(Pennsylvania Constitution) | The Convention for the Pennsylvania constitution

(Pennsylvania Constitution)

Minutes of the Proceedings of the Convention of the State of Pennsylvania Held at Philadelphia, the Fifteenth Day of July, 1776. Philadelphia: Henry Miller, in Race-Street, 1776

Folio (331 x 195 mm). Woodcut title device; stamp removed from title; expert restoration to lower margin, occasional spotting and staining. Expertly bound to style in half calf and marbled paper-covered boards, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second with gilt-lettered red morocco label, other with repeat device in gilt; some rubbing to extremities.

The rare primary account of the debates and passage of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, documenting the convention that created it

Convened on the heels of the Declaration of Independence, the convention was held between 15 July and 28 September 1776. The body documented its proceedings while in sessions in a series of weekly publications, issued by Philadelphia printer Henry Miller. These vary in length from four pages to sixteen pages, and were likely issued for the use of the members of the Convention. 

Pennsylvania's first Constitution was a notably liberal document, providing for a unicameral legislature, a weak executive reelected annually, and broad suffrage. Ninety-six delegates—eight from each of the eleven counties and from the city of Philadelphia—made up the body. The overwhelming representation of the "country" vote largely accounted for this distaste for central government. This was one of the few state constitutional conventions to make its deliberations public, and the only one to do so while in session. 

This seminal text is remarkably rare, and the present copy is likely the only one to have changed hands in the last century. There are only three located copies: the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Library Company of Philadelphia; and the State Library of Pennsylvania.

PROVENANCE

Nancy Channerly (ownership signature to the top of p.67) 

REFERENCE

Celebration of My Country 68; ESTC W19588; Evans 14977; Hildeburn 3417; OCLC 14526372