Massachusetts — John Adams |Putting popular sovereignty into practice

Massachusetts — John Adams

The Constitution or Frame of Government for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston: Benjamin Edes & Sons, 1781

Folio (290 x 191 mm). Woodcut seal to title; minor loss (or possible paper flaw) to lower margin of title, foxing to title, light browning, a few stray spots, contemporary (or near contemporary) underlining in ink to p. 11, faint staining to lower right margins. Disbound. In custom slipcase and folding chemise. 

First folio edition of the "final" Massachusetts constitution, issued after corrections and revisions had been made to a second printing of an octavo edition the previous year. 

"The people's rejection of the 1778 constitution … ensured that Massachusetts would now hold a true constitutional convention, establishing a crucial precedent that would be repeated on both the federal and state levels for years to come. In 1779, all freemen at least twenty-one years old could vote for delegates to represent them at a gathering in Cambridge. The convention's only job was was to write a constitution and to arrange for its ratification by the people. When the convention met, it appointed a committee to produce a draft. The committee asked one of its members, John Adams, to handle the bulk of the work" (Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions, p. 51).

REFERENCE:

Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions 9; ESTC W33383; Evans 17229; Sabin 45691