CONSTITUTION

Constitutions of the Several Independent States

      1782 1782 - FIRST EDITION. (CONSTITUTION). 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. Philadelphia Printed: London Reprinted: For J. Stockdale, 1782. Octavo, period style full tree calf gilt, marbled endpapers. $5200. Scarce first English edition of the Constitutions of the 13 newly independent American states, including the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution?"the oldest functioning written constitution in the world"?this important volume published only one year after the initial American edition. Beautifully bound. Shortly after publication of this first English edition of The Constitutions, the Monthly Review noted: "It contains a greater portion of unsophisticated wisdom and good sense, than is, perhaps, to be met with in any other legislative code that was ever yet framed. It is, in short, the book which may be considered the Magna Carta of the United American States." Within this seminal volume are the constitutions of the thirteen original states, from those passed in 1776 by states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland and North Carolina, to the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, authored by John Adams. "One of the great enduring documents of the American Revolution, the constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the oldest functioning written constitution in the world" (McCullough, 225). Constitutional scholars have fully documented the powerful influence of these works on the creation of the 1787 Federal Constitution. Also featured herein are printings of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the 1778 Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France (the first treaty between the United States and any other country) and the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France. Adams 81-74b. Howes C716. Sabin 16087. See Sabin 16086; Evans 17390. Fine condition, beautifully bound. [Attributes: First Edition; Hard Cover]