The study guide presents background information, questions and answers, primary source material, and guidelines designed to provide secondary schools with basic sources for observing how the New York state system evolved from the colonial experience and the precedents established by the first state constitution. The documents in the publication are to be used selectively in the classroom by teachers to stress the role of state constitutions in providing a government under law. The first chapter sketches the background of the New York State Constitution of 1777. Forty-one questions are presented to be answered by students after reading selected material in the study guide. The second chapter discusses the colonial government of New York through excerpts from a 1774 governor's report. A letter of transmittal of the Constitution of 1777 is included in original handwriting in the third chapter. A handwritten sample of the 1777 Constitution of the State of New York is presented in the fourth chapter. The bulk of the document, contained in chapter five, is a reprint of the 1846 Constitution of the State of New York. The last chapter presents a 1977 referendum that includes the questions, who should serve as delegates? what changes should be made? and what kind of government should New York state have? (Author/DB)