The Stamp Act Congress resulted in the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which was the first written expression by representatives of the Americans of many of the rights and complaints later expressed in the United States Declaration of Independence . This included the right to representative government . At the same time, given strong commercial, personal and sentimental links to Britain, many New York residents were Loyalists . The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga provided the cannon and gunpowder necessary to force a British withdrawal from the Siege of Boston in 1775 . </P> <P> New York was the only colony not to vote for independence, as the delegates were not authorized to do so . New York then endorsed the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776 . The New York State Constitution was framed by a convention which assembled at White Plains on July 10, 1776, and after repeated adjournments and changes of location, terminated its labors at Kingston on Sunday evening, April 20, 1777, when the new constitution drafted by John Jay was adopted with but one dissenting vote . It was not submitted to the people for ratification . On July 30, 1777, George Clinton was inaugurated as the first Governor of New York at Kingston . </P> <P> About one - third of the battles of the American Revolutionary War took place in New York; the first major battle after U.S. independence was declared--and the largest battle of the entire war--was fought in New York at the Battle of Long Island (a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn) in August 1776 . After their victory, the British occupied New York City, making it their military and political base of operations in North America for the duration of the conflict, and consequently the focus of General George Washington's intelligence network . On the notorious British prison ships of Wallabout Bay, more American combatants died of intentional neglect than were killed in combat in every battle of the war combined . Both sides of combatants lost more soldiers to disease than to outright wounds . The first of two major British armies were captured by the Continental Army at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, a success that influenced France to ally with the revolutionaries. The state constitution was enacted in 1777 . New York became the 11th state to ratify the United States Constitution, on July 26, 1788 . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> Preceded by Virginia </Td> <Td> List of U.S. states by date of statehood Ratified Constitution on July 26, 1788 (11th) </Td> <Td> Succeeded by North Carolina </Td> </Tr> </Table>

When did new york state became a state