ALBANY — Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson ascended to New York’s highest office on Monday, pledging civility and unity in government to an ecstatic and palpably relieved gathering of state…

Eliot Spitzer, Lt. Governor David A. Paterson will become New York's first African-American governor. He is only the third African-American to become a governor in the U.S. since Reconstruction and…