(State Constitutions) | The first collected constitutions of the several states

(State Constitutions)

The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of America; The Declaration of Independence; The Articles of Confederation between the Said States; The Treaties Between His Most Christian Majesty and the United States of America. Philladelphia [sic]: Francis Bailey, 1781

8vo (166 x 108 mm). Early ink annotations to a few pages. Bound to style in old calf, spine gilt, morocco label. Housed in a morocco-backed slipcase with cloth chemise. 

The first collected constitutions of the several states, and an important step on the road to the formulation of the Federal Constitution.

Many constitutional historians have argued the role of the state constitutional conventions and constitutions in providing models for the framers of the 1787 Constitution. In many cases it would have been this work which provided a convenient reference to the state constitutions. Printed in an edition of only 200 copies, this book is quite rare, and one of the most desirable works in American constitutional history.

On Dec. 29, 1780, Congress appointed a committee of three to "Collect, and cause to be published, two hundred correct copies of the Declaration of Independence with the Constitutions or forms of government of the Several States, to be bound together in boards." The Monthly Review noted, "It contains a greater portion of unsophisticated wisdom and good sense, than is, perhaps, to be met with in any legislative case that was ever yet framed. It is, in short, the book which may be considered the Magna Charta of the United States" (Celebration). 

REFERENCE

Celebration of My Country 89; ESTC W20083; Evans 17390; Hildeburn 4091; Howes C716; Revolutionary Hundred 67; Sabin 16086