Adams, John | Constitution-signer Gunning Bedford, Jr.'s copy of a foundational text

Adams, John

A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America. Philadelphia: Printed for Hall and Sellers, J. Cruikshank and Young and McCullock, 1787

12mo (163 x 98 mm). Some browning and foxing, traces of institutional stamp to title. Contemporary tree calf, flat spine with gilt rules, gilt-lettered red morocco label to second compartment; expertly rebacked to style. Housed in custom half morocco folding slipcase and folding chemise.  

First American edition — Founding Father and Constitution-signer Gunning Bedford, Jr.'s copy

The present text represents what is perhaps Adams's greatest contribution to American political theory. It was published the same year as the London first edition, and the Boston first American edition. 

Born in Philadelphia in 1747, Gunning Bedford descended from a distinguished Jamestown family. He referred to himself as Gunning Bedford, Jr. to avoid confusion with his cousin, contemporary Delaware statesman and soldier Col. Gunning Bedford. In 1771, Bedford graduated with honors from the College of New Jersey (what is now known as Princeton), where he was a classmate of James Madison. After winning admittance to the bar, Bedford moved to Dover and then to Wilmington. He served in the Continental Army, and as aide to General Washington for a period.

After the Revolutionary War, Bedford became a prominent political figure, sitting in the legislature, on the state council, and in the Continental Congress (1783–85). Following these appointments, he was chosen as a delegate to the Annapolis Convention, but for some reason did not attend. From 1784 to 1789, he served as Attorney General of Delaware. Bedford is regarded as one of the more active members of the Constitutional Convention, missing few sessions. A passionate small-state advocate, he attacked the pretensions of the large states over the small, and warned that the latter might be forced to seek foreign alliances unless their interests were accommodated. In 1789, George Washington designated Bedford as a federal district judge for his state, an office he was to occupy for the rest of his life. His only other ventures into national politics came in 1789 and 1793, as a Federalist presidential elector. In the main, however, he spent his later years in judicial pursuits, in aiding Wilmington Academy, in fostering abolitionism, and in enjoying his Lombardy Hall farm.

PROVENANCE

Gunning Bedford, Jr. (signature to title)

REFERENCE

ESTC W20113; Evans, 20176; Federal Hundred 11 (London edition); National Archives, "The Founding Fathers: Delaware," www.archives.gov/founding-docs/founding-fathers-delaware