INTRODUCTION. 177 



fession ; a political history of the state, from the time of the Dutch colonial go- 

 vernment to the revolution ; a notice of the establishment of the constitution of 

 1777 ; an account of the formation and establishment of the constitution of the 

 United States, and of the organization and early administration of the federal 

 government, so far as concerns the action of this state and of its citizens ; notices 

 of the abolition of slavery, of the amelioration of the criminal code, and of the 

 progress of jurisprudence, with an account of the judiciary and of the legal 

 profession ; a reference to contributions by citizens of New- York to political and 

 financial science ; accounts of the formation of the constitution of 1821, and of 

 the codification of our statute laws in 1827 and 1828 ; a history of internal im- 

 provements within the state, from the period of their conception, which, as con- 

 stituting a peculiar and interesting feature in our physical progress, have been 

 deemed worthy of extended and detailed remark ; accounts of the improvement 

 and present condition of agriculture, of the development of agricultural science, 

 and of the introduction of horticulture ; a sketch of civil engineering, with a full 

 description of the recently constructed Croton aqueduct ; notices of the appli- 

 cation of the steam engine to navigation, and of improvements in the steam en- 

 gine ; of sacred, civil, academic and domestic architecture ; of antiquarian curio- 

 sities, and of Indian history ; of the materials collected for the history of the 

 state ; of the studies and productions of our citizens in the departments of history, 

 classical learning, mathematical science, pure and mixed biography, travels, ro- 

 mance and general literature, poetry and the fine arts ; and of researches in our 

 zoology, botany, meteorology, chemistry and mineralogy ; with an account of the 

 inception, progress and consummation of the survey, to which those researches 

 gave birth. 



This review, although circumscribed and imperfect, furnishes gratifying proof 

 that a republican government is not unfavorable to intellectual improvement. 

 Intelligent and patriotic citizens were invited to furnish the materials necessary 

 for the work, and portions of it consist substantially of such materials, in the 



Intr. 23 



