Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana

JACKSON, ANDREW AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("ANDREW JACKSON"), TO THE REVEREND EZRA STILES ELY, EXTOLLING THE CONSTITUTION'S GUARANTEE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM Two pages (8 7/8 x 9 3/4 in.; 200 x 248 mm) on a bifolium, Hermitage [Davidson County, Tennessee], docketed on the integral blank "Andrew Jackson | Augt. 1827"; primarily marginal damp staining. A letter from Jackson to one of his supporters, the Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, penned in the midst of his presidential run: "...It is a source of much consolation to me, to be informed, that Pennsylvania remains firm & immovable, not withstanding all the slanders that Power, and its panders, have wickedly invented, & circulated against me—Truth is mighty and will prevail, & under this belief, I remain tranquil on my farm attending to my domestic concerns, believing that a day of retributive Justice will arrive..." Jackson does not go on to detail the slanders against him, though they undoubtedly involved his relationship with his wife, Rachel. His opponents sought to brand the couple as adulterers. In reality, however, Jackson and Rachel had not been aware that her divorce had not yet been finalized when they married in 1791. Upon realizing the error, they remarried in 1794. Ezra Stiles Ely was a frequent correspondent of Jackson's, and a controversial Presbyterian minister. In the present letter Jackson exhibits a remarkable degree of restraint as he acknowledges the solidarity of the different Christian denominations, while at the same time communicating sentiments relating to a broader policy of religious freedom: "...Among the greatest blessings secured to us under our Constitution is the liberty of worshiping god as our conscience dictates..."

jackson, andrew. autograph letter signed, 12 july 1827, to ezra stiles ely

Friedrich von Hayek: His Nobel Prize and Family Collection

F.A. HAYEK 31 VOLUMES OF HIS WORKS, COMPRISING: Prices and Production. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1931, FIRST EDITION, original blue cloth, spine titled in gilt; John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor, Their Friendship and Subsequent Marriage. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, original red cloth, dust-jacket; The Constitution of Liberty. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960, FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, original tan cloth, dust-jacket, publisher’s compliments card loosely inserted with additional newspaper clippings; The Confusion of Language in Political Thought, Occasional Paper 20. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 1968, original green printed wrappers; Full Employment at Any Price? Occasional Paper 45. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 1975, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR ON THE TITLE-PAGE, original pink printed wrappers; Choice in Currency: A Way to Stop Inflation, Occasional Paper 48. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 1976, second impression; The Constitution of Liberty. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976, paperback reprint; The Sensory Order. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1976, reprint; Full Employment at Any Price? Occasional Paper 45. London: The Institute of Economic Affairs, 1978, fourth impression; Inflation: The Road to Serfdom? A Perspective from Friedrich A. Hayek. Texas: The Center for International Business, 1979, original wrappers; Individualism and Economic Order. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980, paperback edition; New Studies. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985, paperback edition; "Central Planning The Fatal Conceit" in Thinking about America: The United States in the 1990s. Hoover Institute, Stanford University, 1988, original red printed wrappers; The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989-1997, Volumes 1-10 (lacking volume 2, 2 copies of each volume 5, 6, 9, and 10, volumes 7 and 8 English editions published by Routledge, additional vol 1 Routledge paperback edition); Economic Freedom. London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1991; The Constitution of Liberty. New York: The Legal Classics Library, 1999, special edition full green morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt; The Constitution of Liberty. New York: The Legal Classics Library, 1999, special edition quarter green morocco gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt; various sizes (31) To view shipping calculator, please click here.

31 volumes of hayek's works, 1931-1999

Making Our Nation: Constitutions and Related Documents. Sold to Benefit the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation. Part 2

United States Constitution. Ratification The Address and Reasons of Dissent of the Minority of the Convention of the State of Pennsylvania, to their Constituents [caption title]. [Boston: E.E. Powers, 1787] 12mo (184 x 114 mm). With terminal ad leaf from by a Boston bookseller; browned. Disbound, quire C nearly detached. Brick cloth chemise and slipcase, black morocco spine lettered gilt. An interesting presentation of the views of the minority (Anti-Federalist) members of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Federal Constitutional Convention. They objected to the fact that during the Convention, held in secret sessions, they were denied the right to offer amendments to the provisions of the Constitution there adopted. "The delegates to the constitutional convention had been tasked only with 'revising and amending' the Articles of Confederation. But, fully intending to exceed their mandate, the delegates had adopted a rule of secrecy more befitting a papal conclave than a gathering of honorable republican statesmen. They had crafted a national government designed 'to annihilate the state governments, and swallow them up in the grand vortex of general empire'" (Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions, p. 75) Their report contains fourteen "propositions to the Convention" regarding amendments they favored, which have some similarities to the Bill of Rights. "Elaborating on the most common and effective critique, the Pennsylvania addressers noted that the Constitution lacked a bill of rights that guaranteed individual liberties and the integrity of the states. Most state constitutions contained a bill of rights, and the baffling absence of one in the United States Constitution left many Americans concerned that they would have no protection against a federal government whose powers came with few clear limitations and whose very structure, Antifederalists believed, would place unreliable men in positions of authority" (Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions, p. 75). Rare, RBH records only one copy sold at auction by Anderson Galleries in 1920 and ESTC locates five copies in American institutions. Evans gives the place of printing as Philadelphia, but the only copy he locates does not have the advertisement leaf C4 at the end, on which appears a notice of another pamphlet on the Constitution. ESTC ascribed it to the Boston publisher E. E. Powers on the strength of his advertisement ("JUST PUBLISHED … And to be had of Edward E. Powars, in Court-Street, boston …"). REFERENCE: Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions, 12; ESTC W36276; Evans 20619; Sabin 59829; not in Ford's Pamphlets on the Constitution PROVENANCE: Malachi Maynard (inscription on C4v)

View 1 of Lot 230: United States Constitution. Ratification | A rare volume presenting the views of the Anti-Federalist members of the Pennsylvania delegation

united states constitution. ratification | a rare volume presenting the views of the anti-federalist members of the pennsylvania delegation

The Coronation Sale

Restoration—George Monck Letter signed ("George Monck"), addressed to the Magistrates of Nairn, announcing his plan to march into England in defence of Parliament and requesting their support, ordering them to maintain order in his absence and to hold no correspondence with "Charles Stewarts party", with a postscript asking them to reply to him in Berwick explaining "how farr yow will comply with my desires", 1 page, folio, Edinburgh, 15 November 1659, integral address leaf ("For My Loving friend the Magistrates of the Burgh of Nairne"), remains of red wax seal impression, old tears, creased, dust staining "...Having a Call from God and his people to March into England to affect and maintaine the Liberty and being of Parliament our antient Constitution, and therein the freedome and Rights of the People of these three Nations from Arbitrary and Tyranicall Usurpations..." MONCK MAKES HIS MOVE, SETTING IN CHAIN THE SERIES OF EVENTS THAT WOULD LEAD TO THE RESTORATION. The death of Cromwell had left a power vacuum that his son Richard Cromwell had failed to fill (see lot ***). General Monck, commander of the Army in Scotland, was called to England to restore Parliament, which had been suppressed by other factions of the Army in England over the previous months. On his departure from Scotland he was keen to ensure the continued support of the authorities north of the border. Monck marched into England on 1 January 1660. His disorganised and demoralised enemies put up no serious resistance and he was soon able to call fresh Parliamentary elections and to begin secret negotiations with the exiled King, leading within months to the Declaration of Breda (see lot 19) and the Restoration of the monarchy. Provenance: Sotheby's, London, 20 July 1989, lot 264

View 1 of Lot 18: Restoration—George Monck, letter signed, a call for loyalty ahead of his march on London, 15 November 1659

restoration—george monck, letter signed, a call for loyalty ahead of his march on london, 15 november 1659

Four pages  (8 x 12 3/4 in.; 203 x 325 mm), written recto and verso on two folio sheets, [Conn.], 11 October 1792; old folds.

autograph manuscript speech signed ("s. huntington") as governor of connecticut, relating to education, liberty, and “acts of insolvency … repugnant to the constitution”

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2

Property of a New York Collector Huntington, Samuel Autograph speech signed ("S. Huntington") as governor of Connecticut, relating to education, liberty, and “Acts of Insolvency … Repugnant to the Constitution” 4 pages (323 x 213 mm) on a bifolium (watermarked seated Liberty | Floyd & Co.), [Hartford,] 11 October 1792, directed to "Gentlemen of the Council; Mr. Speaker, & Gentlemen of the House of Representatives," with a few autograph emendations; separated at central fold, other short fold separations, some light browning. After mentioning his desire to make state taxes more "equitable & just if such can be devised, to reform the militia, and the need to fix roads," Governor Huntington emphasizing the importance of education as an essential element in the continued strength and vitality of republican institutions: "You will remember that no provision hath been made by Government for the encouragement and Support of Schools the present year. Perhaps it may be thought by some, that this Subject hath been too frequently reiterated from the Chair; But let me observe that it arises from the impression of a firm belief that it is Impossible for a free people to preserve their liberties & privileges with a regular & energetic Government, unless useful knowledge is generally diffused among them, & the principles of Virtue & religion included so as to obtain a governing influence upon the visible conduct & deportment of the inhabitants; and were these favors properly bestowed upon every rising generation … all Arbitrary & Despotic Government would vanish away." Huntington served as a delegate to to both the Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress, signing the Declaration of Independence and serving a term as president. He left Congress with the intention of reestablishing his law practice, but the unstable political situation compelled him to return to public life. The present speech, essentially a state of the state address, was delivered in the middle of his ten-year tenure as governor of Connecticut, which ended with his death in 1796. Huntington here refers to the "Salutary effects which have resulted from the Institution of New Gate Prison," the first state prison in the United States. A humanitarian movement resulted in significant reforms, including limitations on corporal and capital punishments in favor of attempts to improve criminals' character and behavior, which had already been instituted in Connecticut. Huntington urges the legislature to consider "whether it may not be wise to vest in the Superiour Court a descretionary power, to Commit to that prison certain offenders who may be convicted of crimes not mentioned in the Statutes, such as the willfull burning of Houses, & some other Attrotious offenses that may be mentioned." The governor also speaks at length about an epidemic of bankruptcies: "The applications for particular Acts of Insolvency seem to be encrasing, & as Congress have made no provision in such cases, is it not Expedient that the legislature of this State, should make some regulation relative to the Subject, in particular to prevent a preference of debts in favour of the first attaching Creditors of a bankrupt Estate. There exists also another difficulty respecting those particular Acts of Insolvency: they appear, prima facie, to be expost facto laws, and in that view may perhaps be called in question as being repugnant to the Constitution of the Nation & void; to the great disadvantage of honest Debtors who may have religiously conformed to such Acts." In concluding his address, Huntington assures the legislators that he "Shall be happy in co-opperating with you to give all reasonable & proper dispatch, in the best manner, to the business that may come before us, during the Session." PROVENANCE: Carnegie Book Shop, catalogue 99 (1953), no. 182 — Henry E. Luhrs (Heritage Auction Gallery, 20 February 2006, lot 25299)

View 1 of Lot 1133: Huntington, Samuel | The state of the state of Connecticut, 1792

huntington, samuel | the state of the state of connecticut, 1792

The Passion of American Collectors: Property of Barbara and Ira Lipman | Highly Important Printed and Manuscript Americana 

(Massachusetts) Debates, resolutions and other proceedings, of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, convened at Boston, on the 9th of January, 1788, and continued until the 7th of February following, for the purpose of assenting to and ratifying the constitution recommended by the grand Federal Convention. Boston: Adams and Nourse, Benjamin Russell, and Edmund Freeman, 1788 8vo (177 x 108 mm). Title with Josiah Quincy's ownership signature; some browning and foxing. Contemporary tree calf; neatly rebacked. First edition, Josiah Quincy's copy "The ratification process in Massachusetts was viewed with anxiety by supporters of the Constitution throughout the nation. Massachusetts was a key state, and it was thought that actions there might determine the ultimate fate of the Constitution. … On February 6 the Constitution was endorsed by a narrow vote of 187 to 168" (Liberty's Legacy). Josiah Quincy was a Federalist Congressman before becoming Boston's second mayor. PROVENANCE Josiah Quincy (ownership signature to title) — Swann, 19 October 1967, lot 77 — Swann, 10 October 2013, lot 158 REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 116; ESTC W36221; Evans 21242; Federal Hundred 21; Liberty's Legacy USC-25; Sabin 45702

View 1 of Lot 329: (Massachusetts) | Ratifying the Constitution in Massachusetts — Josiah Quincy's copy

(massachusetts) | ratifying the constitution in massachusetts — josiah quincy's copy

Founding Documents of the United States

The United States Constitution & Bill of Rights

The United States Constitution & Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights, and Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, as Agreed to by the Convention of the State of Rhode-Island and Providence-Plantations, at South-Kingstown, in the County of Washington, on the First Monday of March, A.D. 1790. … Declaration of Rights. … Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. … In Convention, March 6, 1790. Voted, That the Bill of Rights and Amendments proposed to the Federal Constitution, be referred to the Freemen of the several towns, at their meetings on the Third Wednesday of April next, for their consideration. That one copy thereof be sent to each Town Clerk in this State, one to each Member of the Convention, and one to each Member of the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly; and that they be sent to the Sheriffs of the several Counties, to be distributed. The foregoing is a true Copy. By Order of the Convention, Daniel Updike, Secretary. [Providence: John Carter, 1790] Folio letterpress broadside (440 x 350 mm, untrimmed). Text in three columns with five-line headline, endorsed on the verso, directing this copy to the town clerk of Portsmouth; some short separations and minor wear at old folds, some reinforced on verso, some light browning and mottled foxing. Matted, framed, and glazed. With the Constitution already ratified and the Bill of Rights not only proposed but adopted by seven of the necessary nine states, Rhode Island continues to try to make her voice heard. The present remarkable and very rare broadside shows Rhode Island, wary of entering a compact with larger states that she feared would threaten her independence, suggesting reforms to a Constitution that she had not yet agreed to abide by. Rhode Island was the only state not to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. When asked to convene a state ratification convention, Rhode Island’s leaders instead sent the question of to the individual towns for a vote. When on 21 June 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, the new federal government was set in motion. In September the Confederation Congress certified that the new Constitution had been ratified by more than enough states for it to go into effect (Virginia and New York had ratified in the interim). The opening of the First Congress on 4 March 1789 and the inauguration of President George Washington on 30 April signaled a new system of federal government Among the first pieces of business taken up by the newly elected representatives and senators was the perceived deficiency of the Constitution in lacking a bill of rights. In late September, after four months’ consideration, the Congress proposed twelve amendments to the Constitution. On 2 October President Washington sent the amendments as a one-page engrossed manuscript to the states for their adoption. Over the next two years, all of the state legislatures considered the amendments—even Rhode Island, which had not yet ratified the Constitution, although she was ostensibly bound by it. Finally, faced with threats of secession by Providence, Newport, and Bristol, a well as a Congressional ban on trade with the state, Rhode Island leaders gathered in convention and debated the proposed Constitution. They decided to propose a Bill of Rights and amendments and send the Constitution and their amendments to the towns of Rhode Island before taking a final vote. When the Rhode Island legislature convened on 11 January 1790, the delegates understood that Congress had set 15 January as the date when economic sanctions against Rhode Island would begin if the state had not called a ratifying convention. On that date, the lower house passed a convention bill by a vote of 34 to 29, but the upper house rejected it the following day by a vote of 5 to 4. The next day, the lower house passed another convention bill, and again the upper house rejected it. In an extraordinary session on Sunday, 17 January, the House of Deputies passed its third convention bill by a vote of 32 to 11, and the House of Magistrates divided evenly 4 to 4, as one of the opposing members was absent. Governor John Collins, who was friendly to the Constitution, cast the deciding vote in favor of calling a convention. The freemen of Portsmouth met at the house of Robert Fish on 27 February 1790, in a town meeting to discuss the Constitution. The freemen chose Burrington Anthony (1745–1824), Job Durfee (1735–1810), Giles Slocum (1750–1826), and Peter Barker (1765–1852) as delegates to the upcoming Convention from the Town of Portsmouth. The town meeting adopted a lengthy preamble and the following instruction, “you are hereby required and directed, to proceed, as speedily as may be to the said State Convention … there and then to use all your Influence & Ability, in order to accomplish the Adoption of the said Constitution, & that, in as short a Time as the Nature of the Business will admit, so that the Town you represent, and the State at large, may no longer suffer the Injuries mentioned by the Legislature: and which we too sensibly feel the truth of.” The town meeting also urged their delegates to prevent any adjournment. (Proceedings of Town Meeting in Portsmouth, February 27, 1790, Proceedings of Town Meetings and Instructions to Town Delegates, May 1790, Rhode Island State Digital Archives.) The Convention of seventy delegates convened in South Kingstown, Rhode Island on 1 March 1790. A committee drafted and reported this “Bill of Rights and Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.” Federalists wanted to vote on the Constitution, but the leaders of the Country party wanted to delay the vote. On 6 March, the Convention voted 41 to 28 to adjourn without taking a vote on the Constitution and reconvene in Newport eleven weeks later, after the spring elections. All four delegates from Portsmouth voted with the majority for adjournment, which was forced by the Antifederalist Country party in order to preserve the dominance of their party in state office. But before adjournment, the proposed bill of rights and amendments were ordered to be printed and sent to the towns for the freemen to consider on 21 April, the annual election day. The present broadside—ESTC cites only three other copies, all in institution—records the eighteen declarations of rights and eighteen amendments to the Constitution proposed by the Rhode Island Convention for discussion and voting by the freemen in each town in the state, who would then instruct their delegates on how to vote. Eleven of the eighteen statements of rights were taken verbatim from the twenty statements proposed by the Virginia Ratifying Convention on 27 June 1788 (a copy of which was sent to Rhode Island and the eleven other states), and six more draw heavily from those proposed by that convention. Only the third statement of rights of the Rhode Island Convention—beginning “That the powers of government may be reassumed by the people, whensoever it shall become necessary to their happiness …”—varies substantially from the Virginia proposals. Three of the eighteen proposed amendments are also taken verbatim from or closely follow amendments proposed by the Virginia Convention. Perhaps the most striking of the amendments proposed here is the seventeenth, which stated: "As a traffic tending to establish or continue the slavery of any part of the human species, is disgraceful to the cause of liberty and humanity—that Congress shall, as soon as may be, promote and establish such laws and regulations, as may effectually prevent the importation of slaves of every description into the United States." The freemen of the Town of Portsmouth, to whom this copy of The Bill of Rights and Amendments to the Constitution was sent, met on 26 April 1790. They passed the following instructions: “That it is the sense of this Town Meeting, that the Instructions given to their Delegates at the State Convention, held at South Kingstown the first Monday in March last past, be ratified, and again Recommended to the Delegates in order to Regulate their conduct at the Meeting of the adjournment of the said Convention, which is to meet at Newport the fourth Monday in May next, with this additional Instruction—that they do not by any means agree to another adjournment, but at said next Meeting Use all their Influenced and abilities to have the New Constitution as proposed by Congress agreed to and Ratified by this State.” These directions are signed by Abraham Anthony Jr. (1746–1829), Portsmouth’s town clerk. (Proceedings of Town Meeting in Portsmouth, April 26, 1790, Proceedings of Town Meetings and Instructions to Town Delegates, May 1790, Rhode Island State Digital Archives.) On 18 May 1790, the U.S. Senate barred all American ships from entering Rhode Island and all Rhode Island ships from entering other states. Commerce by land was likewise restricted under penalty of forfeiture of goods, a fine of $500, and imprisonment not exceeding six months. In addition, the Senate demanded that Rhode Island pay $25,000 to the United States by 1 December for its share of the expenses under the Articles of Confederation. The threat of these penalties spurred Rhode Island to action. The second session of the 1790 Convention met in Newport on 24 May. There was little action for several days, and the 27 May issue of The Newport Herald editorialized, “By the Adoption we have nothing to lose, but every thing to gain; By a Rejection we stab Commerce at its vitals, force the Farmer to hide the fruits of his labour in a napkin, and leave our Government like an isolated Column, tottering at the smallest breeze, and exposed to be thrown from its base, by every tempest.” After the defeat of a motion to adjourn by opponents of the Constitution, the Convention voted on ratifying the Constitution and amendments proposed by Congress. Rhode Island ratified the Constitution on 29 May—the last state to do so—by a vote of 34 to 32, with five Antifederalists voting to ratify and four not voting. (Ten previous similar conventions held in Rhode Island had all rejected the proposed U.S. Constitution, most by overwhelming margins.) From Portsmouth, Burrington Anthony and Peter Barker voted for the Constitution, but Giles Slocum was the only delegate from Newport County to vote against it. The Convention also passed the eighteen articles of the Bill of Rights and a series of twenty-one recommended amendments. (The amendments approved by the Convention did not include the eighteenth printed here and included the following additional amendments: “18. That the State Legislatures have power to recall, when they think it expedient, their federal Senators, and to send others in their stead. 19. That Congress have the power to establish an uniform rule of inhabitancy, or settlement of the poor, of the different States throughout the United States. 20. That Congress erect no company with exclusive advantages of commerce. 21. That whenever two members shall move that the yeas and nays, on any question, be taken, the same shall be entered on the journals of the respective Houses.”) Convention President Daniel Owen, who opposed ratification, immediately sent word to President George Washington that Rhode Island had ratified the Constitution, though he withheld sending the formal instrument of ratification until June 15 in an attempt to have antifederalists appointed as federal revenue officers. After the formal ratification was received, Washington responded on 19 June with congratulations that may have been tempered by some exasperation: “I take this opportunity of offering you my sincere congratulations upon this event, which unites under one general Government all the branches of the great American family; and I doubt not but it will prove as auspicious to the good people of your State as it is pleasing to other parts of the Union” (The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Twohig, et al., 5:536–37). Curiously, this document records that the Convention adopted “the amendments proposed by Congress, in March, A.D. 1789,” except for the second article. And although it was the last to ratify the Constitution itself, Rhode Island approved eleven of the twelve amendments on 7 June 1790, making it the ninth state to ratify the ten amendments that became the Bill of Rights. A fascinating relic of the debate about ratification and a cornerstone document from the last of the thirteen colonies to join the United States. REFERENCE: Evans 22845; ESTC 36278 (locating one copy at the Huntington Library and two at the American Antiquarian Society); Alden, Rhode Island Imprints 1202

View 1 of Lot 4: The United States Constitution & Bill of Rights | “the powers of government may be reassumed by the people, whensoever it shall become necessary to their happiness”

the united states constitution & bill of rights | “the powers of government may be reassumed by the people, whensoever it shall become necessary to their happiness”

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including the Olympic Manifesto

The Property of a Gentleman HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, JAMES MADISON, AND JOHN JAY The Federalist: A Collection of Essays. Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed Upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. New York: Printed and Sold by J. and A. M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes. 12mo (6 1/4 x 3 1/2 in.; 160 x 90 mm). Internally fine but for inner margin of G6 of Vol. I restored, and a small repair to outer margin of L3, repair to Ii4 in Vol. II. Contemporary American calf binding, sides with blind-rolled borders of dots and fleurons; sympathetically rebacked with gilt rules and green morocco lettering pieces, some minor restoration to corners. Half morocco slipcase. A very handsome copy. First edition, fine-paper issue, of The Federalist: "A classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). The essays in The Federalist are now recognized as one of America's most important contributions to political theory. Alexander Hamilton was the principal force behind the entry of "Publius" (the pen name shared by all three authors) into the ratification pamphlet wars, but he enlisted Virginian James Madison and fellow New Yorker John Jay as collaborators. Each was assigned an area corresponding to his expertise. Jay naturally assumed responsibility for foreign relations. Madison, knowledgeable in the history of republics and confederacies, wrote on those topics. Having drafted the Virginia Plan, it also fell to him to outline the structure of the new government. Hamilton took on those branches of government most congenial to him: the executive and the judiciary; and he also covered military matters and taxation. At the time of the writing of the essays, Hamilton and Madison "were so close in style and outlook that scholars find it hard to sort out their separate contributions" (Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 251). The Library of Congress attributes with certainty fifty-one essays to Hamilton, fifteen to Madison, and five to Jay, three to Hamilton and Madison together, and nine as being written by either Hamilton or Madison. The first thirty-six Federalist papers were collected and published by the M'Lean brothers in March 1788, and the final forty-nine—together with the text of the Constitution and a roster of its signers—followed in a second volume two months later. In fact, the final eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared serially in newspapers. In 1825 Thomas Jefferson urged the adoption of The Federalist as a required text at the University of Virginia, describing it as "an authority to which appeal is habitually made by all … as evidence of the general opinion of those who framed, and of those who accepted the Constitution of the United States, on questions as to its genuine meaning." The significance of the work remains unchallenged: constitutional scholar Michael I. Meyerson wrote in his study that "The Federalist not only serves as the single most important resource for interpreting the constitution, it provides a wise and sophisticated explanation of the uses and abuses of governmental power from Washington to Baghdad" (Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World, 2008, p. ix). The Heartman-Lilly Copy REFERENCE: Bernstein, Are We to Be a Nation?, pp. 239–242; Church 1230; Evans 21127; Ford, Bibliotheca Hamiltoniana 17; Grolier, American 19; Printing and the Mind of Man 234; Sabin 23979; Streeter 2:1049 PROVENANCE: Charles F. Heartman (morocco book label); Josiah K. Lilly (morocco book label); Lilly Library Duplicate release stamp dated 8 November, 1962 to rear endpaper of second volume

hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay | the federalist: a collection of essays. written in favour of the new constitution, as agreed upon by the federal convention, september 17, 1787. new york: printed and sold by j. and a. m'lean, 1788

NORTHWEST ORDINANCE The Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser. Volume XIX, Number 979. Boston, August 2, 1787. Front page coverage of "An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio" passed in Congress July 13, 1787 Folio sheet (490 x 320 mm). Toned. In a half morocco box. One of the most basic and consequential of American state papers, here in a contemporary newspaper printing. "The Ordnance of 1787 provided the authority and the plan by which the westward expansion of the United States was accomplished. It allowed for the future division into not less than three nor more than five states; it established religious freedom, prohibited slavery, and instituted the fundamental principle of public education. Next to the Constitution itself the Ordinance of 1787 is the main guarantee of American liberty and property" (Streeter). Largely the work of Thomas Jefferson, Ford says of it, "Next to the Declaration of Independence (if indeed standing second to that), this documents ranks in historical importance of all those drawn by Jefferson." REFERENCE Federal Hundred 13; Church 1227; Evans 20779; Grolier/American 17; Streeter, Americana Beginnings 48

View 1 of Lot 357: NORTHWEST ORDINANCE | A fundamental guarantee of American liberty and property

northwest ordinance | a fundamental guarantee of american liberty and property

The Jay T. Snider Collection of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin Autograph letter signed ("BFranklin") to Joseph Galloway ("Dear Sir"), 1 ½ pages (318 x 201 mm) on a bifolium of laid paper (watermarked Pro Patria with Maid of Dort, countermarked crowned GR), London, 10 June 1758, regarding his negotiations with the Pennsylvania Proprietors and the British government, integral leaf with autograph address panel ("To | Joseph Galloway Esqr | Philadelphia") on verso and reception docket ("Benjn. Franklin's Letter June 10.1758") on recto; fold separations and repairs chiefly to integral leaf, seal tear and repair, but red wax seal preserved largely intact. Half-red morocco folding-case gilt, chemise. Writing from London during his first mission to England, Franklin reports to Galloway about his progress in representing the Pennsylvania Assembly against the interests of the colonial Proprietors. The Assembly had several longstanding disputes with Thomas and Richard Penn, descendants of William Penn, chief among which was the Proprietors’ insistence that their estates be exempt from taxation. Galloway was one of Franklin's chief allies and a member of the Assembly's Committee of Correspondence, to which Franklin alludes at the outset. “I have been so full lately in my Letters to the Committee, which you of course must see, that I need not trouble you particularly with one of any Length. “I find myself engag'd in an Affair that will take much more time than I expected. God knows when we shall see it finish'd, and our Constitution settled firmly on the Foundations of Equity & English Liberty. But I am not discourag'd, and only wish my Constituents may have the Patience that I have, and that I find will be absolutely necessary.” Franklin was correct in counseling patience, since it was not until 1760 that King George II authorized the Pennsylvania Assembly to pass a bill taxing proprietary lands. Franklin comments on the conflicting factions within the Assembly, and mentions the “diplomatic illness” that Speaker Isaac Norris employed to absent himself from a rancorous session: “I receiv'd your Favour of Feb. 4. at the same time with the Letter from the Commission. It had been represented here, (as you were told it would be) that the Speaker not liking the Warmth of the House, pretended Sickness to be out of the Way; but I have heard of no particular Reflections on you. I know that the Cannon & Small Arms of the Party consist of great & little Calumnies and Falsehoods, and you may depend on my endeavoring to shield your Reputation wherever I find it attack'd, as I rely on the like Defence in the same Case from your Friendship." After commenting that some correspondence from a Captain Gmelin never reached him (this refers, evidently, to Captain Gmeling of the British army, suspected of theft, and perhaps returned to England for a court martial), Franklin reports on James Hamilton’s efforts to secure a royal charter for Philadelphia: “I hear nothing of Mr. Hamilton's Application for a Crown Charter for Philadelphia. It is no easy Matter here to get Alterations made in Constitutions, either for the better or the worse. The Ministry don't care for the Trouble of these Things. I believe he will hardly attempt it; the Proprietors will be against the Application, as it will seem to call their Power of granting Charters into Question. However, I shall enquire, and if I find any steps taking towards a new Charter, endeavour to get some Alterations for the better: to be sure there is room enough for Amendment.” The previous year, Galloway had been appointed to a committee “to consider the Charter of the City of Philadelphia, and Conduct of the Mayor and Commonalty of the said City,” but “[n]othing is known of the committee's deliberations or of Hamilton's application, if indeed he made any” (Papers 8:97 note). Franklin ends by sending his regards and those of his son, “Billy.” This is one of the earliest letters in the lengthy correspondence between these Assembly allies and longtime friends. Both served in the Continental Congress, but their tenures barely overlapped as Galloway resigned after his plan for reconciliation between the American colonies and Great Britain was rejected. Franklin’s final letter to Galloway was written on 8 May 1775 and attempted to persuade him against “quitting public Life at a time when your Abilities are so much wanted” (Papers 22:34). This seems to have been their final communication. Galloway went on to serve in the British occupation government of Philadelphia before fleeing to England, where he became a Loyalist propagandist. The Pennsylvania Assembly convicted him of treason, confiscated his properties, and barred him from returning to the Commonwealth. REFERENCES Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Larabee, 8:96-7 (text taken from a duplicate letter marked “Copy; Original per Robinson,” with a very few variations in incidentals; the present original was unlocated until the time of the Park sale) PROVENANCE Laird U. Park Jr. (Sotheby’s New York, 29 November 2000, lot 114)

View 1 of Lot 78: Benjamin Franklin | "God knows when we shall see… our Constitution settled firmly on the Foundations of Equity & English Liberty"

benjamin franklin | "god knows when we shall see… our constitution settled firmly on the foundations of equity & english liberty"

The United States Constitution We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to Ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. … Done in Convention, by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth. [Philadelphia:] Printed by Dunlap & Claypoole, (19 September 1787) 4-page folio newspaper issue (462 x 289 mm) on a bifolium, text printed in a single column, surmounted by a near-page-width “headline” setting of the Preamble in six lines, the entire issue devoted exclusively to the Constitution (including the roster of its Signers, the two resolutions of the Convention adopted on 17 September recommending the procedures for ratification and for the establishment of government under the Constitution by the Confederation Congress, and George Washington’s influential cover letter of the same date to Arthur St. Clair, president of Congress) with no editorial or explanatory gloss; very lightly browned, neatly reinforced at central vertical fold, a very little marginal chipping. Blue calf folding-box by Weitz, front cover and spine gilt with federal shield and stars, spine gilt-lettered, marbled linings and edges, chemise; rubbed.

View 1 of Lot 2: [United States Constitution] | The first publication of the United States Constitution

[united states constitution] | the first publication of the united states constitution

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 1

View 1 of Lot 1007: United States Constitution | A first-day publication of the United States Constitution, with contemporary newspaper context

united states constitution | a first-day publication of the united states constitution, with contemporary newspaper context

English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations

loose large folio sheets (each c. 720 x 525mm.; 29 x 21 inches), limited edition of 250 copies signed by artist and publishers (of which only a handful were actually produced), this an unbound copy reserved by the publishers, containing a facsimile of the constitution in triptych and a copy of the text of the constitution in quadriptych (printed in Garamont type), both on parchment, facsimile on parchment of the Declaration of Independence, Declaration of Independence printed in Garamond type, facsimile of the Bill of Rights on parchment, the text of the Bill of Rights on parchment, a multi-coloured triptych lithograph on stone by the artist Paul Jenkins, and other leaves from the edition as finally issued as follows:  facsimile of etching God Save America, facsimile of Robert Scot engraving Plan of the Investment of York and Gloucester, guard sheet for the Constitution, facsimile of George Washington's annotated copy of the Constitution, copies of engravings of the State House in Philadelphia, the 1787 Conference, a further engraving by Amos Doolittle, a banner of the Society of Pewterers, table of contents, title page on parchment, copy of an early draft of the Independence with four smaller facsimile leaves mounted on larger sheet, facsimile of woodcut and poem A Bold Triumphal arch you see, facsimiles of the Jas Trenchard engraving Sacred to Liberty Justice and Peace, and the etchings The Arms of the United States and The Reverse of the Great Seal (on two sheets), triptych in the form of a pyramid for The Battle for Ratification of the Constitution (with facsimiles of 11 woodcuts which had appeared in The Massachusetts Centinel; two copies), facsimile of David Grim's watercolour The Banquet of the Federal Procession of New York, July 23rd 1788, title page for the Bill of Rights in Garamond type on Parchment, facsimile of Edward Savage's engraving Liberty, facsimile of Benjamin Tanner's engraving after Barralett American Guided by Wisdom, further triptych Sacred to Patriotism with offset reproduction plate by Cornelius Tiebout's plate (with second copy of reproduction present), title page on parchment for the Jenkins lithograph, and colophon leaf with reproduction of Benjamin Franklin drawing on verso, loose in red cloth portfolio

we the people. the declaration of independence 1776. the constitution of the united states 1787. the bill of rights 1791. paris: francois da ros for ann reeves and edouard weiss, 1987

The Bill of Rights Two early printings of the Bill of Rights, in Gazette of the United States, No. XLVII & No. L. New York: John Fenno, Wednesday, September 23, 1789 & Saturday, October 1 [sic, corrected in manuscript to 3], 1789 2 newspaper issues, each folio, 4 pages (430 x 270 mm, uncut) on a bifolium of laid paper, text in three columns; lightest browning and spotting, later issue with separation at central fold, sewing holes at left margins, but withal in unsually, fine, fresh condition. Neatly housed together in a gilt-lettered maroon morocco portfolio. These are the rare earliest printings of the final Senate and full Congressional texts of the Bill of Rights, the most profound guarantee of personal liberty ever incorporated into a written constitution. In this document, the Founding Fathers established the absolute protections that are the basis of American liberty. In December 1787 Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison, “a bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth, general or particular, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.” Opponents of the proposed Constitution had often pointed to its lack of these guarantees, and the First Congress made their adoption one of its first orders of business. "When the first Congress, along with President George Washington, gathered in New York City in 1789, Americans did not assume that the process of constitution-making was now—or ever would be—complete. Many expected the document to be amended almost immediately. Several state conventions had ratified the Constitution with the expectation that their suggestions for its improvement would be taken up and adopted. Most of the proposed amendments grew out of one of the main critiques that Antifederalists such as the Pennsylvania addressers had leveled against the Constitution: that it lacked a bill of rights resembling those attached to most state constitutions. Americans strongly desired guarantees that the federal government would not use its considerable powers to infringe key individual rights. … The Philadelphia convention may not have given much thought to a bill of rights, but it had provided a method by which Americans could add one. Article V of the Constitution outlined the procedure for amending the nation's fundamental law" (Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions, pp. 81–82). There was no shortage of suggestions as to what a bill of rights should contain. In addition to the provisions of the various state declarations of rights, the ratifying conventions put forth a substantial number of proposals, ranging from South Carolina's four to New York's fifty-seven. On 4 May 1789, James Madison proposed in the House of Representatives that debate begin on a series of amendments to the Constitution to serve as a bill of rights. Debate began on 8 June and was then referred to a select committee of eleven which, under the close guidance of Madison, created an initial draft that was presented to the House on 28 July. That draft was presented as revisions to the text of the Constitution itself, a confusing and ambiguous method that diluted the committee's charge: creating a clearly defined set of rights to be enshrined under the protection of the United States Constitution. On 24 August the proposals were more clearly stated and formatted as "Articles in addition to, and amendment of, the Constitution of the United States of America … pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution." The House's proposed seventeen amendments were "printed for the consideration of the Senate," which, through debate and reconciliation, combination and elimination, produced a roster of twelve projected amendments, which are printed here on the front page of the 23 September issue of the Gazette of the United States—the de facto newspaper of record for the federal government—the same day they were proposed by the Senate. After further debate and refinement, the two houses of congress agreed to the final text of the proposed amendments to the Constitution. The following day, 26 September, the Senate concurred with the House joint resolution to send copies of the amendments to the states for ratification. The twelve proposed amendments were ordered to be engrossed on vellum, signed by Speaker of the House Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg and President of the Senate John Adams, attested by the clerk of the House of Representatives and the secretary of the Senate, and transmitted, with a circular covering letter from President George Washington, to the state executives for the consideration of their respective legislatures. Washington's letter, 2 October 1789, stated simply: "In pursuance of the enclosed resolution I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency a copy of the amendments proposed to be added to the Constitution of the United States. I have the honor to be, with due consideration, Your Excellency’s most obedient Servant" (Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Twohig, 4:125). On 3 October 1789, the Gazette of the United States printed the final text of the twelve proposed amendments, incorporating the final revisions agreed to by both the House and the Senate. The most significant of these changes, documented in the texts printed in these two issues of the Gazette, involved what are known today as the First Amendment (rephrasing the prohibition of the establishment of religion) and the Sixth Amendment (concerning the right to trial by jury). These two newspapers contain the first publication of the twelve amendments recommended to the states by Congress for ratification in their penultimate and final forms. The first two proposed amendments actually failed to gain the support of three-quarters of the states, but the proposed third through twelfth amendments were adopted and became the first ten amendments to the Constitution—the Bill of Rights. Oddly, the second proposed amendment "mandated that any pay raises for Congress take effect only after an intervening election. This would prevent legislators from increasing their own salaries immediately. Americans apparently did not consider this issue very important at the time, and the states failed to ratify the amendment. Incredibly, in 1992, after sitting on the books for over two centuries, the proposal finally achieved ratification by more than three-fourths of the (now fifty) states, and it became part of the Constitution as the Twenty-Seventh Amendment" (Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions, p. 86). (And in 1939, the sesquicentennial of its proposal to the states, the Bill of Rights was belatedly ratified by Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Georgia.)

View 1 of Lot 1307: The Bill of Rights | The rare earliest printings of the final Senate and full Congressional texts of the Bill of Rights

the bill of rights | the rare earliest printings of the final senate and full congressional texts of the bill of rights

Washington, George Letter signed ("Go: Washington") as first President-Elect, to Michel-Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, acknowledging and accepting the necessity of his having to assume the office of President of the United States 1 1/2 pages (227 x 205 mm) on a leaf of laid paper (watermarked J Bigg), written in a fine clerical hand, Mount Vernon, 10 April 1789; tiny sewing holes at left margin from previous inclusion in an album, two other pinholes not affecting text, early penciled note in upper margin, "traduction dans le voyage en Pensylvanie I 309, note." Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. "If, by any exertion, or services of mine, my Country can be benefitted, I shall feel more amply compensated for the sacrifices which I make, than I possibly could be by any other means." On 6 April 1789, Congress certified the Electoral College votes that unanimously elected George Washington as the first president of the United States—an outcome that had been widely anticipated from the time that New Hampshire's ratification of the Federal Constitution, 21 June 1788, provided the ninth-state approval necessary to make the new compact the law of the land. Washington's ambivalence about becoming the chief executive is well known: on 1 April 1789 he famously wrote to Henry Knox, Acting Secretary of War and his old comrade in arms, that "my movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to his place of execution: so unwilling am I, in the evening of a life nearly consumed by public cares, to quit a peaceful abode for an Ocean of difficulties, without that competency of political skills—abilities & inclination which is necessary to manage the helm" (Papers, Presidential Series 2:2; sold, Sotheby's, 1 November 1993, lot 232). Washington's modesty—false or not—was belied by his willingness to serve. Indeed, the very office of the presidency owes much to the character of Washington. His fame as the steady hero of the Revolution, his manifest lack of personal ambition, and his determination not to profit from public service won him a reputation unapproached by any other American of his day. Despite his strong desire to live in the "peaceful abode" of Mount Vernon, he felt compelled to give active support to the Federal cause, agreeing to serve as president of the Constitutional Convention. Even before the delegates gathered in Philadelphia, there was a widespread belief that however the office of chief executive was ultimately defined, Washington was its only possible candidate. Washington accepted the inevitability of his election, and as early as January 1789 he had begun work on an Inaugural Address, which he read at his inauguration at Federal Hall, New York, 30 April 1789. But long before the inauguration, letters of congratulations started to arrive at Mount Vernon. Washington here responds to a missive (now lost) from Crèvecoeur, the French consul at New York. In this remarkable letter, Washington expresses gratification that the American Revolution is encouraging the pursuit of liberty across Europe and balances his characteristic self-deprecation with a frank admission of the inevitability of his being the man needed to steer the American ship of state "on the ocean of publick affairs": "I had the honor to receive, by the last post, your very polite letter; and must beg you to accept of my warmest acknowledgments for the felicitations and good wishes which were contained in it. "A combination of circumstances, and events, seems to have rendered my embarking again on the ocean of publick affairs, inevitable. How opposite this is to my own desires and inclinations, I need not say; those who know me are, I trust, convinced of it. For the rectitude of my intentions I appeal to the Great Searcher of hearts—and if I know myself, I can declare, that no prospects however flattering—no personal advantage however great—no desire of fame however easily it might be acquired, could induce me to quit the private walks of life at my age and in my situation. But if, by any exertion, or services of mine, my Country can be benefitted, I shall feel more amply compensated for the sacrifices which I make, than I possibly could be by any other means. "I am very happy to find, by the translations which you was so polite, as to send me, that there is so essential a change in the political opinions of the French Nation. Indeed, the American Revolution, or the peculiar light of the age, seems to have opened the eyes of almost every nation in Europe; and a spirit of equal liberty appears fast to be gaining ground everywhere, which must afford peculiar satisfaction to every friend of mankind." Michel-Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur (1735–1813) came to the New World as a cartographer for the French army during the French and Indian War. After the war he worked throughout the English colonies as a surveyor, eventually settling in Orange County, New York. His experiences there were the basis of his Letters from an American Farmer, published in London in 1782 under the name of J. Hector St. John. After a brief return to France to care for his elderly father, Crèvecoeur came back to the United States in 1783 as the French consul in New York, a post he held until 1790. He was well acquainted with Lafayette, Jefferson, and Madison, who recommended him to Washington as "a very worthy man & entitled by his philanthropy and zealous patronage of whatever he deems useful, to much esteem and regard" (Papers, Presidential Series 1:94–95). In 1787, Crèvecoeur presented Washington with a set of the second, expanded French edition of Lettres d'un cultivateur américain, a work that Washington believed would "afford a great deal of profitable and amusive Information, respecting the private Life of the Americans; as well as the progress of agriculture, manufactures and arts in their Country" (Papers, Confederation Series 6:342). After returning to France for good, Crèvecoeur wrote another account about his life in America, Voyage dans la haute Pensylvanie et dans l'état de New-York (3 volumes; Paris, 1801), which was dedicated to the memory of Washington and featured a heroic engraved portrait of the first president as its frontispiece. The present letter was first published in this work, in French translation, as a footnote on pages 309–310 of the first volume. PROVENANCE Sotheby's New York, 13 June 2017, lot 125 (Property of a Distinguished Southern Collection) REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 118; The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, ed. Twohig, 2:43–44 (locating the original at the Library of Congress, which in fact has only a microfilm copy); cf. Andrew Moore, "The American Farmer as French Diplomat: J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur in New York after 1783," in Proceedings of the Western Society for French History, vol. 39 (2011): http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.0642292.0039.013

View 1 of Lot 508: Washington, George | George Washington prepares to embark "again on the ocean of publick affairs"

washington, george | george washington prepares to embark "again on the ocean of publick affairs"

Brackenridge, Judge Henry M., Esq. Niles' Weekly Register.Baltimore: H. Niles, 1819 9 issues, disbound (245 x 155 mm). "Religious Liberty," New Series No. 14, Vol. IV., pp. 226-232; browned and foxed. In custom slipcase and folding chemise. Issues included are as follows: No. 11, Vol. IV; No., 12, Vol. IV; No. 13, Vol. IV; No. 17, Vol. IV; No. 18, Vol. IV; No., 21, Vol. IV; No. 25, Vol. IV; and No. 26, Vol. IV. The "Jew Bill" debate ﻿The Niles' Weekly Register of 29 May 1819 offers the full text of the speech, titled "Religious Liberty," delivered by Judge Henry M. Brackenridge, Esq., in the Maryland House of Delegates when the bill was under consideration. Article VI of the Constitution of the United States declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." However, several individual states continued to prevent Jews, Catholics, and Quakers from occupying public offices. Beginning in 1797, Jewish citizens of Maryland had regularly, but unsuccessfully, petitioned their legislature for equal status. The “Jew Bill,” as it came to be known, was defeated in 1802, 1804, and 1819, prompting a huge public outcry in Maryland and across the nation. It was not until 1826, when the Jew Bill was finally confirmed by the legislature, that the Jews were alleviated of all disabilities. One of the staunchest advocates of the Jewish cause during this struggle was Henry M. Brackenridge.

View 1 of Lot 71: Brackenridge, Judge Henry M., Esq. | The "Jew Bill" debate

brackenridge, judge henry m., esq. | the "jew bill" debate

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana

(Washington, George) — Society of the Cincinnati

(Washington, George) — Society of the Cincinnati William Floyd's membership certificate and badge, comprising: a) Eagle badge, Designed by Pierre Charles L’Enfant (1754–1825), attributed to Duval and Francastel and associated firms, Paris, circa 1784. Gold and enameled eagle with spread wings and legs on green enameled olive branches, head and tail feathers with white and black enamel, red enamel eyes, distinct eyebrows and black beak, head left within green and red enameled laurel wreath of figure-eight design through which a double suspension ring is attached. Oval medallion inset into the eagle’s breast, the motto reads (from 7:00), OMNIA·RELINQT·SERVART·REMPB ⁘, in the center, two Roman senators present a sword to Cincinnatus against blue enamel sky and green enamel grass, rev., the eagle as above, but head right, the motto reads (from 11:00), ·VIRT·PRAEM·SOCI·CIN·RUM ⁘, INST·AD·1783, within medallion, Cincinnatus stands facing next to his plow, with sun and palisade behind, enameled blue sky and green ground, (40 x 25 mm); obverse chipping to tailfeathers, some minor losses to red and green enamels of the wreath and branch, the ribbon replaced. The present eagle, of the larger type, corresponds closely in size, chasing, and enameling to the Tench Tilghman example (now in the Society of the Cincinnati Museum at Anderson House, Washington, D.C.). That specimen was one of the eagles ordered by Washington to present to his aides. According to Myers, there were “two distinct sorts of eagles.” The first group of 40 “were somewhat larger than the other group of 140. The first were for those who had given him advance orders, and the best documented example of this variety is the Tench Tilghman eagle.” See, Myer Myers, Jr., The Insignia of the Order of the Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., 1998, type 7, p. 20; pp. 46-47; see also General Nathaniel Greene’s eagle, sold in these rooms, 20 January 2011, lot 177. b) Engraved broadside document signed by George Washington ("Go: Washington") as President of the Society of Cincinnati, being the membership certificate for William Floyd, on vellum (478 x 355 mm), accomplished in a neat clerical hand, Mount Vernon, Virginia, 10 December 1785, countersigned by the Secretary of the Society ("HKnox"), engraved vignettes by Auguste L. Belle after Jean-Jacques Andre LeVeau depicting America in knight's armor trampling upon the British standard and the American eagle casting the British lion and Britannia out to sea with thunderbolts, roundel vignettes incorporating depictions of both sides of the eagle badge of the Order of the Cincinnati; some fading to accomplishment, particularly to Washington's signature, trimmed very close, shaving the engraving at sides and top, tack-holes in margins from former framing, some usual, natural wrinkling. A highly distinguished Society of the Cincinnati membership certificate and eagle badge: "Be it known that The Honorable William Floyd is a Member of the Society of the Cincinnati; instituted by the Officers of the American Army at the Period of its Dissolution, as well to commemorate the great Event which gave Independence to North America, as for the laudable Purpose of inculcating the Duty of laying down in Peace Arms assumed for public Defense, and of uniting in Acts of brotherly Affection and bonds of perpetual Friendship the Members constituting the same." William Floyd (1734–1821) served the patriot cause both in the militia and in the Continental Congress. In 1775, Suffolk County on Long Island sent him to the first Congress and the same year he was made a colonel in the county militia's Western Regiment; he remained in the militia until 1795, achieving the rank of major general. In the Congress, where he served, with one year's absence, until 1783, Floyd sat on the clothing committee and the naval and treasury boards. Most significantly, he signed the Declaration of Independence once New York State permitted her delegates to vote for independence. After the war, Floyd supported ratification of the Constitution and was elected to the first House of Representatives. On the Fourth of July, 1787, Floyd was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. The Order of the Cincinnati was conceived of by Henry Knox, who wished to establish a fraternal organization for all officers who had served in the War for Independence and "any of their eldest male posterity." The Order was founded in early May 1783 at the headquarters of General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben at Verplanck House in Fishkill, New York. The three guiding principles of the organization were: First, "An incessant attention to preserve inviolate those exalted rights and liberties of human nature, for which they have fought and bled. …" Second, "An unalterable determination to promote and cherish between the respective States, that union and national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness, and the future dignity of the American empire." Third, "To render permanent the cordial affection subsisting among the officers. This spirit will dictate brotherly kindness in all things, and particularly, extend to the most substantial acts of beneficence, according to the ability of the Society, towards those officers and their families, who unfortunately may be under the necessity of receiving it." The concept of using Cincinnatus as an emblem of the Order was particularly resonant with Americans since the life of this mid-fifth century Roman nobleman and farmer closely paralleled that of many who had served, with George Washington in the vanguard. Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was called upon to repel two hostile tribes that threatened Rome. He issued his orders, which were efficiently carried out, and vanquished the enemy. Although elected a dictator for six months and voted a triumph by the Senate, Cincinnatus stepped down just after fifteen days and returned to private life on his farm. Similarly, at the conclusion of Treaty of Paris, Washington returned to his Mount Vernon home.

View 1 of Lot 1091: (Washington, George) — Society of the Cincinnati | William Floyd's membership certificate and badge

(washington, george) — society of the cincinnati | william floyd's membership certificate and badge

(Chalmers, James) Plain Truth; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, containing, Remarks on a Late Pamphlet, entitled Common Sense. Wherein are Shewn, that the Scheme of Independence is Ruinous, Delusive, and Impracticable … and that Circumstanced as we are, Permanent Liberty, and True Happiness, can only be Obtained by Reconciliation with that Kingdom [Great Britain]. Written by Candidus. Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, 1776 8vo (203 x 122 mm). With preliminary leaf ("The Printer to the Public"); scattered browning and staining, stamp removed from foot of [A]3. Nineteenth-century brown morocco over marbled boards, pink pastedowns, sprinkled edges; extremities rubbed. A scarce Loyalist refutation of Common Sense, issued within a couple of months of Thomas Paine's revolutionary pamphlet; this printing is variously designated as the second edition or a reissue of the first edition, with additions. Dedicated to John Dickinson, Plain Truth provides a point-by-point rebuttal to Paine's incendiary polemic, arguing that independence would not only deprive the American colonies of their most important trading partner, but also invite invasion by Spain or France. Chalmers, a wealthy Maryland planter who adopted the pen name Candidus, issued his response to Common Sense so quickly, in fact, that Paine had not yet been identified as its author. Chalmers's Additions to Plain Truth has its own title-page (but continuous pagination and signing). Between the two parts of Plain Truth appear a critique of Common Sense, signed Rationalis, and William Smith’s pseudonymous "Cato's Letter (being his Second) to the People of Pennsylvania. … With some Observations against American Independency." Perhaps the most intriguing part of the work is a stirring declaration by Robert Bell on a preliminary advertising leaf (often lacking) headed "The Printer to the Public: On the Freedom of the Press." Bell writes, "Having very lately, without any other authority, than the Liberty of the Press, ushered into the hands of the public, certain speculations For American Independency. By the same Authority, viz., the Liberty of the Press: Robert Bell, Provedore to the Sentimentalists; hath printed, published, and is now selling (Price Three Shillings) to all who are capable of practicing so much impartiality, as to give a hearing to the other Side, by lending their attention towards certain speculations. Against American Independency. And that no malicious person, or persons, may plead ignorance of this indubitable and firmly established Authority, The Liberty of the Press, which doth, and forever will prevail in all those countries, where Freedom is the Basis of the Constitution." Appropriately, then, opposite the title-page for Plain Truth is printed an advertisement for Common Sense. PROVENANCE Michael Sharpe (morocco label) REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 64; Adams, American Independence 208c; Bristol B4191; ESTC W27653; Gimbel CS-208a; Hildeburn 3345; Shipton & Mooney 43001

View 1 of Lot 92: (Chalmers, James) | The principal Loyalist reply to Common Sense

(chalmers, james) | the principal loyalist reply to common sense

Fine Books and Manuscripts including Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection WASHINGTON, GEORGE An early printing of Washington’s First Inaugural Address in Thomas's Massachusetts Spy: Or, The Worcester Gazette, Vol. XVIII, No. 839. Worcester: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Wednesday, May 6, 1789 Folio, 4 pages (17 1/2 x 11 1/4 in.; 485 x 287 mm) on a full sheet of laid paper, woodcut vignette incorporated into title, four woodcut vignettes among the advertisements, text in four columns; disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot. "I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love." Although George Washington did not receive official notification of his unanimous election to the presidency until 14 April 1789, his elevation to that office was essentially a foregone conclusion from the time that New Hampshire's ratification of the United States Constitution, 21 June 1788, provided the ninth-state approval necessary to put the new governmental compact into effect. As early as January 1789 Washington had begun to prepare an Inaugural Address, but advised by James Madison, he set aside that lengthy and policy-laden address for the briefer and more personal speech that he read at his inauguration at Federal Hall, New York, 30 April 1789—and which was printed in this issue of the Spy just six days later. On pages 2 and 3, Thomas's famous newspaper provides a detailed description of the Inaugural celebrations, including the order of procession to Federal Hall, the administration of the oath of office by Chancellor Robert Livingston, the firing of a thirteen-gun salute, and the divine service and, later, fireworks that followed Washington's speech. The Inaugural Address is printed in full, including Washington's recognition of the historical significance of the American experiment: "the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

washington, george | an early printing of washington’s first inaugural address in thomas's massachusetts spy: or, the worcester gazette, vol. xviii, no. 839. worcester: printed by isaiah thomas, wednesday, may 6, 1789

(Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay)

(Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. New York: Printed and sold by Jstieohn and Andrew M'Lean, 1788 2 vols., 12mo (vol. I: 175 x 110 mm; vol. II: 186 x 110 mm, uncut). An unidentified early reader has added a few brief annotations or text corrections. Lightly browned, occasional foxing; vol. I with paper flaw at inner margin of e4, repaired tear at I1, pinhole to L2; vol. II with repaired tears to M2 & M3. Publisher's blue-gray boards backed with drab paper spines, spines stenciled with Arabic numerals (title-pages have Roman); rubbed and lightly stained, spines rather worn with some loss, especially vol. II. Green morocco solander box, chemises. A first edition of The Federalist—a "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein)—in the original boards and in essentially "as issued" condition: uncut, unpressed, and unsophisticated. Copies of The Federalist uncut and in original boards are very rare and highly coveted. Since 1971 just five other sets in original boards are cited as sold in Rare Book Hub. So fresh and unpressed is the present copy that when it was offered as one of the "Selections from the Davidson Collection" at Christie's in 2015 it was understandably, albeit erroneously, described as printed on thick paper. Written as expedient political propaganda for the purpose of supporting New York's ratification of the Federal Constitution, the essays in The Federalist are now recognized as one of America's most important contributions to political theory. Alexander Hamilton was the principal force behind the entry of "Publius" (the pen name shared by all three authors) into the ratification pamphlet wars, but he enlisted Virginian James Madison and fellow New Yorker John Jay as collaborators. Each was assigned an area corresponding to his expertise. Jay naturally assumed responsibility for foreign relations. Madison, knowledgeable in the history of republics and confederacies, wrote on those topics. Having drafted the Virginia Plan, it also fell to him to outline the structure of the new government. Hamilton took on those branches of government most congenial to him: the executive and the judiciary; and he also covered military matters and taxation. At the time of the writing of the essays, Hamilton and Madison "were so close in style and outlook that scholars find it hard to sort out their separate contributions" (Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 251). The Library of Congress attributes with certainty fifty-one essays to Hamilton, fifteen to Madison, and five to Jay, three to Hamilton and Madison together, and nine as being written by either Hamilton or Madison. The first thirty-six Federalist papers were collected and published by the M'Lean brothers in March 1788, and the final forty-nine—together with the text of the Constitution, a roster of its signers, and the resolution submitting it to the consideration of Congress—followed in a second volume two months later. In fact, the final eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared serially in newspapers. George Washington, who would shortly chair the Constitutional Convention, praised the collection of essays in a letter to Hamilton, 28 August 1788: "As the perusal of the political papers under the signature of Publius has afforded me great satisfaction, I shall certainly consider them as claiming a most distinguished place in my library. I have read every performance which has been printed on one side and the other of the great question lately agitated (so far as I have been able to obtain them) and, without an unmeaning compliment, I will say that I have seen no other so well calculated (in my judgment) to produce conviction on an unbiassed mind, as the Production of your Triumvirate. When the transient circumstances & fugitive performances which attended this crisis shall have disappeared, that work will merit the notice of Posterity; because in it are candidly discussed the principles of freedom & the topics of government, which will be always interesting to mankind so long as they shall be connected in Civil Society" (Papers, Confederation Series, ed. Abbot, 6:480–482). In 1825 Thomas Jefferson urged the adoption of The Federalist as a required text at the University of Virginia, describing it as "an authority to which appeal is habitually made by all … as evidence of the general opinion of those who framed, and of those who accepted the Constitution of the United States, on questions as to its genuine meaning." The significance of the work remains unchallenged: constitutional scholar Michael I. Meyerson wrote in his study that "The Federalist not only serves as the single most important resource for interpreting the constitution, it provides a wise and sophisticated explanation of the uses and abuses of governmental power from Washington to Baghdad" (Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World, 2008, p. ix). The Federalist is without question the most important commentary on the Constitution, the most significant American contribution to political theory, and among the most important of all American books. REFERENCE: Bernstein, Are We To Be a Nation?, pp. 239–242; Church 1230; ESTC W5416; Evans 21127; Federal Hundred 19; Ford, Bibliotheca Hamiltoniana 17; Grolier, American 19; Printing and the Mind of Man 234; Sabin 23979; Streeter 2:1049 PROVENANCE: Alfred M. Kahn (bookplate; Christie’s, 11 April 1980, lot 153) — Louis and Anne Marie Davidson (bookplate) — John Davidson (bookplate; Christie’s New York, 8 December 2015, lot 243)

View 1 of Lot 1008: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | A first edition Federalist, uncut and unsophisticated, in original boards

(hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay) | a first edition federalist, uncut and unsophisticated, in original boards

Fine Books and Manuscripts

The Patowmac Guardian, and Berkeley Advertiser

The Patowmac Guardian, and Berkeley Advertiser Number 1 of Vol. I–Number 207 of Vol. 4. Shepherd's-Town [later Martinsburg]: Printed and Published by N. Willis, at his Printing-Office, in New-Street, Monday, November 15, 1790–Monday, November 3, 1794 203 mostly four-page issues (407 x 257 mm) printed on bifolia of laid paper, printed in three columns (lacking Nos. 30, 40, 43, 92; No. 62 printed on a smaller bifolia; Nos. 63–66, 70, 170, 171 printed on single leaves only); first issue creased and a bit soiled, some browning, soiling, and marginal fraying throughout, text very occasionally shaved at foot or head, very occasional abrasion or wear causing loss of text, a quarter column of text neatly clipped from No. 203. Disbound, with many issues loose. (Despite the condition issues noted, the individual issues are sound, easily handled, and perfectly legible.) An unusually extensive run, extending almost four years, of the first newspaper printed in the area that would become West Virginia, including what is evidently a unique survival of the inaugural issue. Clarence Brigham's History and Bibliography of American Newspapers was able to locate no issue earlier than 27 June 1791 (no. 33)—and this remains the earliest issue located by the Library of Congress's "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers." Indeed, the vast majority of the issues included in the present run seem to be unrecorded, with only single or scattered numbers from the first four years of publication available at a handful of institutions, including the American Antiquarian Society, the Houghton Library, the Library of Virginia, the New York Public Library, and the University of Kentucky Library. Willis inaugurated The Patowmac Guardian, and Berkeley Advertiser with a open letter "To the Public," in which he argued that "a Press conducted with a spirited prudence, has a manifest disposition to preserve the rights of freedom—to guard the glorious acquisitions of liberty—and to weaken despotic growth before it becomes too formidable to be subdued." He further claims that the recently ratified Federal Constitution, as well as "the obvious certainty of the great Federal City being established in the vicinity of this fertile retreat," make the establishment of a free and independent newspaper in western Virginia especially appropriate. His newspaper, Willis promises, will cover domestic politics, foreign politics, agriculture, commerce, manufactures and useful arts, essays and extracts, works of wit and fancy, and instructive and entertaining anecdotes. Domestic politics, in particular, dominated the pages of the Patowmac Guardian, including official proceedings of the House of Representatives, congressional acts, and presidential proclamations, including Washington's proclamation of 25 September 1794 escalating the response to the Whiskey Rebellion. The state politics of Virginia and Kentucky also receive extensive coverage. A blog post by the West Virginia University Libraries, reposted by the Library of Congress on its "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers" site, provides a succinct summary of The Patowmac Guardian and Berkeley Adveriser: "Nathaniel Willis was the first of several great literary men in his family, including his grandson, author and poet, Nathaniel Parker Willis. Willis published the Independent Chronicle and Universal Advertiser in Boston during the American Revolution. He also participated in the Boston Tea Party and served as an adjutant in the Continental Army. Willis sold his interest in the Chronicle in 1784 and relocated to Winchester, Virginia, as the editor of Willis’s Winchester Gazette & Public Advertiser. He moved to Shepherdstown in 1790 and began to print the Potowmac Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser before moving a third time to Martinsburg, where the paper underwent two name changes (the Potomak Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser in 1795 and the Potomak Guardian in 1798). Willis presented his paper as a source of national and international news that curious readers could comment on through letters to the editor. Although the content on the first page varied, the second and third usually contained articles on major events and speeches from significant political figures. The fourth concluded with poetry, titled the 'Seat of the Muses,' and a series of advertisements. "The Early Republic was a fruitful era for newspaper content. The Age of Revolutions could be felt in France, Haiti, Greece, and Latin America. Anglo-Americans watched with interest from the United States in the aftermath of their own revolution. The adherents of Jeffersonian Republicanism who patronized the Potowmac Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser scanned its columns for the latest updates from France. They praised the French Revolution and celebrated 'the cause of democratic republicanism' in France, drawing comparisons between the French and American Revolutions. The Seat of the Muses published a poem 'by a citizen of Belfast' echoing the sentiments of Jefferson’s adherents: 'Should France be subdu’d—Europe’s liberty ends/if she triumphs—the WORLD will be free.' So 'let ev’ry true Patriot unite in her cause/a cause of such moment to man/let all whose souls spurn at tyrannical laws/lend her all the assistance they can.' Although the poet was presumably writing for an Irish audience, Jeffersonians recognized the call to 'spurn at tyrannical laws' as their own. "Willis and his Jeffersonian audience used the press to denounce laws that seemed tyrannical. They had to remain vigilant against tyranny if they wished to maintain their republican identities. The Jay Treaty (1794) and the Alien and Sedition Acts (1798) afforded several opportunities for protesting tyranny and defending political virtue. The Jay Treaty mitigated the threat of war and promoted peaceful trade between Great Britain and United States during the French Revolutionary Wars. Jeffersonians believed the treaty would undercut republicanism at the expense of France, America’s would-be ally, and strengthen aristocracy. More than that, many felt it was a betrayal of France, who was at war with Great Britain. Willis published a letter that he attributed to the Minister of the French Republic, which lambasted America for scorning her friends in France. 'Those who went to brave tempests and death upon the ocean, forgot all dangers in order to indulge the hope of visiting that American continent where … the French colours had been displayed in favor of liberty,' the author asserted. 'Under the guarantee of the laws of nations … they expected to find in the ports of the United States an asylum as sure as at home.' Instead, they found a British-American alliance. Indignant Jeffersonians sympathized with the French and burned effigies of John Jay in contempt. "The Alien and Sedition Acts impacted Willis personally as a newspaper editor. The Sedition Act criminalized the making of false statements directed at the federal government during the Quasi War, an undeclared naval war with France. Critics of the act argued that Federalists were using the Quasi War to justify the suppression of dissent from Democratic-Republicans. Willis announced his opposition to the Sedition Act when he changed the header of the Potomak Guardian in 1799. The new header read, 'Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.' The audience of the Potomak Guardian agreed, sharing their opinions with Willis. A reader calling himself 'A True Republican' condemned the publication of 'impudent and scandalous falsehoods' and believed Congress could 'restrain by law the writing and publishing [of] any thing which tends to prevent the execution of any power vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States.' Those stipulations aside, he could not accept the Alien and Sedition Acts, which he deemed 'dreadful.' "Willis remained the editor and publisher until October 30, 1799, when Armstrong Charlton succeeded him, publishing the last known issue of the Potomak Guardian on January 8, 1800. Willis professed his intention to leave Martinsburg on December 4, 1799, and subsequently moved to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he established the Scioto Gazette" (https://news.lib.wvu.edu/2021/08/27/empotowmac-guardian-and-berkeley-advertiser-em-and-empotomak-guardian-em/; https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038410/). PROVENANCE: Wm. Winship (original subscriber's name written in the margin of the front page of many issues)

View 1 of Lot 1058: The Patowmac Guardian and Berkeley Adveriser |  An usually extensive run, with a perhaps unique survival of the first issue

the patowmac guardian and berkeley adveriser | an usually extensive run, with a perhaps unique survival of the first issue

Continental Congress The Twelve United Colonies, by their Delegates in Congress, to the Inhabitants of Great-Britain. [Philadelphia: Printed by William and Thomas Bradford, 1775] 8vo, 4 leaves (173 x 108). Caption-title, numbered "8" in manuscript at head of first page; lightly browned, some marginal spotting especially at top margin of last page. Evidently disbound from a contemporary pamphlet Sammelband. First printing of a significant Congressional companion to the Olive Branch Petition, addressed not to George III but to the people of Great Britain, who are saluted as "Friends, Countrymen, and Brethren!" Largely the work of Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee (joined by New York's Robert R. Livingston Jr. and Virginia's Edmund Pendleton), this address was issued the same day the Congress signed and dispatched the Olive Branch Petition. The text here is dated at the end "Philadelphia, July 8, 1775" and, like the first printing of the Declaration of Independence issued just shy of a year later, it is signed in type by John Hancock as president of Congress, and attested by Charles Thomson. Since Georgia had only one delegate, Lyman Hall, in attendance until late August, this appeal was sent under the auspices of just twelve of the thirteen American colonies. While the Olive Branch Petition, written by a committee headed by John Dickinson, was a sincere effort to reconcile with the mother country, the purpose of Lee's address may have been to provide "plausible deniability" for the coming war. This letter "to the Inhabitants of Great-Britain" was issued, after all, just two days after the Congress promulgated its declaration setting forth the causes and necessity of the United Colonies taking up arms. Still, the more conservative elements in Congress, intent on finding a peaceful resolution with Great Britain, may have hoped for a sympathetic hearing by the strong minority of the English public that was supportive of the rights of the colonies. But by the time this address was adopted, the battles of Lexington and Concord (19 April) and Bunker Hill (17 June) had already taken place. Lee's text begins by stating that the North American colonists have been "reduced to the melancholy Alternative of renouncing your Favour or our Freedom," and continues to enumerate an exhaustive litany of wrongs perpetrated by the government of George III: the roster of Parliamentary legislation that came to be known as the "Intolerable Acts"; Boston being "now garrisoned by an Army sent not to protect, but to enslave its Inhabitants"; "the wanton and unnecessary Destruction of Charlestown"; the denial of the "fundamental Principle of the British Constitution, that every Man should have at least a Representative Share in the Formation of those Laws, by which he is bound"; and cabinet ministers who act as "equal Foes to British and American freedom" and "exhaust your Treasures and waste the Blood of your Countrymen in vain Attempts on our Liberty. …" That this letter to the British people from the Continental Congress seems intended at least as much to provoke a crisis as to avoid it should not be surprising: a year later, 7 June 1776, its principal author, Richard Henry Lee, moved the resolution in the Continental Congress "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The congressional address "to the Inhabitants of Great-Britain" was quickly reprinted, in both pamphlet and broadside format, by Daniel Fowle in Portsmouth, John Holt in New York, Solomon Southwick in Newport, and the Bradfords themselves; it also appeared in several newspapers, including Rivington's New-York Gazetteer. All 1775 printings are uncommon and the present first printing is rare: Rare Book Hub cites a single copy at auction, Sotheby's London, 3 July 1967, lot 108A. REFERENCE: Evans 14532; ESTC W29610; Hildeburn 3302; Sabin 97533. Not in Adams, Independence; cf. Adams, Controversy 75-152

View 1 of Lot 1124: Continental Congress | A significant companion to the Olive Branch Petition

continental congress | a significant companion to the olive branch petition

Property of a New York Collector Adams, John Autograph letter signed ("John Adams") as first United States Minister to Great Britain, to Elbridge Gerry, expressing his frustrations in representing America's interests under the Articles of Confederation 4 pages (325 x 202 mm) on a bifolium (watermarked C Taylor | seated Liberty), Grosvenor Square, written in a fine, unusually large hand, London, 24 May 1786, reception docket in margin of final page ("London Lettr | His Excy. Mr Adams | 24 May 1786"); separated at central fold, light discoloration at a few fold creases, short marginal separations and repair at one fold crease. "A more disagreable Situation than mine no Man ever held in Life and whoever succeeds me, will not find it more pleasant." Adams vents to one of his closest political allies, Elbridge Gerry, a fellow signer of the Declaration of Independence from Massachusetts, about his inability to successfully negoiate a commercial treaty with the British ministry because the not-fully-united states were not strong enough to support their own credit and regulate their own trade. In a foreshadowing of his celebrated 1787 attack on the Articles of Confederation, Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America—which was prompted by the ineffectual confederated response to Shays' Rebellion—Adams here analyses the weaknesses of the American financial system under the Articles. After a preliminary summary of arrêts and other enclosures sent by Adams to Rufus King and Gerry, the main theme of the letter—the shortcomings of the American financial system—is introduced with a phrase quoted from Gerry's 12 April 1786 letter to Adams: "The issue of all my 'Negotiations respecting the Interest of British Debts,['] during the War, and respecting every Thing else, is just nothing at all.—I have done all in my Power to do to no purpose, and I tell you freely, that the British Ministry will do nothing about this or any Thing else until the States Shall Support their Credit, and regulate their own trade, in a manner that shall shew them that it is not left to British Merchants and Politicians to manage as they please. Nor then in my opinion will they ever intermeddle, or agree to relinquish the Interest. It will finally be left to every Debtor to make the best agreement he can with his Creditor, or to dispute it at Law, and avoid the Payment of the Interest by the Verdict of a Jury. If the juries give it against our Merchants, they will never find any other Remedy. As to any Clamour that may be raised by my concealed competitors, it will do them no good nor me any harm, if they want my Place, and Congress give it them it will be with my hearty consent, without any Clamour at all. A more disagreable Situation than mine no Man ever held in Life and whoever succeeds me, will not find it more pleasant." Adams next turns to his critics in Congress, confidently, even eagerly, offering to step aside if anyone cares to replace him and comparing his lot to the Israelite slaves laboring on the pyramids: "If any one thinks he can do better in mercy, let him put up, and if anybody thinks of any other who can do more let him vote for him in the name of freedom. Old as I am, I had rather draw Writs and Pleas in abatement than do suffer what is now my Lot. Making brick without Straw, which has been my Employment ever since I have been in Europe, and is more so now than ever, was never reckoned an easy, or pleasant Task, from the Days of the Israelites in Egypt to this moment. Untill I came to England I was as little apprised as you of the Extent of this evil of Interest. It was too carefully concealed, by American Debtors, until it was past a Remedy. The time is long since perfectly past, for doing any Thing in the Country, and another opportunity will never arrive, until after a long and arduous Struggle." The letter takes a lighter turn, with Adams teasing Gerry and their mutual friend Rufus King for "marrying the two finest Girls in New York"—and he initmates that their wealthy wives have put Gerry and King "in a way to make fœderal Ideas, grow, and may they prosper untill Congress shall have the Power and the Will, to form a System, which shall bring this Country to think." Gerry and King would, in fact, both attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia the following summer, the product of which would replace the Articles as the governing charter of the United States. (Gerry, however, declined to sign the Constitution.) But Adams's darker humor returns, and he ends the letter by railing against the futility of his efforts because of the weakness of the Articles of Confederation. His final phrase reiterates that he is fully willing to quit his position: "You may depend upon it every Man who expects any Thing from my Negotiations will be disappointed. I am not an Idler. My whole Time is employed to the utmost of my Strength and Capacity, and to no more purpose, than if I were at Horse Races or State Plays, and this will assuredly continue to be the Case, until the Trade and Revennue of the Country shall be made to feel the Effect of the Conduct of Congress and the States in regulating their Trade..— if it is not thought worth while to continue me here, untill that Event takes Place, I am myself fully to that mind, and am quite prepared to be recalled." REFERENCE: Papers of John Adams, ed. Lint, et. al, 18:308–310 PROVENANCE: Christie's New York, 3 December 2007, lot 95 (Property of a Private Collector)

View 1 of Lot 1111: Adams, John | "A more disagreable Situation than mine no Man ever held in Life"

adams, john | "a more disagreable situation than mine no man ever held in life"

Adams, John Quincy Autograph letter signed ("J. Q. Adams") as a Representative from Massachusetts, to Elijah Hayward, harshly criticizing the institution of slavery, foreseeing its end in the United States, and predicting a better future for the human race 4 pages (252 x 200 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper, Washington, 20 April 1837; pinholes at intersecting folds, a few very short marginal fold separations, some light staining. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. In a magnificent letter revealing the increasing passion of his antislavery beliefs, John Quincy Adams forcefully condemns the institution of slavery: "It shocks the moral sense of every soul not contaminated by the practice of oppression." In May 1836 the House of Representatives adopted a resolution that became known as the "Gag Rule." This resolution, readopted and even strengthened by subsequent congresses, automatically "tabled," or postponed action on all petitions relating to slavery without hearing them. John Quincy Adams quickly became the leader of the opposition to this stifling of the voices of enslaved persons and abolitionists. He here elaborates his views to Elijah Hayward, a Massachusetts native then resident in Ohio, who had written to Adams to congratulate him on his maiden speech on the controversy. While clearly demonstrating Adams's righteous anger about slavery, the letter also reveals a deep confidence in humanity's ability to improve itself. Adams begins by assuring Hayward that he remembers him and recollecting to him the pride they should share in their home state: "I remember also that you mentioned to me once that you was a native of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, whence I also derive my birth, and of whose felicities I believe it one of the greatest, that from her originated that Ordinance for the Northwestern Territory the first abolition of Slavery on this continent, which has already given to this Union four of its most flourishing states, in which there is neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless as punishment for crime." Adams advances gradually to the subject of slavery and the gag rule, first enumerating the various other changes he foresees in coming generations. "I believe the day will come when there will be neither war, slavery, nor hereditary kings upon earth. How many centuries it will take to accomplish this revolution it is not given to me to foretell. If the population of the North American continent should increase for two centuries to come in the same proportion as it has regularly done for the half century since the establishment of the Constitution of the United States, in two hundred years from this day there will be three thousand millions of the human race living on its surface. There is room for them all, and for as many more on the continent of South America. The steamboat and the railway have already approximated distances so that we travel five hundred miles in a day. Speed is power, and the multiplication of that power in the last half century has at least kept pace with that of population. And in the same half century, notwithstanding the bloody wars that have waged, the uniform tendency of the minds and hearts of civilized men towards each other has been from cruelty to benevolence, from harshness to humanity. The question whether man has in any case whatever the right to take the life of man is sinking deeper and deeper into the Consciences of men. The right of offensive war has not only fallen into disfavor but has become exceedingly problematical. Personal imprisonment for debt is gradually disappearing from all Christian Codes. Even the right of defensive war has been denied in theory, and the denial has been supported by powerful arguments." Warming to his subject, Adams takes direct aim at the hypocrisy of slavery and the deformed logic of those who would defend it. "The right of man to property in man has been for many years scoured out of all decent moral and intellectual company. With shame and confusion of face I ask it that countrymen of ours at this time are laboring to roll this rock of Sisyphus uphill and are heaping Pelion upon Ossa, to prove that slavery is sanctioned by the laws of nature and of God; but if Julian the apostate, armed with Genius, Learning, Philosophy, dauntless courage and imperial power was unable to establish upon the throne of Heaven the three hundred thousand Gods of Rome, the Sophists of tyranny never will reinfuse into the hearts of men the belief that eternal Justice can approve the bondage of slavery. It shocks the moral sense of every soul not contaminated by the practice of oppression." In a moving anecdote, Adams references his political opponent, John Randolph of Roanoke, an aristocratic planter and congressman, who manumitted his slaves, "heartily regretting that I have ever been the owner of one." Adams reminds Hayward that "John Randolph declared the Declaration of Independence, the great charter of mankind, 'a barrage of abstractions'—but John Randolph died with "Remorse" upon his lips, and emancipated his slaves by his Will, 'because in his conscience he believed they ought to be free.'" In a stirring passage, Adams next links slavery to monarchy, an institution that the United States had already thrown off, invoking the Declaration of Independence and referring to enslaved persons as America's "own people": "Slavery is a part and parcel of the divine right of kings, and no thinking man can read Hobbes and Sir Robert Filmer, without perceiving that all the arguments which they urge in favour of despotic power in Government, and against the theory of human rights, are the identical and only arguments by which a colour of justification can be given to slavery. This must eventually be the sense of all mankind; but that in this Country, with an appeal to God that all men are born with an inalienable right to Liberty; and that this is a self-evident truth—that a nation founding its existence upon the proclamation of that law, should suffer its ears to hear from its own degenerate Sons, that one sixth part of its own people are chattels, to whom no rights can belong [here, words seem to fail Adams, who resorts to writing a series of ellipses before continuing] my dear Sir, when Daniel O'Connell in the British Parliament, pronounces us in the face of Heaven and Earth a Nation of Hypocrites and Liars, we may answer him with Billingsgate upon Earth, but will Bishop England just from Hayti tell us what we shall say to Heaven?" As he nears his conclusion, Adams's rhetoric becomes more vehement, before closing with a more reflective, conciliatory, and hopeful tone. "No—never, never can Slavery again be reconciled to the rights, or to the duties of man. Our slave-trading Professors, and Governors, and Chancellors, and Bishops, may cauterize their own consciences and those of their accomplices, while they live, with sophistication worthy of Belial Pandemonium, but with John Randolph, 'Remorse' will be their dying word, without even the atonement of emancipating their Slaves at death. They may, and I fear will rivet the chains of slavery upon their unhappy fellow creatures whom they hold in bondage. They may, and I fear will restore the extinguished curse of slavery in Mexico, and thereby fortify and reinforce and spread its odious dominion in our own country; protracting its final doom for unblest ages to come—but in the chancery of Heaven that doom is sealed—Slavery shall vanish from the earth; and the race of man, descended from one father, shall live as a band of brothers upon Earth. … Your letter has led me far into futurity, and far beyond my depth. In the anticipation that for two hundred years to come the population of the North American continent will increase with the same rapidity that it has in the five decades of the last half of the last century … and we contemplate what this mass of physical, moral, and intellectual congregated human power may effect for the improvement of the earth, and of the condition of its mortal and immortal inhabitant, may we not in humble hope invoke the blessing of the Father of Spirits upon every purpose intended to promote the universal emancipation of man?" PROVENANCE Skinner, 18 November 2012, lot 2621B ["a small New England nonprofit institution," as described by the Quincy Patriot Ledger, 13 November 2012] REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 179; cf. Miller, Arguing About Slavery: The Great Battle in the United States Congress (New York, 1996)

View 1 of Lot 22: Adams, John Quincy | "No—never, never can Slavery again be reconciled to the rights, or to the duties of man."

adams, john quincy | "no—never, never can slavery again be reconciled to the rights, or to the duties of man."

United States Constitution, Amendment XIII

United States Constitution, Amendment XIII Thirty-Eighth Congress of the United States of America at the Second Session, Begun and Held at the City of Washington, on Monday, the Fifth day of December, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty Four. A Resolution Submitting to the Legislatures of the Aeveral States A Proposition to Amend the Constitution of the United States. Resolved By The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Two Thirds of Both Houses Concurring, that the Following Article be Proposed to the Legislatures of the Several States As An Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which, when ratified by three-fourths of said Legislatures, shall be valid, to all intents and purposes, as a part of the said Constitution, namely: Article XIII. Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Engrossed document on vellum (532 x 395 mm, irregular), ruled in red and blue (now faint), marked at head "A Duplicate," Washington, D.C., ca. 1 February 1865, signed by Vice President Hannibal Hamlin, 31 Senators (all in the top 6 rows), 80 Representatives, and Speaker of the House Schuyler Colfax (plus 5 duplicate signatures); lightly browned and soiled, some natural wrinkling, long tear (ca. 170 mm) at right margin into text, obscuring some text and artlessly repaired on verso. The Emancipation Proclamation, by ushering in full abolition, helped fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence, rescuing the nation’s founding philosophy of human liberty from the charge of hypocrisy. As historians James Oliver Horton and Lois E. Horton note, the history of African Americans “both illustrates and contradicts the promise of America—the principles embodied in the nation’s founding documents” (Horton & Horton, In Hope of Liberty, ix). While the Emancipation Proclamation was taking its effect in the field as the Union army advanced, Lincoln also advocated a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery everywhere in the United States. On 14 December 1863, Ohio Congressman James M. Ashley introduced such an amendment in the House of Representatives. Senator John Brooks Henderson of Missouri, a border state that still sanctioned slavery, followed suit on 11 January 1864, courageously submitting a joint resolution for an amendment abolishing slavery. The proposal passed in the Senate on 8 April 1864, with a vote of 38 to 6. Two months later, however, it was defeated in the House of Representatives, 95 to 66 (or by another account, 93-65), shy of the 2/3 necessary for approval. Lincoln, not about to give up, made abolition a central plank of the National Union platform during his reelection campaign. He argued, “When the people in revolt, with a hundred days of explicit notice, that they could, within those days, resume their allegiance, without the overthrow of their institution, and that they could not so resume it afterwards, elected to stand out, such [an] amendment of the Constitution as [is] now proposed, became a fitting, and necessary conclusion to the final success of the Union cause. Such alone can meet and cover all cavils. …” (Basler, Collected Works, 7, 380). But the outcome was in doubt until the final hour. A Pennsylvania Democrat, Archibald McAllister, opened the debate by explaining why he had changed his vote from a “Nay” to an “Aye.” He had been in favor of exhausting all means of conciliation, but was now satisfied that nothing short of independence would satisfy the Southern Confederacy, and that therefore it must be destroyed, and he must cast his vote against its cornerstone, and declare eternal war with the enemies of the country. Fellow Pennsylvania Democrat Alexander Hamilton Coffroth also changed his vote, and gave a speech advocating passage. Arguments continued until, finally, the votes were tallied. This time it passed, by a vote of 119 to 56, with eight abstentions. When Speaker Colfax declared the results, “a moment of silence succeeded, and then, from floor and galleries, burst a simultaneous shout of joy and triumph, spontaneous, irrepressible and uncontrollable, swelling and prolonged in one vast volume of reverberating thunder…” (Report of the special committee on the passage by the House of Representatives of the constitutional amendment for the abolition of slavery. January 31st, 1865: The Action of the Union League Club on the Amendment, February 9, 1865, in “From Slavery to Freedom.” American Memory, Library of Congress). Having already been approved by the Senate the previous April, the amendment passed in the House on 31 January 1865. The engrossed manuscript was prepared, and Lincoln signed it on 1 February. There does not appear to be any record of the number of “souvenir” copies of the Amendment prepared for the legislators. Twelve to fifteen are known with Lincoln’s signature. Additional manuscript copies, like the present, are known signed by Senators, Congressmen and other officials, but with the space for the President’s name blank. On February 7th, the Senate, anxious not to set a precedent, resolved that the president’s signature had been “unnecessary” on a joint amendment resolution. The Senate secretary, John W. Forney, was directed to “withhold from the House of Representatives the message of the President informing the Senate that he had approved and signed the same” (Senate Journal). The more notable signers of this copy, in addition to the vice president and speaker of the house, include John B. Henderson of Missouri, who had introduced the bill in the Senate; and James M. Ashley of Ohio, who introduced the bill in the House; Schuyler Colfax of Indiana, vice president under Grant; prominent abolitionists Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and Charles Sumner of Massachusetts; and future presidential candidate James Blaine of Maine. Most of the amendment's support came from Republicans, but several Democrats helped secure its passage; the only two Democratic supporters in the Senate—Reverdy Johnson of Maryland and James Nesmith of Oregon —signed this copy, as did Ezra Wheeler of Wisconsin, who was the only Democrat to make a speech in favor of the amendment on the House floor. Also signing here is George Helm Yeaman of slave-holding Kentucky, who cast what proved to be the deciding vote. A complete list of signers is available upon request.

View 1 of Lot 1088: United States Constitution, Amendment XIII | "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United States"

united states constitution, amendment xiii | "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the united states"

The Library of Dr. Rodney P. Swantko

[Burke, Edmund — French Revolution] An Historical Sketch of the French Revolution from its Commencement to the Year 1792. London: J. Debrett, 1792 8vo. Occasional light foxing. Half calf over marbled boards; joints beginning to crack, label beginning to peel from spine, covers a little faded and soiled, corners bumped. First edition of this anonymous response to Burke's text on the French Revolution. ESTC states that this work is frequently, but doubtfully, attributed to Sir James Mackintosh. It is an anonymous response to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, espousing his sentiments but conceding that "some of them are carried a little too far." It gathers French sources together and asks the reader to study the primary accounts of the revolution from its origins up until the beginning of 1792. The author argues that differences in the French and British constitutions could explain why violent revolution had broken out in France but not in Britain. Edmund Burke's political pamphlet on the French Revolution had been published in November 1790, attacking the French Revolution by contrasting it to the British constitution. It has been called the "most eloquent statement of British conservatism favoring monarchy, aristocracy, property, hereditary succession, and the wisdom of the ages." Sir James Mackintosh was a Scottish historian and politician. He published his Vindiciae Gallicae: A Defence of the French Revolution and its English Admirers in early 1791, a reply to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. It opposed Burke's conservative anti-revolutionary views from the perspective of a philosophic liberal. However, the extreme bheaviour of the revolutionaries later caused him to agree with Burke. Mackintosh wrote to Burke on 22 December 1796, saying that: "From the earliest moments of reflexion your writings were my chief study and delight...The enthusiasm with which I then embraced them is now ripened into solid Conviction by the experience and meditation of more mature age. For a time indeed seduced by the love of what I thought liberty I ventured to oppose your Opinions without ever ceasing to venerate your character...I cannot say...that I can even now assent to all your opinions on the present politics of Europe. But I can with truth affirm that I subscribe to your general Principles; that I consider them as the only solid foundation both of political Science and of political prudence." Whether Mackintosh had changed his views in time to publish the present treatise in 1792 is unconfirmed. REFERENCE: ESTC T63093

View 1 of Lot 3: [Burke, Edmund — French Revolution] | An Historical Sketch of the French Revolution

[burke, edmund — french revolution] | an historical sketch of the french revolution

Story, Joseph Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. Boston: Hilliard, Gray and Company; Cambridge: Brown, Shattuck and Co., 1833 3 volumes, 8vo (226 x 135 mm). Title-page to each volume; foxing, some dampstaining to vol. II. Contemporary sheep, expert repairs to joints. First edition of Story's authoritative treatise on the Constitution. Story's Commentaries was the most substantial and influential work written on the United States Constitution since the Federalist Papers. Written while serving as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, the work defends both the powers of the federal government and economic liberty. The work begins with a review of American history before the Constitution, an analysis of the Articles of Confederation, and a history of the writing and adoption of the Constitution. Chief Justice John Marshall, to whom Story dedicated the work, wrote to Story after reviewing his copy: "I have finished reading your great work, and wish it could be read by every statesman, and every would-be statesman in the United States. It is a comprehensive and an accurate commentary on our Constitution, formed in the spirit of the original text." REFERENCES: Howes S1047; Sabin 92291; Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 2914 PROVENANCE: James Jackson (early ownership signature to title-pages)

View 1 of Lot 1028: Story, Joseph | First of this authoritative treatise on the Constitution

story, joseph | first of this authoritative treatise on the constitution

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery

Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery The Constitution of the Pennsylvania Society, for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Begun in the year 1774, and enlagred [sic] on the twenty-third of April, 1787. To which are added, the Acts of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, for the Gradual Abolition of slavery. Philadelphia: Printed by Joseph James, in Chesnut-Street, M.DCC.LXXXVII (1787) 8vo (198 x 128 mm). Half-title; lightly browned, some light dampstaining to upper margin of last few leaves. Stab-sewn in original blue wrappers; soiled, long, clean tear to front wrapper. First edition, first issue, with misspelling enlagred on title-page. In 1774 Anthony Benezet called the first meeting of the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully held in Bondage; most of its members were Quakers. The Society grew in numbers and reorganized several times; and it was joined by such prominent figures as Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush, who helped write the Society's new constitution—which was drafted and published in the same year and the same city—Philadelphia—as the Constitution of the United States, of which, of course, Franklin was also a significant framer. The preamble, or introduction, to the Society’s constitution states: “It having pleased the Creator of the world, to make of one flesh, all the children of men—it becomes them to consult and promote each other’s happiness, as members of the same family, however diversified they may be, by colour, situation, religion, or different states of society. It is more especially the duty of those persons, who profess to maintain for themselves the rights of human nature, and who acknowledge the obligations of Christianity, to use such means as are in their power, to extend the blessings of freedom to every part of the human race; and in a more particular manner, to such of their fellow-creatures, as are entitled to freedom by the laws and constitutions of any of the United States, and who, notwithstanding, are detained in bondage, by fraud or violence.— From a full conviction of the truth and obligation of these principles—from a desire to diffuse them, wherever the miseries and vices of slavery exist, and in humble confidence of the favour and support of the Father of Mankind, the subscribers have associated themselves under the title of the ‘Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of slavery, and the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage.’” Inevitably, some modern historians have questioned the sincerity of Franklin’s commitment to abolition; for example, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner writes, “But in the end, Franklin’s abolitionism remains something of an enigma, replete with questions, contradictions, inconsistencies. Some have argued that Franklin’s apparent antislavery energy was little more than the backwater of his wife’s commitment to the cause. … The fact that there is no evidence that Franklin ever made friends with a black person gives cause to raise such a question. Apparently new insights did not alter his behavior toward the black people surrounding him” (“At the End, an Abolitionist?,” in Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, ed. Talbott, pp. 294–96). However, the letter that Franklin sent to Samuel Huntington, Governor of Connecticut, 12 January 1788, just three days after that state had ratified the proposed Constitution of the United States, leaves little doubt of the genuine abhorrence with which the elder statesman viewed slavery: “The Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of Slavery, & the relief of free Negroes unlawfully held in bondage have taken the liberty to request your Excellencys acceptance of a few copies of their Constitution and the laws of Pennsa. which relate to one of the objects of their Institution. … The Society have heard with great distress that a considerable part of the Slaves, who have been sold in the Southern States since the establishment of the peace have been imported in vessels fitted out in the United States. From your Excellencys station they hope your influence will be exerted hereafter to prevent a practice which is so evidently repugnant to the political principles & forms of government lately adopted by the Citizens of the United States, & wch. cannot fail of delaying the enjoyment of the blessings of Peace & Liberty by drawing down the displeasure of the great and impartial ruler of the Universe upon our Country.” (Franklin’s letter to Huntington was sold by Sotheby’s New York, 7 December 1999, lot 34A, and, at $305,000, is the most expensive letter by Franklin ever sold at auction. The letter remains unpublished, but will be included in a forthcoming volume of The Papers of Benjamin Franklin; in the meantime, the text, without editorial apparatus, is available at franklinpapers.org.) REFERENCES ESTC W30521; Evans 20636; Federal Hundred 14; Sabin 60364

View 1 of Lot 139: Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery | “to extend the blessings of freedom to every part of the human race”

pennsylvania society for promoting the abolition of slavery | “to extend the blessings of freedom to every part of the human race”

The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser

The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser The Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser. Saturday, October 24, 1789. Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1789 Folio (465 x 288 mm). 4 pages on 1 sheet, type in 4 columns, printer's ornaments; lightly browned at edges, small marginal chips and short closed tears. Rhode Island fears "in the new constitution an approach ... towards that form of government from which we have lately dissolved our connection" The second page prints "a true copy of the letter written by the General Assembly, at the session held in September, A.D. 1789, to the President, Senate and House of Representatives of the Eleven United States of America in Congress," which describes Rhode Island's ambivalence to ratify the Constitution of the United States: "The critical situation in which the people of this state are placed, engages us to make these assurances on their behalf, of their attachment and friendship to their sister states, and of their disposition to cultivate mutual harmony and friendly intercourse—They know themselves to be a handful comparatively viewed; and although they now stand as it were alone, they have not separated themselves, or departed from the principles of the confederation, which was formed by the sister states in their struggle for freedom, and in the hour of danger. They seek by this memorial to call your remembrance the hazards which we have run—the hardships we have endured—the treasure we have spent—and the blood we have lost together in one common cause, and especially the object we had in view—the preservation of our liberty ... Our not having acceded to or adopted the new system of government, formed and adopted by most of our sister states, we doubt not has given uneasiness to them—that we have not seen our way clear to do it, consistent with our idea of the principles upon which we all embarked together, has also given pain to us—we have not doubted but we might thereby avoid present difficulties, but we have apprehended future mischiefs. The people of this state from its first settlement have been accustomed and strongly attached to a democratical form of government:—They have viewed in the new constitution an approach, though perhaps but small, towards that form of government from which we have lately dissolved our connection at so much hazard and expence [sic] of life and treasure. ... "

View 1 of Lot 198: The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser | A remarkable document showcasing Rhode Island's path to ratification.

the pennsylvania packet and daily advertiser | a remarkable document showcasing rhode island's path to ratification.

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. New York: Printed and sold by J[ohn]. and A[ndrew]. M'Lean, 1788

The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787. New York: Printed and sold by J[ohn]. and A[ndrew]. M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes, 12mo (162 x 99 mm [vol. 1]; 159 x 95 mm [vol. 2]). Volume 1 from the library of Bushrod Washington, with his signature on title-page (ruled through but legible) and ownership cipher on leaf B1 (an inked W added to the printed quire letter B), subsequently signed by Washington's brother-in-law, Henry Smith Turner at head of title-page (just shaved), scattered marginalia in pencil, attributing authorship of some essays, ink notation in margin of p. 1:105 (possibly in Bushrod Washington’s hand). Volume 1 bound in early American marbled sheep, smooth spine elaborately gilt-tooled and -ruled with gilt-lettered brown morocco title and volume labels, yellow-coated endpapers, brown sprinkled edges; joints and head and foot of spine neatly restored. Volume II in a brilliant near-twin retrospective binding. A fine association copy of the rare thick-paper first edition of The Federalist, with the ownership signature of Bushrod Washington in the first volume, a delegate in the Virginia Ratification Convention, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court whose tenure helped shape the federal judiciary and national government. Written as expedient political propaganda for the purpose of supporting New York's ratification of the Federal Constitution, the essays in The Federalist are now recognized as one of America's most important contributions to political theory and a "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). Alexander Hamilton was the principal force behind the entry of "Publius" (the pen name shared by all three authors) into the ratification pamphlet wars, but he enlisted Virginian James Madison and fellow New Yorker John Jay as collaborators. Each was assigned an area corresponding to his expertise. Jay naturally assumed responsibility for foreign relations. Madison, knowledgeable in the history of republics and confederacies, wrote on those topics. Having drafted the Virginia Plan, it also fell to him to outline the structure of the new government. Hamilton took on those branches of government most congenial to him: the executive and the judiciary; and he also covered military matters and taxation. In the printers' preface, the M'Leans state that their intention was to assist "the public judgment on the momentous question of the Constitution of the United States, … promote the cause of truth, and lead to a right judgment of the true interests of the community." At the time of the writing of the essays, Hamilton and Madison "were so close in style and outlook that scholars find it hard to sort out their separate contributions" (Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, p. 251). The Library of Congress attributes with certainty fifty-one essays to Hamilton, fifteen to Madison, and five to Jay, three to Hamilton and Madison together, and nine as being written by either Hamilton or Madison. The first thirty-six Federalist papers were collected and published by the M'Lean brothers in March 1788, and the final forty-nine—together with the text of the Constitution, a roster of its signers, and the resolution submitting it to the consideration of Congress—followed in a second volume two months later. In fact, the final eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared serially in newspapers. George Washington, who would shortly chair the Constitutional Convention, praised the collection of essays in a letter to Hamilton, 28 August 1788: "As the perusal of the political papers under the signature of Publius has afforded me great satisfaction, I shall certainly consider them as claiming a most distinguished place in my library. I have read every performance which has been printed on one side and the other of the great question lately agitated (so far as I have been able to obtain them) and, without an unmeaning compliment, I will say that I have seen no other so well calculated (in my judgment) to produce conviction on an unbiassed mind, as the Production of your Triumvirate. When the transient circumstances & fugitive performances which attended this crisis shall have disappeared, that work will merit the notice of Posterity; because in it are candidly discussed the principles of freedom & the topics of government, which will be always interesting to mankind so long as they shall be connected in Civil Society" (Papers, Confederation Series, ed. Abbot, 6:480–482). In 1825 Thomas Jefferson urged the adoption of The Federalist as a required text at the University of Virginia, describing it as "an authority to which appeal is habitually made by all … as evidence of the general opinion of those who framed, and of those who accepted the Constitution of the United States, on questions as to its genuine meaning." The significance of the work remains unchallenged: constitutional scholar Michael I. Meyerson wrote in his study that "The Federalist not only serves as the single most important resource for interpreting the constitution, it provides a wise and sophisticated explanation of the uses and abuses of governmental power from Washington to Baghdad" (Liberty's Blueprint: How Madison and Hamilton Wrote the Federalist Papers, Defined the Constitution, and Made Democracy Safe for the World, 2008, p. ix). The Federalist—whose essays have "a timeless, trans-historical quality" (Bailyn)—is without question the most important commentary on the Constitution, the most significant American contribution to political theory, and among the most important of all American books. The present copy is one of the small number of copies printed on thick paper and is further distinguished by its provenance. Bushrod Washington, at 26, was elected in March 1788 to represent Westmoreland County at Virginia's ratification convention. The oldest son of George Washington's brother, he had recently begun his public career in the Virginia House of Delegates. A skilled attorney who studied law at William and Mary College and served under James Wilson, Bushrod became a staunch Federalist and supporter of the Constitution, influenced by his illustrious uncle. During the Virginia Ratification Convention in June 1788, Bushrod attended every session and played a crucial role in the narrow ratification victory. It is uncertain when Bushrod came into possession of this book, but is conceivable that it was around the time of the Virginia Ratification Convention. In the decade following the convention, Bushrod became a prominent attorney and was appointed to the Supreme Court by President John Adams in 1798, filling James Wilson's seat. Serving for thirty-one years, he was a key ally of Chief Justice John Marshall, contributing significantly to constitutional interpretation in landmark cases. Known for his judicial skill and steady temperament, Bushrod Washington's influence on American constitutional law remains notable. REFERENCES Bailyn, The Federalist Papers (Library of Congress, 1998); Bernstein, Are We To Be a Nation?, pp. 239–242; Church 1230; ESTC W5416; Evans 21127; Federal Hundred 19; Ford, Bibliotheca Hamiltoniana 17; Grolier/American 19; Printing and the Mind of Man 234; Reese, The Federal Hundred 19; Sabin 23979; Streeter 2:1049 PROVENANCE Volume 1: Bushrod Washington (signature on title-page, ruled through but legible; ownership cipher on B1) — Henry Smith Turner (signature on title-page). Turner was married to the sister of Bushrod Washington’s wife; it is possible that he received this copy after Bushrod inherited the Mount Vernon library of his uncle, George Washington, which included a thick-paper copy. — “Private Collection” (Freeman’s, 10 September 2024, lot 34)

View 1 of Lot 504: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Bushrod Washington's Federalist, praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"

(hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay) | bushrod washington's federalist, praised by george washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of posterity"

Salomon, Haym Autograph endorsement ("Haym Salomon") on the verso of Bill of Exchange drawn on "the Hon. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, or the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of North American, at the Court of Versailles" Printed document (205 x 95 mm; watermarked United States 2) cut from a sheet of four bills of exchange, Numb. 52, this being the second of the four for "Four Hundred Mexican Dollars, or Two Thousand Livres Tournois; Value received by the United States," accomplished in a clerical hand in favor of Salomon, [Philadelphia], 14 December 1780, signed by Treasurer of Loans (and signer of the Declaration of Independence), Francis Hopkinson ("F. Hopkinson"), countersigned by the Commissioner of the Continental Loan-Office in the State of Pennsylvania ("Thos. Smith"), also endorsed on the verso by Thomas Patterson. Matted and mounted between two sheets of Plexiglas, housed in a red morocco folding-case by Heinke Penske-Adam, extensively gilt-lettered, opening to reveal a self-contained easel on which the document can be displayed. A scarce and handsomely formatted bill of exchange, evidently designed by Francis Hopkinson. This is one of many such instruments issued to pay the interest of the domestic debt of the United States and to allow it to draw on its gold reserves in Europe to raise immediate specie in order to purchase supplies and prosecute the War for Independence. Such bills of exchange "were the eighteenth-century equivalent of modern checks; they enabled persons having funds available in other places to raise money for local use" (Edgar J. McManus, in American National Biography). The bills would be sold, usually at a discount, to merchants, financers, and patriots. The most significant of the "bill brokers" was Haym Salomon. Salomon (1740–1785) was born in Lissa, Poland, and emigrated to New York City shortly before the outbreak of the Revolution. He acted as a secret agent against the British in occupied New York, was arrested twice and condemned to death, before bribing his way out of prison and fleeing to Philadelphia. He reestablished his brokerage firm and became the principal bill broker for Hopkinson and then for Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris. Salomon, who was fluent in French, essentially acted as paymaster general for Rochambeau, and advanced money to army officers and Congressional delegations. He also personally advanced funds to members of the Continental Congress (including James Madison) and other federal officers, charging interest and commissions well below the market rates. Salomon also played a prominent role in the Philadelphia and national Jewish community affairs. In 1783, Salomon and other prominent Jewish Philadelphians addressed the Pennsylvania Council of Censors to request the removal of a religious test oath required for office-holding under the state constitution. His health compromised by his imprisonment by the British, Salomon died in January 1785, holding more than $350,000 in depreciated Continental currency and heavily discounted government notes and securities; the market value of his estate was about twelve cents to the dollar. The Pennsylvania Packet mourned him as "an eminent broker … remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession and for his generous and humane deportment." The companion fourth bill of exchange Numb. 52 is in the American Jewish Historical Society, as featured in an online exhibition "A History of Jewish Philanthropy in America" (http://contributors.cjh.org/learn/founding-freedom). The bills were issued in sets of four so that the holder could still redeem it if the the first was lost or captured at sea. "As soon as a bill made it to Paris, the others in the set lost all value. Presently no first bill of exchange is known to have survived, second bills [like the present] are rare …" (Anderson, pp. 87–88). REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 88; cf. William G. Anderson, The Price of Liberty: The Public Debt of the American Revolution (1983), passim

View 1 of Lot 420: Salomon, Haym | A Bill of Exchange issued by the United States to support the Revolutionary War, endorsed by the financier-patriot Haym Salomon

Results for "The Constitution Of Liberty"