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

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 1

(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

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

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

Hamilton, Alexander The Works of Alexander Hamilton; Comprising His Most Important Official Reports; An Improved Edition of The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in 1788; and Pacificus. New York: Williams & Whiting, 1810 3 vols., 8vo (189 x 112 mm). 3 engraved portraits of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay; some light toning and foxing. Antique mottled calf, spines smooth, red morocco title labels, spines ruled and numbered in gilt; recased, small losses to head- and tail-pieces, a few fairly unobtrusive worm spots to covers, skillful circular repair to back board of vol. 3. The first collected edition, with an early printing of The Federalist The first volume contains five of Hamilton's reports as Secretary of the Treasury, while volumes II and III are devoted primarily to the Federalist Papers, and include significant additions, incorporating changes based on Hamilton's own notes. REFERENCE Sabin 29987

View 1 of Lot 232: Hamilton, Alexander | The first collected edition of Alexander Hamilton's Works, with an early printing of The Federalist

hamilton, alexander | the first collected edition of alexander hamilton's works, with an early printing of the federalist

Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana

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"

Fine Books and Manuscripts Online

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 J[ohn] and A[ndrew] M'Lean, 1788 2 vols., 12mo (6 3/8 x 3 3/4 in.; 165 x 97 mm). Lacking half-title in vol. 2 (vol. 1 issued without half-title), vol. 1 title-page soiled and renewed at fore-edge, upper fore-edge corner of 1.a2 with early repair, 1.a3 with tiny hole and early repair, vol. 2 title-page torn with loss with outer two-thirds supplied in facsimile, several leaves in gatherings 2.Q & R with early marginal repair, scattered spotting. Polished calf antique, gilt spines in six compartments with red and green morocco labels; extremities rubbed. First edition, fine-paper issue, of The Federalist: "A classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). 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. 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 (here bound at the end of vol. 1)—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. The designation "fine-paper issue" indicates that this copy is not one of the few copies printed on heavier-bulking "thick" paper, but is printed on the standard book paper of the edition.’ REFERENCES Bernstein, Are We to Be a Nation?, pp. 239–242; Church 1230; Evans 21127; Grolier, American 19; Printing and the Mind of Man 234

hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay

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

Magna Carta Magna Charta, cum statutis qua antiqua vocantur, iam recens excusa, & summa fide emendata, iuxta vetusta exemplaria ad Parliamenti rotulos examinata: quibus accesserunt nonnulla nunc primum typis edita. [London:] Richard Tottel, 1556 2 parts in one volume, 8vo (133 x 89 mm). Woodcut initials, text in black letter, section title for second part with separate register and foliation; lightly washed and pressed. Nineteenth-century blind-ruled calf over beveled boards, Dutch combed marbled endpapers, edges stained carmine red; rebacked, retaining original spine. First Tottel edition. "Magna Carta was a charter written by Englishmen, but the logical development of its ideas and their implementation has been left to Americans. Many of the legal injustices highlighted in the American Declaration of Independence echo specific provisions of Magna Carta … Magna Carta also served as the keystone of the Constitution and Bill of Rights … [A]lmost two centuries before the Continental Congress declared the United States independent from Great Britain, Magna Carta was already sowing the seeds of personal and political liberty in England's North American colonies (Sotheby's New York, The Magna Carta, 18 December 2007, p. 82). "The Declaration of Independence—predicated on the principle that governments derive 'their just powers from the consent of the governed'—largely comprises a list of accepted articles of Magna Carta that had been violated by George III, including 'imposing Taxes on us without our Consent'; 'depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury'; 'quartering large bodies of armed troops among us'; and 'taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments.' And the Declaration, like Magna Carta, was issued as a public pronouncement … "Thomas Jefferson (who must have had Magna Carta in mind as he drafted the Declaration of Independence) and Alexander Hamilton both cited Magna Carta in support of the United States Constitution. Indeed, under the communal pen-name 'Publius,' Hamilton specifically referred to Magna Carta in number 84 of The Federalist Papers" (Sotheby's New York, The Magna Carta, 18 December 2007, p. 85). REFERENCE: ESTC S101069; Beale S15; STC 9277.5 PROVENANCE: New York City Bar Association Library

View 1 of Lot 130: Magna Carta | First Tottel edition

magna carta | first tottel edition

Making Our Nation: Constitutions and Related Documents. Sold to Benefit the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation. Part 1

(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[ohn]. and A[ndrew]. M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes in one, 12mo (168 x 100 mm, vol. 1 slightly smaller). Lacking initial blanks, very occasional light browning and foxing but an unusually clean set, vol. 1 with a few scattered pencil annotations by a hand that has also indicated authorship by the letters H, M, and J. Volume 2 is bound in contemporary tree calf, the covers with a gilt-tooled border; rubbed, rebacked preserving most of the original spine with red and black morocco labels. Volume 1 is bound in retrospective tree calf to a very fine match with vol. 2. First edition, from the scarce thick-paper issue. "A classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). 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). Copies were issued on both regular paper and a heavier "thick" paper—the latter being intended principally for presentation. 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 H. Taylor (contemporary signature on title-page of vol. 1); T. C. McDowell (contemporary signature on title-page of vol. 2)

View 1 of Lot 26: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"

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

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2

(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[ohn]. and A[ndrew]. M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes, 12mo (162 x 96 mm). Contemporary annotation to footnote on p. 216, vol. 2, regarding the judicial authority of the Connecticut legislature, a few other neat contemporary reader's marks in margins, initial blank present in vol. 1; lacking initial blank in vol. 2, lightly browned, occasional staining, 1E5 with small hole or paper flaw costing about ten letters, a few leaves with tiny marginal chips or losses, erasure at foot of 1A1r causing light abrasion. Contemporary tree calf; handsomely rebacked to style with red morocco labels, extremities rubbed. Half brown morocco folding-case gilt. First edition of The Federalist—a "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). 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. 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. 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; Sabin 23979; Streeter 2:1049

View 1 of Lot 1009: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana

Carey, Mathew (editor and publisher) The American Museum or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitives Pieces, &c. Prose and Poetical … [title changed to "The American Museum, or, Universal Magazine" in January 1790]. Vols. I-XII. Philadelphia: Mathew Carey; Carey, Stewart, and Co. No. 188 Market-street, January 1787-December 1792 [with collective 1798 titles] 12 vols., comprising 72 consecutive monthly issues, 8vo (203 x 121 mm). Mixed edition, as usual. (Volume details below). Contemporary tree sheep, volumes numbered in contemporary ink manuscript on front pastedowns; volumes sympathetically rebacked preserving original spines, flat spines in six compartments, gilt rules, red morocco lettering-pieces in second compartments, volume number in fourth. A complete copy of America's first literary magazine, including early printings of the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, various State constitutions, Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures, and portions of the Federalist Papers. "That it had considerable merit is universally acknowledged; and there is no vanity in the declaration." — Mathew Carey A complete run of the seminal American magazine the American Museum. Its highlights include the second American edition of Benjamin Franklin's "Chart of the Gulf Stream"; letters from the Federalist Papers; the first serial printing of the US Constitution; a printing of the proposed Bill of Rights; excerpts of Thomas Paine's Common Sense; and the first American printing of the plan of the slave ship Brooks (usually absent), "among the most effective propaganda any social movement has ever created" (Rediker). Indeed, slavery is discussed throughout the American Museum, with essays on the education of African-American children, the Haitian Revolution, and Benjamin Franklin's essay "An Address to the Public, from the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes, Unlawfully Held in Bondage." The magazine was a pioneering effort on the part of its publisher and editor, Mathew Carey, to develop and promote an indigenous American literary culture. Carey founded the American Museum using a $400 loan from none other than the Marquis de la Fayette, who received a dedication leaf in Volume II. Carey's original editorial goal was to cull the best essays on political, economic, and cultural subjects, as well as poetry and prose, and offer it to a national audience. American Museum was the "one magazine [that] reprinted some of the essays outside of New York City" (Concise Guide). George Washington deemed it a "more useful literary plan had never been undertaken in America." Among the "most eminent writers of that day" who contributed were George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Rush. The success of the American Museum helped establish Carey as the leading printer of his generation. Rarely encountered complete, this set with Franklin's Chart of the Gulf Stream and the sought after folding plate of the slave ship Brooks, an indelible abolitionist image crystallizing the horrors of the Middle Passage. Vol. 1. (January-June, 1787): [4] 93-94 [duplicate leaf N1], [i-iii] iv, [5] 6-408, [421]-492. 484 pp. Collective title with George Washington testimonial on verso, prefaces to first and third editions, sectional titles for each monthly issue, volume index. Pagination errors: pp. 409-420 not issued, 156 numbered as 166, 367 unnumbered. January-March third editions published 1790-1792, April-June second editions published 1788-1789. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" on pp. 19-29, 99-109. Volume Details: Vol. 2. (July-December, 1787): [2] [i-v] vi-xvi [17] 18-600, 1-24. 626 pp. Collective title, Marquis de la Fayette dedication, preface, 10 pp. subscribers list, 15 pp. Chronicle, sectional titles for each monthly issue, volume index. 81 misnumbered as 82. July-December second editions published 1789-1793. US Constitution on pp. 276-284, Federalist Letters I and II on pp. 441-446, Federalist Letters III and IV on pp. 523-533. Vol. 3. (January-June, 1788): [2], [i-ii] iii-xvi [17] 18-224 125-132 [i.e. 225-232] 233-594 597-602. 602 pp. With collective title, sectional titles, 12 pp. subscribers list, preface, sectional titles for each monthly issue, and volume index at rear. Misnumbering 161 as 167, 135 as 315, 397 as 387. January first edition published 1788, February-June second editions published 1789-1792. "Quakers' Petition Against Slavery," pp. 127-128. Woodcut illustration of a star constellation on p.214. Thomas Paine's "The American Crisis," pp. 476-481. Vol. 4. (July-December, 1788): [i-v] vi-viii [2] [ix]-xvi [17] 18-248 248-255 156-157 258 159-163 265-282 183 234 285-592. 588 pp. Collective title, sectional titles, George Washington dedication, preface, extract of letter from George Washington, 8. pp subscribers list, volume index. Misnumbering 156 as 256, 157 as 257; repeats 248. July-December first editions published in 1788. "In Honour of American Beer and Cyder," on p.78. Vol. 5. (January-June, 1789): [i-vi] vii-xvi [17] 18-212 [Engraved Gulf Stream Map, March 1789] 213-424 [Brooks Slave Ship Engraving, May 1789] 425-628. 628 pp. Collective title, sectional titles, two fold-out engravings printed in black, two woodcut illustrations on pp. 594-595, Thomas Mifflin dedication, preface, subscribers list, volume index. January-June first editions published in 1789. Gulf Stream map (8 1/2 x 10 inches), Brooks Slave Ship engraving (15 x 5 1/2 inches). Vol. 6. (July-December, 1789): [2] [1-5] 6-492 1-46 [6]. 546 pp. Collective title, title, dedication to the president with a call for essays on verso, 17 pp. subscribers list, section titles, Proceedings of Congress, volume index with ad for 1790 January publication of American Museum. All monthly issues first editions. Misnumberings of 190 as 290, 783 as 336, 45 unnumbered. Woodcut illustration of an enslaved boy with birth deformities on p.350. "On the Manumission of Slaves" and "Negro's Letter on Slavery," pp.74-80, "Discovery of America by the Icelanders," pp.159-162, Alexander Hamilton's "Abstract of the Report of the Secretary of Treasury," pp. 307-311, "George Washington's Answer," p.352. Vol. 7. (January-June, 1790): [2] [1-5] 6-344, Appendix I [1] 2-44, Appendix II [1] 2-44, Appendix III [1] 2-37 42-44, Appendix IV [1] 2-12 16-17 19-40 [4]. 512 pp. Collective title, title, dedication to Rev. John Carroll with a promise to publish more entertainment on verso, three appendices, volume index. Woodcut illustration of horses on a circular track for treading wheat on p.123 with three other woodcuts on pp. 124-125, letters from Benjamin Franklin who had recently died on pp. 224, 228, 263-66, "Account of the Influenza in 1789," pp. 231-233. Printing of the proposed Bill of Rights in Appendix II on pp. 11-13. Misnumberings of 87 as 75, 35 as 31 in Appendix 1. Several pagination errors as issued in appendices. Vol. 8 (July-December, 1790): [2] [1-3] 4-288, Appendix I [1] 2-40, Appendix II [1] 2-60, A Collection of the Constitutions of the United States 61-80, Appendix III [1] 2-20, Appendix IV [1] 2-52. Collective title, sectional titles, four appendices, volume index. Misnumbering 24 as 43, 14 as 214, Appendix I 12 as 21, Appendix IV 29 as 21, Index 44 as 49, and 81, Appendix IV 17 unnumbered. "Thoughts on the Colour of the Native Americans," pp. 7-8, "Biographical Notes on the Late Dr. Benjamin Franklin," pp. 12-20, 210-214. Massachusetts Constitution, Appendix II pp. 62-80. Vol. 9 (January-June, 1791): [2] [1-3] 4-344, Appendix I [1] 2-48, Appendix II [1] 2-40, Appendix III [1] 2-48. 482 pp. Collective title, sectional titles, three appendices, volume index. Misnumbering 164 as 165, 241-242 as 239-240, upside down 310 as 309, 309 as 310, 322 as 321, Appendix III 12 for 21, and 21 and Appendix I 28, 43 unnumbered. Woodcut illustration of a river on p.254. Printings in Appendix II of the Charter of Rhode Island, pp.1-10, New York Constitution, pp.12-19, New Jersey Constitution, pp.20-23, Pennsylvania Constitution, pp.23-33, Delaware Constitution, pp.33-40, and "Address of the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, to the President of the United States of America," p.40. Ink manuscript correction on p.220 done by printer to fix erratum as seen across diverse copies. Vol. 10. (July-December 1791): [2] [1-3] 4-308, Appendix I [1] 2-36, Appendix II [1] 2-48, Appendix III [1] 2-44. 438 pp. Collective title, sectional titles, volume index. Misnumbering 62 as 162, Appendix II 19 as 20, with 14, 129 unnumbered. Thomas Jefferson's report in Appendix II pp.1-21, George Washington's speech to Congress, Appendix II, pp.37-41. Vol. 11. (January-June, 1792): [2] [1-3] 4-308, Appendix I [1] 2-36, Appendix II [1] 2-92, Appendix III [1] 2-48 [4]. 490 pp. Collective title, sectional titles, three appendices, volume index. Misnumbering 51 as 15, 123 as 12. An account of John Law's Mississippi Scheme, pp.198-204, Alexander Hamilton's "Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on Manufactures," Appendix II pp.1-51. Vol. 12. (July-December, 1792): [i-iii] iv [5] 6-196 [189*] 190*-196* 197-352, Appendix I [1] 2-36, Appendix II [1] 2-44, Appendix III [1] 2-40. 478 pp. Pagination errors as issued. With sectional titles, three appendices, volume index. Carey blames the post-office and booming book sales for discontinuing the American Museum on p.302. REFERENCE: Chielens, American Literary Magazines 19-24; Crane, Publius in the Provinces 590; ESTC P5460; Evans 20193-5; Federal Hundred 12; Green, Mathew Carey: Publisher and Patriot 6-7; G. E. Maggs, Concise Guide to the Federalist Papers 816, 842; Mott 100-103; Realms of Gold 1624; Rediker, The Slave Ship 308; Sabin 1162; Sowerby 4903; Wheat 723

View 1 of Lot 1016: Carey, Mathew | The American Museum, including early printings of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and much more

carey, mathew | the american museum, including early printings of the u.s. constitution, the bill of rights, and much more

(Hamilton, Alexander) Alexander Hamilton's Appointment as Aide-de-Camp to General George Washington Manuscript document, one page (282 x 220 mm) on a bifolium (watermarked JWhatman), "Head-Quarters, Morristown" [New Jersey], 1 March 1777, written in a neat clerical hand in imitation of letterpress, signed by Alexander Scammell, Adjutant-General of the Continental Army ("Alexd Scammell | Adjt-Genl"), docketed on verso by Hamilton "Commission as Aid de Camp | 1 March 1777"; a few light stains, minor repairs to fold separations. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. The launch of one of the most consequential careers in American public life: "Alexander Hamilton Esquire is appointed Aid de-Camp to the Commander in Chief; and is to be respected and obeyed as such." This extract from Washington's General Orders of 1 March 1777 was made expressly for presentation to Alexander Hamilton. The full text of that day's General Orders begins with passwords of the day ("Dorchester," to be answered "Derby"), and continues: "Alexander Hamilton Esqr: is appointed Aide-De-Camp to the Commander in Chief, and is to be respected and obeyed as such. "Isaac Budd Dunn Esqr: will do the duty of Adjutant General, Pro Tempore, and to be attended to accordingly" (Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, ed. Twohig, 8:468). (Major Dunn acted as adjutant general until 9 April 1777, when he was sent to join Major General St. Clair in Philadelphia.) It remains unknown just how Hamilton came to the attention of Washington, but he may well have been invited to join the General's staff on 20 January 1777. In a letter of that date to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hanson Harrison, Washington requested that Harrison "Be so good as to forward the Inclosed to Captain Hamilton." This enclosure has not been found, but it led to one of the most significant associations in American history. Hamilton remained on General Washington's staff throughout the Revolution and later served as arguably the most influential member of President Washington's cabinet. Arthur Lefkowitz has identified among Washington's aides "a brilliant cadre" of three: Robert Hanson Harrison, Tench Tilghman, and Hamilton. Among Hamilton's great strengths were his initiative and ambition. Hamilton "did his share of routine headquarters work, but Washington tended to use him for more important military and political missions where superior intelligence, quick thinking, and aggressiveness were necessary. Washington recognized Hamilton's superior intelligence and kept him at headquarters long after the young man wanted to command troops in battle" (George Washington's Indispensable Men: The 32 Aides-de-Camp Who Helped Win American Independence, p. 110). But while it is undoubtedly true that Harrison, Tilghman, and many other of Washington's aides—Richard Varick, James McHenry, Jonathan Trumbull Jr., John Laurens, Joseph Reed, and Richard Kidder Meade among them—made great contributions to American independence, in the constellation of Washington's aides-de-camp, Hamilton's star shone brightest. Hamilton’s commission is one of the most consequential documents in American history—the appointment that made possible the meteoric and momentous career of the most unlikely of the Founding Fathers. Ira Lipman acquired the document when it reappeared at an auction of letters and papers descended in Hamilton’s family after being lost from sight for more than a century. Harold C. Syrett's standard edition of The Papers of Alexander Hamilton takes its text from the illustration of the document in Allan McLane Hamilton's Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910) and notes "H[amilton]'s copy of the General Orders has not been found." Without the position granted by this commission, Hamilton might never had the opportunity to fill his many other roles: congressman, founder of the Bank of New York, New York state assemblyman, member of the Constitutional Convention and the New York Ratifying Convention, essayist responsible for the majority of the Federalist Papers and all of the Pacificus Papers, first Secretary of the Treasury, founder of the New York Post, and a titanic force in the country’s first four presidential elections. As a leading advocate of a strong central government and the engineer of the United States economy, Hamilton can well be considered the most significant American public figure not to hold the presidency. PROVENANCE Alexander Hamilton — Elizabeth Hamilton, his widow; bequeathed to the couple's fourth child — James Alexander Hamilton (b. 1788); bequeathed to his daughter — Frances Hamilton (b. 1813); bequeathed to her son George Sullivan Bowdoin (b. 1833); by descent in the Bowdoin family to the consignor of "Alexander Hamilton: An Important Family Archive of Letters & Manuscripts" (Sotheby's New York, 18 January 2017, lot 1004) REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 76; The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Syrett, 1:196 EXHIBITED The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Syrett, 1:196

View 1 of Lot 221: (Hamilton, Alexander) | The launch of one of the most consequential careers in American public life

(hamilton, alexander) | the launch of one of the most consequential careers in american public life

(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[ohn]. and A[ndrew]. M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes in one, 12mo (163 x 98 mm). Lacking initial blanks, erasure to vol. 1 title-page, foxing and browning, occasional light dampstaining, 1.E1 with clean tear into text without loss, 1.I3 with loss of lower fore-edge corner. Contemporary sheep, plain endpapers and edges; rebacked preserving most of original gilt-ruled spine with red morocco label, rubbed, corners renewed, pencil notations on free endpapers. Half blue morocco slipcase, chemise. Praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity" First edition. "A classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). 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). PROVENANCE F. Olcott (bookplate) REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 114; 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

View 1 of Lot 222: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Praised by George Washington as a "work [that] will merit the notice of Posterity"

(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[ohn] and A[ndrew] M'Lean, 1788 2 vols, 12mo (165 x 97 mm; 160 x 90 mm). (1) Title-page with the ownership signature of David Stuart in ink, and an ownership inscription of a member of the 12th Massachusetts Infantry 1862 in pencil, Stuart’s marginalia throughout; trimmed, just slightly cropping marginalia, terminal blank cleanly detached, minor dampstaining and toning. Contemporary reverse calf, spine with red morocco lettering-piece; re-jointed in tan calf, hinges a bit weak, lacking the front free-endpaper, rear free-endpaper with long closed tear and cleanly detached. (2) Title-page; minor dampstaining and toning, stray spots. Contemporary calf, spine with red morocco lettering-piece and five false gilt bands; upper joint starting, rubbed with exposure to corners, lacking the rear free-endpaper. Housed in a half-morocco clamshell box. A historically significant Washington family copy of the first edition of The Federalist: one of the most important American contributions to political theory and a "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein). The anonymous essays that make up The Federalist, though written as expedient political propaganda for the purpose of supporting New York's ratification of the Federal Constitution, are not only apologias for the Constitution—they were also about the very promise of democracy in the modern age. Among the most significant of all American books, the first edition of The Federalist comprises the first collected printing of the 85 seminal essays written in defense of the newly drafted Constitution. The present copy, belonging to Dr. David Stuart, George Washington’s relative-by-marriage, ally, and confidante, bears his 1788 ownership signature and handwritten annotations. David Stuart came to know Washington when he became a virtual member of his family in 1783, upon marrying Eleanor Calvert Custis, the widow of Martha Washington's son, John Parke "Jacky" Custis. Stuart and Washington began their wide-ranging correspondence that same year, and the Virginia doctor quickly became a trusted friend and advisor to the soon-to-be president. A delegate to the Virginia General Assembly, Stuart corresponded with Washington about the Constitution at length during the debates over ratification. The Federalist essays, not only used for promoting Federalism amidst the heated pamphlet wars, were also used as a tool for interpreting the Constitution long before it was ratified. Washington early saw the importance of The Federalist essays in gaining the ratification of the new republican charter, and scarcely a month after they had begun to appear in New York newspapers; he wrote to Stuart on 30 November 1787, concerned that nothing supporting ratification had yet appeared in the press. Washington wrote, "As an antidote to these opinions, and in order to investigate the ground of objections to the Constitution which is submitted to the People, the Federalist, under the signature of Publius, is written. The numbers which have been published, I send you. If there is a Printer in Richmond who is really well disposed to support the New Constitution he would do well to give them a place in his Paper. They are (I think I may venture to say) written by able men; and before they are finished, will, if I am mistaken not, place matters in a true point of light” (Fitzpatrick 29:324). As Washington desired to maintain a low public profile with regard to the Constitution, he set up a clandestine network to distribute the Federalist essays; in the same letter as above, he writes “Altho' I am acquainted with some of the writers who are concerned in this work, I am not at liberty to disclose their names, nor would I have it known that they are sent by me to you for promulgation.” This secret channel of distribution placed Stuart at an essential juncture: James Madison would first pass the essays to Washington, who would then send them to Stuart, who, in turn, would give them to Augustine Davis (later the official printer to the Virginia Ratification Convention) for printing in the Virginia Independent Chronicle. The first seven numbers of the Federalist essays appeared in the Chronicle on 12, 19 and 26 December. On 22 December, Washington sent additional numbers under the signature Publius. Not only a confidante of the future president, Stuart was thus also an indispensable operator in the dissemination of Federalist views in a state with delegates sharply divided on the question of ratification. The ratification of Virginia would prove to be a pivotal moment in the history of American democracy. In the state, the Federalist faction, which favored the adoption of the Constitution, was led, unsurprisingly, by James Madison. As a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, Madison largely set the agenda by introducing the “Virginia Plan” and who subsequently orchestrated many of the key compromises necessary in drafting the Constitution itself. The Anti-Federalist bloc of delegates was led by Patrick Henry, who feared federal encroachment on Virginia’s state liberties and government. Henry’s opposition to government under the Constitution rather than the Articles of Confederation remained so zealous that he declined appointments as Secretary of State and as a justice of the Supreme Court. Henry’s control of the Virginia legislature also allowed him to thwart Madison’s election to the United States Senate. David Stuart ended his legislative career representing Virginia’s Fairfax County at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, beating out Anti-Federalist George Mason (though he attended as a representative of Stafford County). The factions at the Convention, which met six days a week from 2 to 27 June, for a total of twenty-three sessions, fiercely debated the Constitution; neither side seemed to have a clear path to victory, with many delegates believing that the Convention was exactly divided on the question of ratification. They ultimately ratified on 25 June, and indeed Virginia was the state ratification that ensured the success of the United States Constitution. Although New Hampshire provided the necessary ninth state ratification of the Constitution on 21 June, just before the conclusion of the Virginia Convention, it is impossible to imagine that the compact would have held without the assent of Virginia. Not only was Virginia the most populous and wealthiest of the original thirteen states, New York, which ratified a month after Virginia did on 26 July, likely would have rejected the charter had Virginia done so. The present copy of The Federalist, then, is remarkable artifact from the very birth of the United States’ Constitution. Stuart was not only responsible for the dissemination of these essays in this most crucial state, an advisor to Washington, and a key figure in the state ratification, he was also an essential bridge to the eventual publication of this cumulative work—inarguably the most important political commentary on the Constitution. The principal force behind the entry of “Publius” (the pen name for all three authors) into the ratification pamphlet was Alexander Hamilton, but he also enlisted fellow New Yorker John Jay and Virginian James Madison as coauthors. The first essay by Publius appeared in the 27 October 1787 issue of The Independent Journal, and all or some of the subsequent numbers were also printed in The New-York Packet, The Daily Advertiser, and The New-York Journal. The first thirty-six Federalist essays were collected and published by the M’Lean brothers in March 1788, and the final forty-nine—together with the text of the Constitution—followed in volume 2 in May; in fact, the last eight essays were printed in book form before they appeared in newspapers. This first collected edition was published in early 1788: Volume I, published in March, contains the first 36 numbers; Volume II, published in May, includes the remaining 49, together with the text of the Constitution. Upon its publication, George Washington noted to Alexander Hamilton that the work "will merit the Notice of Posterity; because in it are candidly and ably discussed the principles of freedom and the topics of government, which will always be interesting to mankind" (George Washington, letter to Hamilton, 28 August 1788). The genesis of this "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" is to be found in the "great national discussion" which took place about the ratification of the Constitution, and the necessity of answering the salvos in print from the Anti-Federalists and other opponents of a strong Federal government (Bernstein, Are We to be a Nation? 242). The original plan was that James Madison and John Jay were to help Hamilton write a series of essays explaining the merits of their system, whilst also rebutting the arguments of its detractors. "Hamilton wrote the first piece in October 1787 on a sloop returning from Albany...He finished many pieces while the printer waited in a hall for the completed copy" (Brookhiser Alexander Hamilton: American 68-69). In the end, well over half of the 85 essays were written by Hamilton alone. Despite the intense time pressures under which the series was written "what began as a propaganda tract, aimed only at winning the election for delegates to New York's state ratifying convention, evolved into the classic commentary upon the American Federal system" (McDonald, Alexander Hamilton: A Biography 107). By any measure, a remarkable association copy. Stuart’s annotations reveal both his familiarity with, and his close reading of, this indispensable commentary. He notes the authorship of Number 3 (“Mr. Jay”), Number 10 (“Mr. Maddison”), Number 18 (“Hamilton & Maddison”), Number 20 (“H & Maddison”), and Number 28 (“Maddison”), and leaves notes for his reading, as in Number 18, where he has written “Observations on the confederacies of the Greeks.” But he also demonstrates his insight through his critical commentary throughout. In Number 10, though the trimming of the text-block has cost some of his marginalia, he appears to comment on page 54 that the “[B]ritish to have [envised?] [s]uch a [fac]tion” beside Madison’s definition of a “faction” as “a number of citizens … who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permeant and aggregate interests of the community.” In Number 11, on page 64, he comments “by the [h]as a [N]avy been [?]ppos[?]? […]g Mad,” next to the Hamilton’s assertion of the necessity of a Navy, in “influencing the conduct of European nations”; Stuart’s annotation appears to reference similar comments made by Madison in Number 41. On the following page, he has annotated Hamilton’s claim, “The rights of neutrality will only be respected when they are defended by an adequate power. A nation, despicable by its weakness, forfeits even the privilege of being neutral,” boldly underlining the second sentence. Stuart was known for his frank judgments, even toward his Federalist compatriots (going as far as to criticize Washington’s mannerisms directly to him, after becoming President). Here, in his annotations, one can see this same spirit in his annotation to Number 12. Where Hamilton argues for the self-evidence of the interwovenness of commerce and land value, writing “how apt a spirit of ill-informed jealousy, or of too great abstraction and refinement, is to lead men astray from the plainest truths of reason and conviction,” Stuart has boldly underlined “ill-informed jealousy” and in the margin scrawled, “the author is himself a melancholy proof of this.” His judgment of Hamilton’s character did not, however, impede his appreciation of his political thinking, as seen in his notes at the conclusion of Number 22; when Hamilton laments that the Confederation Congress had given rise “to the enormous doctrine of a right of legislative appeal,” Stuart notes that this echoes “Jeffersons ideas in his notes repeal in the State Constitution of Va,” and anticipates the very battles around ratification outlined above. Even beyond his already pivotal place in the foundations of American democracy, Stuart continued to be historically significant. After the Constitution was ratified, he was appointed by Washington as one of three commissioners responsible for the planning of the new federal city, Washington D.C. Working alongside Thomas Johnson and Daniel Carroll to survey land purchases and oversee the construction of public buildings, Stuart was Washington’s direct line for keeping tabs on the development of the Federal City. Further, his knowledge of French proved indispensable, as the commissioners were to approve of chief engineer Pierre L’Enfent’s work, and he would report the (many) issues back to Washington. Important association copies of The Federalist are rare, let alone ones so closely connected to Washington. This copy is made even more remarkable through its fundamental relationship to the ratification of the Constitution itself. REFERENCES: 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: Vol. 1: David Stuart, 1753-1814, (ownership signature on title, dated 10 June 1789) — a member of the 12th Massachusetts Infantry, 1862 (pencil inscription on title). Vol 2: "Storm[?] 1796" (ownership inscription on front free-endpaper) — R. Reynolds (ownership inscription on initial blank, dated Baltimore, Maryland, 17 March 1873) — Carl Spices (ownership inscription on front free-endpaper dated 25 November 1957)

View 1 of Lot 23: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | Washington family copy of the first edition of The Federalist

(hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay) | washington family copy of the first edition of the federalist

The James S. Copley Library: Magnificent American, Historical Documents: Third Selection

A fine miscellaneous group of 8 documents relating to that era or persons of that era, as follows:

A fine miscellaneous group of 8 documents relating to that era or persons of that era, as follows: Massachusetts-Bay. In the House of Representatives, April 20, 1778. Resolve for filling up and compleating the fifteen battalions of Continental troops, directed to be raised in the State of Massachusetts-Bay. [Boston: 1778]; light dampstains in left margin, formerly folded. Evans 43492 — State of Massachusetts Bay, Middlesex. To Mr. Richard Hunnewell, Constable of the Town of Cambridge, Greeting [order to gather voters at the court house to determine how they will instruct their representatives to act "relative to the proposed Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union", manuscript document, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 12 January 1778, folio, 1 1/2 pages, verso rescript signed by Richard Hunnewell attesting that he has so gathered the townspeople; formerly folded, fold-tears. This and the last in pale blue half-morocco clamshell box. — Lachlan McIntosh. Autograph document signed ("Lachn McInctosh"), as part of attestation to the residency of Joshua Pierce on land in Georgia, also signed by Pierce and 4 witnesses, 3 pages, 4to, no place [Georgia], 22 October 1795. Brown cloth fold-case. McIntosh (1725-1806), member of Congress, killed Button Gwinnett in a duel. — James Wilson, William Davis. Letter signed by both, 1 1/2 pages (12 1/2 x 8 in.; 318 x 204 mm), Philadelphia, 19 April 1780, to Joseph Reed; formerly folded, lower left edge and bottom frayed touching one word of address. Blue half-morocco clamshell box. Wilson (1742-1798), a prominent lawyer, Advocate General for France in America, here defends a client in a maritime case, to Reed, President of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council. — John Adams. 2 franking signatures. Brown cloth clamshell box. — Benjamin Franklin - Passy Imprint. [Receipt for Papers relating to Prize Ships], printed broadside (12 1/4 x 8 in.; 310 x 204 mm), in a red half-morocco clamshell box. A receipt Franklin was required to supply in conformity with a French law of 27 September 1778. — Thomas Jefferson. Signature evidently clipped from a multi-language ships papers, New York, 28 September 1801, plus small engraved portrait, in a green half-morocco slipcase. — Fourth Congress of the United States ... An Act To ascertain and fix the military establishment of the United States. [Philadelphia: 1796]. Folio, 4 pages, signed by Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State; frayed at bottom edge. Blue half-morocco clamshell box. Evans 47976 — Dolley P. Madison. Autograph letter signed ("DP Madison"), 1 page (9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.; 246 x 196 mm), Montpellier, Virginia, 7 September 1840, to Mrs. Davis, responding to a request for an autograph; formerly folded, offset from engraved portrait included. Red half-morocco clamshell box. 

revolutionary and federalist-era documents

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”

(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: John and Andrew M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes, 12mo. Vol 1: (160 × 102mm). Paper flaw at B1. Full contemporary speckled sheep, edges stained yellow, spine with six compartments, gilt-lettered "FEDERALIST”; upper board detached, lower joint cracked, chipping to spine. Vol 2: (164 x 108). Small marginal repair at a2. Full 19th century half brown morocco, spine with five compartments, gilt-lettered "FEDERALIST," edges stained yellow; neatly rebacked, preserving original spine. Half blue morocco slipcase.

View 1 of Lot 207: (Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay) | "One of the new nation's most important contributions to the theory of government"

(hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay) | "one of the new nation's most important contributions to the theory of government"

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 George Washington’s Farewell Address ("To the People of the United States, Friends and Fellow-Citizens") in The Salem Gazette, Vol. X, No. 537. Salem: Printed and Published by William Carlton, Tuesday, September 27, 1796 Folio, 4 pages (17 x 11 in.; 434 x 277 mm) on a full sheet of laid paper, three small woodcut vignettes among advertisements, text in four columns; disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot. "Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations." Washington’s Farewell Address was first printed in Philadelphia on September 19, 1796, by David Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser. Other newspapers quickly followed suit, including The Salem Gazette, which devoted most of eight consecutive columns across pages 2 and 3 to the historic message—obliging Carlton "to omit the Summary and many articles of Intelligence prepared for this day's Gazette. Throughout his two terms, Washington was keenly aware of the precedents he was setting for the new nation. Washington issued his Farewell Address in the form of an open letter on 17 September 1796. Despite pleas by members of the Federalist Party to seek a third term, Washington expresses his intention to retire and gives parting advice on domestic and international matters of state. Few of the precedents Washington established were as closely followed as the two-term tradition, and when it was broken by Franklin Delano Roosevelt nearly 150 years later, it prompted the passage of the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which formally limited the presidency to two terms. A proponent of a strong national government, Washington warns against the dangers of sectionalism, and criticizes “the insidious wiles of foreign influence," referring to the pro-French sentiments of Jefferson and the Republicans. Washington’s policy during the wars between Great Britain and France in the early 1790s had been one of strict neutrality. Washington’s advice against joining a permanent alliance was heeded for more than a century and a half. Additionally, he warns against political parties and factions, cautions against too strong a military establishment, and stresses the need for good public credit: "As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear." The President repeatedly stresses common cause and national unity, and in a contemporary marginal note by the statement at the top of this description, a reader has remarked "Have connection with few, In Union be one."

washington, george | george washington’s farewell address ("to the people of the united states, friends and fellow-citizens") in the salem gazette, vol. x, no. 537. salem: printed and published by william carlton, tuesday, september 27, 1796

American Manuscripts & other Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang

Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang

Property from the Collection of Elsie and Philip Sang DOROTHY TODD PAYNE MADISON ("DOLLEY") AUTOGRAPH TRANSCRIPTION SIGNED ("DP MADISON"), QUOTING ONE OF THE "TOASTS FOR AN AMERICAN DINNER" WRITTEN BY JAMES MADISON IN JULY 1798 One page (5 7/8 x 3 5/8 in.; 150 x 95 mm) on a leaf of embossed ladies' writing paper, headed "A Toast prepared by Mr. Madison for the 4th of July 1798," Washington, 6 May 1848; a couple of very faint, small stains. In July 1798, during one of the few periods when he was not in government service (his congressional term having elapsed in March 1797 and his appointment as Secretary of State not commencing until May 1801), James Madison composed a series of eighteen toasts and some cryptic "Notes on an American Dinner." Decades after the event, Madison's widow occasionally wrote out transcriptions of some of the proposed toasts as souvenirs. Evidence suggests that the toasts—while mostly sincere testimonials to the founding and spirit of the young republic—were likely written, possibly for publication, to lampoon Independence Day dinners sponsored by Federalists. Among the "respectable Citizens" attending the dinner, Madison names Jonas Harpoon, Warren Shipyard, Jonathan Bullock, Sylvanus Penn, Christopher Kitefoot, Georgia Rice, and Nimrod West, all of whom drank the toasts with the "best American Cyder." Regardless of the genesis of the toasts, Dolley Madison found this one eloquent enough to transcribe half a century later: "'The examples of the American Revolution and Constitution.—Revolutions without blood and Governments without nobles or kings.'" Mrs. Madison wrote out this toast on at least one other occasion, 26 February 1849 (Christie's, 18 December 2003, lot 307). She also transcribed at least two other of the proposed toasts as souvenirs as well: "The Union—May it find an everlasting cement in the Revolution and the sacredness of the Constitution" (Marshall B. Coyne Collection; Sotheby's, 5 June 2001, lot 183) and "The Fedl. Judy. May it remember that it is the Expositor of the laws, not the Trumpeter of politics" (given to Eliza Lee, now in the Daniel Webster Papers, New Hampshire Historical Society). REFERENCE: Papers of James Madison, ed. Mattern, et al., 17:160–162 PROVENANCE: Stan. V. Henkels, Jr., 13 October 1933, lot 81 (undesignated consignor)

dorothy todd payne madison ("dolley") | an autograph quotation by dolley madison of her husband’s "toast … for the 4th of july 1798"

Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Selections from the Collection of Barbara and Ira Lipman

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 John and Andrew M'Lean, 1788 2 volumes, 12mo. Volume I bound in full contemporary calf, with Volume II bound in full contemporary calf to style. A rare thick paper copy — first edition of the most important work of American political thought ever composed ﻿The first edition of The Federalist comprises the first collected printing of the 85 seminal essays written in defense of the newly-drafted Constitution. The essays were first issued individually by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in New York newspapers under the pseudonym "Publius" to garner support for the ratification of the Constitution. This first collected edition was published in early 1788: Volume I, published in March, contains the first 36 numbers; Volume II, published in May, includes the remaining 49, together with the text of the Constitution. Upon its publication, George Washington noted to Alexander Hamilton that the work "will merit the Notice of Posterity; because in it are candidly and ably discussed the principles of freedom and the topics of government, which will always be interesting to mankind" (George Washington, letter to Hamilton, 28 August 1788). The genesis of this "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" is to be found in the "great national discussion" which took place about the ratification of the Constitution, and the necessity of answering the salvos in print from the Anti-Federalists and other opponents of a strong Federal government (Bernstein, Are We to be a Nation? 242). The original plan was that James Madison and John Jay were to help Hamilton write a series of essays explaining the merits of their system, whilst also rebutting the arguments of its detractors. "Hamilton wrote the first piece in October 1787 on a sloop returning from Albany...He finished many pieces while the printer waited in a hall for the completed copy" (Brookhiser Alexander Hamilton: American 68-69). In the end, well over half of the 85 essays were written by Hamilton alone. Despite the intense time pressures under which the series was written "what began as a propaganda tract, aimed only at winning the election for delegates to New York's state ratifying convention, evolved into the classic commentary upon the American Federal system" (McDonald, Alexander Hamilton: A Biography 107). 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. Thick paper copies are rare and desirable and largely done for presentation. George Washington's deluxe thick paper copy sold at Sotheby's in 1990 for $1,430,000. REFERENCE Church 1230; Cohen 2818; Evans 21127; Ford 17; Grolier American 100, 19; Howes H114, "c"; Printing and the Mind of Man 234; Sabin 23979; Streeter Sale 1049

hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay | first edition of the most important work of american political thought

Smith, Adam An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1776 2 volumes, 4to (269 x 219 mm). Half-title in vol. 2, publisher's advertisement on last page of vol. 2, terminal blank in vol. 1, with all the usual cancels (M3, Q1, U3, Zz3, 3A4 and 3O4 in vol. I, and D1 and Zzz4 in vol. II.); some light browning to text block, scattered foxing, 1H1 with closed marginal tear just into text, some light offsetting to 1B1v, 1Iiv, 2[A]1r, 2B1v, 24F2v, evidently from stacking of unbound sheets. Contemporary speckled calf; handsomely rebacked to style with red and green morocco labels, corners and board edges restored. Brown cloth slipcase. First edition of the "first and greatest classic of modern economic thought" (Printing and the Mind of Man). Smith, a Scottish professor and tutor and the patron saint of free markets, "is generally credited with the formulation of the liberal economic doctrine of free enterprise: ‘for the first time an incoherent mass of empirical maxims was codified into a definite system and elevated to the dignity of a science'" (Dunn, p. 330, quoting Leslie Stephen). The Wealth of Nations is divided into five books, and its most enduring therom appears in the second champer of Book IV, "Of Systems of Political Oeconomy": "Every individual … generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention" (IV, chap. 2). In a work with few rivals in its time or after, Smith "begins with the thought that labour is the source from which a nation derives what is necessary to it. The improvement of the division of labour is the measure of productivity and in it lies the human propensity to barter and exchange … it ends with a history of economic development, a definitive onslaught on the mercantile system, and some prophetic speculations on the limits of economic control. … Where the political aspects of human rights had taken two centuries to explore, Smith's achievement was to bring the study of economic aspects to the same point in a single work" (PMM). By undermining mercantilist theory, Smith made the strongest economic argument against the suppression of the American colonies. Indeed, the significance of Smith's Wealth of Nations for the United States extends far beyond its publication date, which preceded that of the Declaration of Independence by just over four months. In many ways the two texts have since been intertwined; certainly, the American Founders embraced Smith’s Inquiry—which discussed taxation, proposed a fiscal union to defuse the foment of revolution, and defended standing armies—before Europe did, and by 1789 the work was reprinted in an American edition, published in Philadelphia by Thomas Dobson. The pseudonymous authors of The Federalist—James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay—invoke Smith and his ideas in several polemics, and "Federalist 10," Madison’s influential discussion of the harmonization of apparently competing interests or factions in both economic and political spheres, owes much to Smith’s argument that permitting a proliferation of religious sects, rather than establishing a state-sanctioned religion, would allow for "candour and moderation" and, so, "publick tranquility." The Wealth of Nations had an even more profound influence on Alexander Hamilton—and, by virtue of his position as the first Secretary of the Treasury—even greater impact on the nation. Glory M. Liu writes that for Hamilton, Smith’s opus "served as an encyclopedic guide to the science of wealth creation. He refashioned and used its summary of the physiocratic doctrine, its history of banking practices, and its theory of economic growth to scaffold a forward-looking agenda of political and economic nationalism" (pp. 66–67). Indeed, according to Liu, portions of Hamilton’s major Treasury reports—which included "Report Relative to a Provision for the Support of Public Credit," 1790; "Second Report on the Further Provision Necessary for Establishing Public Credit," 1790; and "Report on the Subject of Manufactures," 1791—were "simply cribbed from The Wealth of Nations." While traveling as the tutor to the Duke of Buccleuch in the mid-1760s, Smith met Benjamin Franklin, and the two must have discussed their mutual interest in theories of population growth. Another Philadelphian, Benjamin Rush, quoted Smith in an address delivered to the American Philosophical Society, 1786. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both owned two copies of The Wealth of Nations. Thomas Jefferson sold his copy of the third edition (3 volumes; London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1784), with most of the rest of his library, to the Library of Congress in 1815 to replace the books lost when the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812; the set remains in the Library of Congress today. Jefferson subsequently acquired a replacement copy for his own shelves, a two-volume edition published in Hartford, Connecticut, by Cooke and Hale in 1818. Smith’s work is mentioned frequently in Jefferson’s correspondence. In a letter written to his son-in-law Thomas Mann Randolph Jr., 30 May 1790, advising him on a course of reading for the study of the law, Jefferson made an assessment that still holds true today: "In political oeconomy I think Smith’s wealth of nations the best book extant" (Papers 16:448–50). REFERENCES: Goldsmiths' Library 11392; Grolier, English 57; Kress 7621; Printing and the Mind of Man 221; Rothschild 1897; Sabin 82303; cf. David Bromwich, The Intellectual Life of Edmund Burke: From the Sublime and Beautiful to the Declaration of Independence (Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2014); William Clyde Dunn, “Adam Smith and Edmund Burke: Complementary Contemporaries,” in Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Jan. 1941):330–346; Samuel Fleischacker, “Adam Smith’s Reception Among American Founders, 1776–1790,” in The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 59, no. 4 (2002):897–924; Glory M. Liu, Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2022) PROVENANCE: Two sets of cancelled pressmarks: I.1.22[23] (G); E 4 30[31].

View 1 of Lot 13: Smith, Adam | "… led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention."

smith, adam | "… led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention."

WASHINGTON, GEORGE LETTER SIGNED ("G:O WASHINGTON"), AS PRESIDENT, TO JOHN ADAMS, RELATED TO THE CONTENTIOUS JAY TREATY 1 page (9 7/8 x 7 6/8 in.; 252 x 199 mm) 4to, blank integral leaf, 3 March 1795, marked "Duplicate," docketed by Adams; toned, primarily marginal stain. In half black morocco and marbled paper-covered board folding-case. A summons from the President "The President of the United States. To the Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate. Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate shall be convened on Monday the 8th of June next; you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber in Philadelphia on that day..." It was in the 8th of June that legislators began to debate the matter of the Jay Treat, or the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, which was ultimately forged between the United States and Great Britain in 1795. The agreement resolved some of the issues that had remained outstanding since the Treat of Paris of 1783 (which ended the American Revolutionary War), and helped foster a decade of amicable trade between the U.S. and Britain during the French Revolutionary Wars. Alexander Hamilton was the architect of the Treaty, and it was supported by Washington. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it angered the French, and helped the pro-Treaty Federalists and the anti-Treaty Jeffersonian Republicans build momentum. Letters from Washington to Adams are rare, with only one other having appeared at auction in the last forty years.

washington, george. manuscript letter signed, to john adams, 3 march 1795

(New York — Constitutional Convention) Journal of the Convention of the State of New-York. Poughkeepsie: Nicholas Power, [1788] 4to (273 x 200 mm). Some foxing and soiling, B-B1 with small closed tears near gutter. Marbled paper wraps; some rubbing. In custom clamshell case and folding chemise. The journal of the convention of New York for ratifying the U.S. Constitution. By the end of 1787, the sate conventions of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania had already ratified the Constitution. When the convention was called to order in Poughkeepsie in June of 1788, Maryland, Massachusetts, and South Carolina had all ratified as well, thus making New York even more important to Alexander Hamilton and his cause. Hamilton realized that extraordinary measures would need to be taken to achieve ratification in New York and Virginia, pivotal states in the process. His first step toward accomplishing this was writing The Federalist along with John Jay and James Madison, a work that helped set the stage for the 17 June 1788 convention. The remarkable proceedings at the New York convention, which are recorded here, took on great importance. After much debate, the Constitution was approved by New York, making it the eleventh state to ratify. Although the Constitution had already been officially ratified, New York's acceptance guaranteed the the Southern and New England regions of the new nation would not be separated by a dissenting state. A vital document in the establishment of the federal government — scarce. REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 117; ESTC W36260; Evans 21313; Hendrickson, Hamilton I:512; Sabin 53709

View 1 of Lot 349: (New York — Constitutional Convention) | The triumph of Hamilton 

(new york — constitutional convention) | the triumph of hamilton

WASHINGTON, GEORGE AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("GO: WASHINGTON"), TO WILLIAM SMITH "AND THE OTHER GENTLEMEN PROPRIETORS OF THE SHIP FEDERALIST," DISCUSSING THE PROSPECTS FOR RATIFICATION OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION 2 1/2 pages (9 1/8 x 7 1/4 in.; 231 x 185 mm) on a bifolium (watermarked J Bigg), Mount Vernon, 8 June 1788, with a separate autograph address leaf ("Honoured by Captn Barney") with large seal remnant, docketed; address leaf lightly soiled, seal tear, folds worn; letter is fine. Washington celebrates Maryland's ratification of the Constitution and looks forward to the ratifying convention of his own Virginia shortly joining "her nearly-allied Sister." If it is proper to think of George Washington as the Father of his Country, he should be considered her midwife as well. Had he not lent his prestige and approval to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, firmly supported its ratification, and then agreed to fill the office of President that the Convention created, the United States could well have died aborning. The Convention had been called by the Annapolis Convention of the previous year and was intended to amend the Articles of Confederation, which threatened to splinter the foundling republic into thirteen separate nations. Meeting in secret, the Constitutional Convention quickly concluded that the Articles of Confederation needed to be completely overthrown in favor of an entirely new frame of government. The result was the proposed United States Constitution, which the Convention decreed would go into effect once it had been ratified by just nine states. This was itself a radical departure from American policy: the Articles of Confederation had provided that any alteration or amendments to them need a unanimous ratification by the states. On 28 April 1788, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the Constitution. As part of the celebratory procession in Baltimore, a group of merchants and shipowners had commissioned a miniature ship, fifteen feet in length, christened The Federalist, to be mounted on wheels and drawn by four horses. The ship was then sent to Mount Vernon, navigated down Chesapeake Bay and up the Potomac by Captain Joshua Barney, as a gift to Washington. The soon-to-be president opens his letter by thanking his well-wishers: "Captn Barney has just arrived here in the miniature Ship called the Federalist; and has done me the honour to offer that beautiful curiosity as a Present to me, on your part. I pray you, Gentlemen, to accept the warmest expressions of my sensibility for this specimen of American ingenuity: in which the exactitude of the proportions, the neatness of the workmanship, and the elegance of the decorations (which make your Present fit to be preserved in a Cabinet of Curiosities) at the sametime that they exhibit the skill & taste of the Artists, demonstrate that Americans are not inferior to any people whatever in the use of mechanical instruments & the art of Ship-building." Washington then moves to the real subject of his letter, the prospects of ratification of the Constitution; although Maryland had strongly ratified, in Virginia, ratification was being contested. "The unanimity of the Agricultural State of Maryland in general, as well as of the commercial Town of Baltimore in particular, expressed in their recent decision on the subject of a general Government, will not (I persuade myself) be without its due efficacy on the Minds of their Neighbours, who, in many instances, are intimately connected not only by the nature of their produce, but by the ties of blood and the habits of life. Under these circumstances, I cannot entertain an idea that the voice of the Convention of this State, which is now in Session, will be dissonant from that of her nearly-allied Sister, who is only seperated by the Potomack. "You will permit me, Gentlemen, to indulge my feelings in reiterating the heart-felt wish, that the happiness of this Country may equal the desires of its sincerests friends; and that the patriotic Town of which you are Inhabitants (in the prosperity of which I have always found myself strongly interested) may not only continue to encrease in the same wonderful manner it has formerly done—but that its trade, manufactures and other resources of wealth may be placed, permanently, in a more flourishing situation than they have hitherto been." Thirteen days after he wrote this letter, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, thus putting the charter into effect. The ship Federalist did not fare so well: in his diary entry for 24 July 1788, Washington noted, "A very high No. Et. Wind all Night, which, this morning, being accompanied with Rain, became a hurricane—driving the Miniature Ship Federalist from her Moorings, and sinking her— … & doing other and great mischief … it was violent and severe—more so than has happened for many years." LITERATURE: The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, ed. Abbot, 6:322–23; cf. The Diaries of George Washington, ed. Jackson & Twohig, 5:366–67 PROVENANCE: The Goddard Family (Sotheby's, 22 January 2005, lot 849)

washington, george. autograph letter signed, to william smith, 8 june 1788

The Gazette of the United States. A National Newspaper, Published at the Seat of Government… New York and Philadelphia: Published by the Editor (John Fenno,) at His Office Near the Exchange, 15 April 1789-18 September 1793

The Gazette of the United States. A National Newspaper, Published at the Seat of Government… New York and Philadelphia: Published by the Editor (John Fenno,) at His Office Near the Exchange, 15 April 1789-18 September 1793 4 volumes bound in 2, folio (404 x 254 mm). Title-pages to volumes one and two, text in three columns; index lacking, title-pages for volumes three and four lacking, second leaf of Number IV (22 April – 25 April 1789) lacking, closed marginal tears, scattered browning and foxing, some staining, old folds, creases, and rubbing sometimes costing a letter or two, a few instances of primarily marginal dampstaining, a few small holes, one or two instances of minor marginal worming, some instances of articles being clipped out at the end of volume four. Contemporary half sheep and marbled paper-covered boards; upper boards detached, rubbed with loss. (A list of missing issues has been provided at the end of the catalogue note.) (Sold as a periodical — not subject to return.) “He that is not for us, is against us." A remarkably comprehensive run of The Gazette of The United States, once owned by Jonathan Dayton, one of the Framers of the U.S. Constitution. Editor John Fenno’s Gazette of the United States was the leading Federalist newspaper during the late 1700s, a period in U.S. history that was rife with partisan politics. The paper, published on Wednesdays and Saturdays, defended the Federalist administration, and condemned anyone who questioned it. Its biggest champion was perhaps Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton organized the funding the Gazette, granted Fenno the Treasury Department’s printing contracts, and was even one of the newspaper’s (anonymous) contributors. The first issue appeared on 15 April 1789, and was published in New York City, the nation's capital at the time. In 1791, the paper relocated to Philadelphia, following the move of the capital, as Gazette became the de facto respaper of record for the federal government. The Gazette featured foreign affairs, political essays, letters, Hamilton’s Treasury Department papers and reports, and general news. It ran numerous articles and covered many events that would prove foundational in the development of the United States, such as George Washington’s inauguration, Washington’s letter to the Hebrew Congregations, early debates surrounding slavery, the first statute defining federal crimes, and many others. In the autumn of 1789, the Gazette published the earliest printings of the final Senate and full Congressional texts of the Bill of Rights, now regarded as the most profound guarantee of personal liberty ever incorporated into a written constitution (23 September and 1 October [corrected in manuscript to 3]). 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, 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. On 3 October 1789, the Gazette 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 here, 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). Some significant issues present here include: The report of the first inauguration of a president of the United States, including a full printing of Washington’s inaugural address: “New-York, May 2. On the Tuesday last, agreeably to the resolution of both Houses of Congress, the inauguration of THE PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES was formalized” (29 April 1789, p. 23).The first congressional draft of the Bill of Rights: "Amendments to the Constitution” (1 August 1789, pp. 125-6).George Washington nominates six Supreme Court justices, thirteen federal District Court judges, thirteen US Attorneys, thirteen federal Marshalls, several infantry officers, and four others, 30: “New-York, September 30. The PRESIDENT of the United States has been pleased to nominate, and by with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint…” including "John Jay of New-York, Chief Justice… Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State. Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General. Samuel Osgood, Postmaster-General. William Carmichael, Esq. Charges des Affair from the United States to the Court of Spain" (September 1789, p. 195).Congress submitting the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification—the earliest obtainable printing of the Bill of Rights: “CONGRESS of the UNITED STATES…The conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added ... Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives ... that the following articles be proposed to the legislatures of the several states, as amendments to the Constitution…” 1 October [sic: 3 October, with manuscript date emendation in ink] 1789 (p. 199).The First Presidential proclamation of Thanksgiving: “Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor—and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me ‘to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’ Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States…” (7 October 1789, p. 201).A president gets paid: "An Act for allowing a Compensation to the President and Vice President..." The annual compensation is given as $25,000 and $5,000 respectively (24 October 1789, p. 224).News of North Carolina’s convention ratifying the Constitution: “New-York, December 5. IMPORTANT NEWS! By the Arrival of a Packet, in five days from Wilmington, North-Carolina, we have received the agreeable intelligence that the Convention of that State ADOPTED THE CONSTITUTION…” (5 December 1789, p. 271).One of the earliest discussions surrounding slavery in the United States: “Friday, February 12. Sketch of the Debate on the question for committing the Memorials on the Slave Trade” (17 February 1790, p. 354).An act marking the passage of a Federal budget: “CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. At the Second Session… An act making Appropriations for the Support of Government…” (3 April 1790, p. 408).An act that enabled the formation of the Southwest Territory, what would become the state of Tennessee: "An Act to accept a Cession of the Claims of the State of North Carolina, to a certain District of Western Territory" (7 April 1790, p. 411).The creation of the Legion of the United States: "An Act for Regulating the Military Establishment of the United States” (8 May 1790, p. 445).The first statute defining Federal crimes: "An Act for the Punishment of Certain Crimes Against the United States" (12 May 1790, p. 449).An act calling upon President Washington to appoint a governor of the newly formed Southwest Territory (see above): “An Act for the Government of the Territory of the United States, South of the Ohio" (2 June 1790, p. 474).Rhode Island is last state to ratify the Constitution: (2 June 1790, p. 475; and 9 June 1790, p. 481).The first Federal copyright law: “An act for the Encouragement of LEARNING, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such Copies, during the times therein mentioned” (5 June 1790, pp. 478).The first address by a Jewish community to Washington after the election: "To the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah." Levi Sheftal’s congratulations to President George Washington constitute the earliest address by a Jewish community to President Washington following the election. Both Sheftal’s address, as President of the Hebrew Congregation of Savannah, and Washington’s reply are printed (19 June 1790, p. 494).Establishing the seat of government: "An Act for establishing a temporary and permanent seat of the government of the United States." "Temporary" was a reference to Philadelphia (17 July 1790, p. 527).Assistance for veterans: "The bill for the relief of disabled soldiers and seamen, and other persons lately in the service of the United States, was passed..." (31 July 1790, p. 542). Such comprehensive runs are extremely scarce at auction, and rarer still with any title-pages present. Additionally, these volumes belonged to subscriber Jonathan Dayton, a framer of the Constitution. By the age of 19, Dayton had risen to the rank of captain in the Continental Army. He served under his father, General Elias Dayton, and the Marquis de Lafayette. He was also held prisoner by the British for a period, and also participated in the Battle of Yorktown (see lot 16). Following his military career, Dayton studied law, ultimately dividing his time between his legal practice and his political pursuits. He was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and though he objected to some provisions of the Constitution, at the age of 26 he became the youngest person to sign the landmark charter. Following the Continental Congress, Dayton became one of the foremost Federalist legislators in the newly formed government. From 1791 to 1799, he served as a member of the House of Representatives for New Jersey, as a Senator from 1799 to 1805, and as the third Speaker of the House from 1795 to 1799. From the earliest printings of the final Senate and full Congressional texts of the Bill of Rights, to articles that addressed the problem of overcrowded schoolrooms, the newspaper encompassed many facets of American life. The Gazette of the United States stands as an invaluable record of the political activity and the debates that shaped a young nation. The present volumes are lacking the following issues, though it seems these gaps are organic to the run, rather than being removed after being bound: · Number LXXXIII: 27 January 1790 · Number LXXXVI: 6 February 1790 · Number 4/212: 11 May 1791 · Number 7/215: 21 May 1791 · Number 9/217: 28 May 1791 · Number 12/220: 8 June 1791 · Number 17/225: 25 June 1791 · Number 28/236: 3 August 1791 · Number 35/241: 24 August 1791 · Number 39/247: 10 September 1791 · Number 48/256: 12 October 1791 · Number 51/259: 22 October 1791 · Number 53/261: 29 October 1791 · Number 55/263: 5 November 1791 · Number 62/270: 30 November 1791 · Number 63/271: 3 December 1791 · Number 71/279: 31 December 1791 · Number 74/282: 11 January 1792 · Number 83/291: 11 February 1792 · Number 103/311: 21 April 1792 · Number 9/331: 30 June 1792 · Number 10-332: 4 July 1792 · Number 23/345: 18 August 1792 · Number 24/346: 22 August 1792 · Number 45/367: 3 November 1792 · Number 56/378: 12 December 1792 · Number 59/381: 22 December 1792 · Number 60/382: 26 December 1792 · Number 98/420: 8 May 1793 · Number 99/421: 11 May 1793 · Number 100/422: 15 May 1793 · Number 103/425: 25 May 1793 · Number 105/427: 1 June 1793 · Number 108/430: 12 June 1793 · Number 122/444: 31 July 1793 · Number 151/453: 31 August 1793 · Number 153/455: 7 September 1793 PROVENANCE: Johnathan Dayton (name accomplished in what is presumably a stationer’s hand throughout first bound volume, and occasionally in second, many trimmed) — W.D. Salter (ownership signature to front free endpaper of each bound volume)

View 1 of Lot 9: Gazette of the United States | A remarkable comprehensive run of a foundational periodical, with distinguished provenance 

gazette of the united states | a remarkable comprehensive run of a foundational periodical, with distinguished provenance

United States Senate (Bill of Rights) Journal of the First Session of the Senate of the United States of America, Begun and Held at the City of New-York, March 4th, 1789. New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1789 Folio (342 x 215, uncut). Two or three wormholes at lower margin, becoming short trails in first few pages, but due to the large size of the present copy, none even close to the text, occasional light browning, scattered spotting, light dampstain to fore-edge of first three leaves. Original blue boards, front board signed by Caleb Strong and titled in his hand "Journal of the Senate | of the U.S. | at its first session | March 1789"; spine perished, front board stained, a bit shaken. Blue morocco folding-case gilt. An uncut copy of the first edition of the acts of the first session of the United States Senate from 4 March to 29 September 1789, signed by Caleb Strong, a member of the First Senate from Massachusetts. A number of important activities took place during this period including the tally of electoral votes in the first presidential election, President Washington's opening address to the new Senate and foremost among these, a discussion of the proposed Bill of Rights. On pages 103–106 appear the seventeen amendments introduced in the House by James Madison which were revised and consolidated by the Senate. The twelve amendments passed by Congress appear under the heading "Proposed Amendments" on pages 163–164, and were sent to the states for ratification. The first two were not ratified but the remaining ten became the first ten amendments to the Constitution—the Bill of Rights. (Incredibly, the originally proposed second amendment, which stipulated that any salary increases for Congress take effect only after an intervening election, was finally ratified in 1992 as the twenty-seventh amendment.) The Bill of Rights appears in two 1789 printings, the present version and in the Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States (New York, Childs and Swaine). Both must have been printed at the close of business on 29 September and certainly before the end of the year. The Doheny-Manney copy of the Acts was inscribed to John Jay on 9 December 1789, suggesting that the Acts were not delivered by the printer until December. It seems likely that the Journal, issued by the first printer to the U.S. Senate, would have been printed before that, although no absolute priority of printing can presently be established (see James B. Childs, "The Story of the United States Senate Documents, 1st Congress, 1st Session, New York, 1789" in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, Vol. 56, No. 2 [Second Quarter, 1962], pp. 175–194). An important figure in the political history of Massachusetts, Caleb Strong (1745–1819) was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, a leading Federalist in the debates over ratification, and one of his state's first two senators. He was, along with William Paterson of New Jersey and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut, one of the three senators responsible for the drafting of the bill that became the Judiciary Act. Introduced into legislation on 7 April 1789 and signed into law on 24 September 1789, this act established the Federal court system. Despite the condition issues noted, a near-fine copy with distinguished provenance. REFERENCE: Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions 15; ESTC W20564; Evans 22207; Grolier/American 20; Reese, Federal Hundred 25; Sabin 15551 PROVENANCE: Caleb Strong (signatures on front board, "C. Strong," and on title-page, "Caleb Strong") — Henry F. DePuy (morocco label; Anderson Galleries, 19 April 1920, lot 2404)

View 1 of Lot 1071: United States Senate (Bill of Rights) | The first Journal of the Senate from the Library of a Member of the First Senate

united states senate (bill of rights) | the first journal of the senate from the library of a member of the first senate

Jefferson, Thomas Autograph letter signed ("Th: Jefferson") as third President, to Benjamin Rush, discussing his inaugural address and his immediate plans as chief executive 2 pages (248 x 204 mm) on a bifolium of wove paper, Washington, 24 March 1801, with two autograph emendations, integral autograph address leaf directed to Dr. Rush at Philadelphia with franking signature by Jefferson (free | Th: Jefferson), postmark "Washington Mar 25," and "Free" postal stamp; lightly browned, seal tear repaired. Framed and double-glazed with an engraved portrait of Jefferson. A vitally important letter written at the dawn of Jefferson's presidency, addressing the party factionalism threatening the country and John Adams's "midnight appointments" of dozens of judgeships in his last hours of his presidency. The presidential election of 1800 was bitter and divisive. While the Republican Jefferson bested the incumbent Federalist Adams, he was left tied with Aaron Burr, his vice presidential running mate. The election was thrown to the House of Representatives, and while Jefferson's own party recognized him as the top of the ticket, Federalist congressmen schemed to deny him the White House and instead install Burr. Jefferson ultimately prevailed on the thirty-sixth ballot—and in 1804, the ratification of the Twelfth Amendment would require the states to vote for the president and vice president separately. Against this background, Jefferson made a speech urging unity and reconciliation, and he suggests to Rush that he was pleased with its reception: "I have to acknolege the reciept of your friendly favor of the 12th and the pleasing sensations produced in my mind by it’s affectionate contents. I am made very happy by learning that the sentiments expressed in my inaugural address give general satisfaction, and hold out a ground on which our fellow citizens can once more unite. I am the more pleased, because these sentiments have been long & radically mine, and therefore will be pursued honestly & conscientiously." (Rush, for his part, had praised the inaugural address extravagantly in the letter referenced by Jefferson: "You have opened a new Œra by your Speech on the 4th: of March in the history of the United States. Never have I seen the public mind more generally, or more agreeably affected by any publication. Old friends who had been seperated by party names, and a supposed difference of principle in politicks for many years, shook hands with each Other, immediately After reading it, and discovered, for the first time, that they had differed in Opinion only, About the best means of promoting the interests of their common country. It would require a page to contain the names of all the citizens (formerly called federalists) who have spoken in the highest terms of your Speech"). But Jefferson knew that good feelings could quickly evaporate when he began to fill government offices with members of his Republican party. "I know there is an obstacle which very possibly may check the confidence which would otherwise have been more generally reposed in my observance of these principles. this obstacle does not arise from the measures to be pursued, as to which I am in no fear of giving satisfaction: but from appointments & disappointments as to office. with respect to appointments I have so much confidence in the justice and good sense of the federalists that I have no doubt they will concur in the fairness of the position, that after they have been in the exclusive possession of all offices from the very first origin of party among us to the 3d. of March at 9. aclock in the night, no republican ever admitted, & this doctrine openly avowed, it is now perfectly just that the republicans should come in for the vacancies which may fall in, until something like an equilibrium in office be restored; after which "Tros, Tyriusque nullo discrimine habeatur' ["I shall allow no difference between the Trojan and Tyrian," Aeneid 1:574] but the great stumbling block will be removals, which tho’ made on those just principles only on which my predecessor ought to have removed the same persons, will nevertheless be ascribed to removal on party principles." Jefferson cannot, however, disguise from Rush his irritation with Adams's midnight appointments, which would cause a rift between the two statesmen that would last more than a decade (and which Rush would be instrumental in patching up; see next lot). "Imprimis I will expunge the effects of mr A’s indecent conduct in crouding nominations after he knew they were not for himself, till 9. aclock of the night, at 12. aclock of which he was to go out of office; so far as they are during pleasure. I will not consider the persons named, even as candidates for the office, nor pay the respect of notifying them that I consider what was done as a nullity. 2. some removals must be made for misconduct. one of these is of the marshal in your city [John Hall, Marshal of the district of Pennsylvania], who being an officer of justice, entrusted with the sacred function of chusing impartial judges for the trial of his fellow citizens placed at the awful tribunal of god & their country, selected judges who either avowed, or were known to him to be predetermined to condemn. and if the lives of the unfortunate persons were not cut short by the sword of the law, it was not for want of his good will." Perhaps to establish his objectivity, Jefferson claims to have taken similar action against David Meade Randolph in Virginia, despite his being "the dearest connection of my dearest friend," but he estimates that such dismissals for misconduct of marshals and attornies will affect "a very few individuals only, probably not 20. will be removed & these only for doing what they ought not to have done." The letter continues with further thoughts on appointing and removing officeholders. "2. or 3. instances indeed where mr A. removed men because they would not sign addresses &c to him, will be rectified, & the persons restored. the whole world will say this is just. I know that in stopping thus short in the career of removal, I shall give great offence to many of my friends. that torrent has been pressing me heavily, & will require all my force to bear up against. but my maxim is fiat justitia, ruat coelum' ["let justice be done, though heaven should fall"]. after the first unfavorable impressions of doing too much in the opinion of some, & too little in that of others, shall be got over, I should hope a steady line of conciliation very practicable, & that without yielding a single republican principle. a certainty that these principles prevailed in the breasts of the main body of federalists was my motive for stating them as the ground of reunion.—I have said thus much for your private satisfaction, to be used even in private conversation, as the presumptive principles on which we shall act, but not as proceeding from myself declaredly." Tiring of politics, perhaps, Jefferson closes the letter with a strong endorsement of George Cuvier's Leçons d’Anatomie Comparée (Paris, 1800), which had been sent to the American Philosophical Society by the American chemist Thomas Peters Smith: "information lately recieved from France gives a high idea of the progress of science there. it seems to keep pace with their victories. I have just recieved for the A.P. society 2. volumes of Comparative Anatomy by Cuvier, probably the greatest work in that line that has ever appeared. his comparisons embrace every organ of the animal economy, and from Man, to the rotifer. accept assurances of my sincere friendship & high consideration & respect." Jefferson eventually added the work to his own library (Sowerby, no. 999). REFERENCE: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, ed. Oberg, 33:436–438; for Rush's letter of 12 March 1801, 33:260–262 PROVENANCE: Frederick M. Dearborn (according to the Jefferson Papers, the owner of the letter in 1949)

View 1 of Lot 1012: Jefferson, Thomas | "I will expunge the effects of mr A’s indecent conduct in crouding nominations … at 12. aclock of which he was to go out of office"

jefferson, thomas | "i will expunge the effects of mr a’s indecent conduct in crouding nominations … at 12. aclock of which he was to go out of office"

Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection (GERRYMANDERING) Early Gerrymander cartoon in the Columbian Centinal, No. 3026. Boston: Printed by William Burdick for Benjamin Russell, Wednesday, April 7, 1813 Large folio, 4 pages (20 7/8 x 14 3/4 in.; 530 x 378 mm) on a full-sheet of laid paper, fine patriotic woodcut vignette in masthead, text in five columns; some light browning, disbound. The consignor has independently obtained a letter of authenticity from PSA that will accompany the lot. A premature report of the death of the gerrymander. The term Gerry-mander evidently first appeared in the 26 March 1812 Boston Gazette, although some credit its coinage to Benjamin Russell, whose Columbian Centinal was one of the most influential Federalist newspapers of the nation's infancy. The term was intended to ridicule the contorted redrawing of Massachusetts state senate election districts in a manner intended to benefit the Democratic-Republican Party of Governor Elbridge Gerry and resulting in one meandering district said to resemble a salamander. The maneuver helped lead to Gerry's defeat in the next gubernatorial election, which perhaps prompted the Centinal to print this notice, together with a political cartoon of a skeletal Gerrymander captioned "Hatched 1812. Died 1813." Under the headline "The Great Magician's Death!" the text reads, "We announce in our paper to-day, we confess with no regret, the Death of that far-famed, and ill-begotten Monster the Gerry-Mander. This 'delicate monster' has been pining ever since last November, when he terribly strained himself in attempting to swallow one of his parents. … a loud warning to all his relations in this and the neighboring States." This obituary appeared much too early, as the practice of gerrymandering continues today, throughout the United States and around the globe.

(gerrymandering) | early gerrymander cartoon in the columbian centinal, no. 3026. boston: printed by william burdick for benjamin russell, wednesday, april 7, 1813

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 JOHN AND ANDREW M'LEAN, 1788 2 volumes, 12mo (6 3/8 x 3 5/8 in.; 162 x 92 mm). Toned, a2-3 of vol. I (i.e. Preface and Contents leaves) on thicker paper. Expertly bound to style in full tree calf, flat spines tooled in gilt, red morocco labels. First edition of the most important work of American political thought ever written, and, according to Thomas Jefferson, "the best commentary on the principles of government" The first edition of The Federalist comprises the first collected printing of the eighty-five seminal essays written in defense of the newly-drafted Constitution. The essays were first issued individually by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in New York newspapers under the pseudonym "Publius" to garner support for the ratification of the Constitution. This first collected edition was published in early 1788: volume I, published in March, contains the first 36 numbers, volume II, published in May, includes the remaining 49 together with the text of the Constitution. Upon its publication, George Washington noted to Alexander Hamilton that the work "will merit the Notice of Posterity; because in it are candidly and ably discussed the principles of freedom and the topics of government, which will always be interesting to mankind" (George Washington, letter to Hamilton, 28 August 1788). The genesis of this "classic exposition of the principles of republican government" (Bernstein, Are We to be a Nation? The Making of the Constitution, pg. 242) is to be found in the "great national discussion" which took place about the ratification of the Constitution, and the necessity of answering the salvos in print from the Anti-Federalists and other opponents of a strong Federal government. The original plan was for James Madison and John Jay to help Hamilton write a series of essays explaining the merits of their system, whilst also rebutting the arguments of its detractors. "Hamilton wrote the first piece in October 1787 on a sloop returning from Albany...he finished many pieces while the printer waited in a hall for the completed copy" (Brookhiser, Alexander Hamilton: American, pp.68-69). In the end, well over half of the 85 essays were written by Hamilton. Despite the intense time pressures under which the series was written "what began as a propaganda tract, aimed only at winning the election for delegates to New York's state ratifying convention, evolved into the classic commentary upon the American Federal system" (McDonald, Alexander Hamilton: A Biography, pg.107). 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: Church 1230; Cohen 2818; Evans 21127; Ford 17; Grolier American 100, 19; Howes H114, "c"; PPM 234; Sabin 23979; Streeter Sale 1049

hamilton, alexander, james madison, and john jay. first edition of the most important work of american political thought ever written

Property of a New York Collector Paine, Thomas Autograph letter signed ("Thomas Paine") to the "Citizen Directer" (Philippe-Antoine, Comte Merlin, of Douai), attempting to influence a French judicial review against an American friend 2 1/2 pages (228 x 152 mm, untrimmed) on a bifolium, [Dieppe, France, ca. 1798-1799]; some foxing, short separation at foot of central fold. During the foment of the Quasi-War with France, Citizen Tom Paine writes on behalf of a Connecticut-born merchant-adventurer, Nathan Haley, who in 1797 had captured an American vessel, the Hare, supposedly because it carried British contraband: "It is at the request of several friends that I trouble you with this letter, the purport of which is, to remove an unfavourable impression from your mind with respect to the case of a prize cargo, in which Captain Hayley is concerned. It was condemned at Dieppe as a Prize to the Republic as if it had been a smuggled cargo, and the report was made to you in that manner whilst you were Minister of Justice. The appeal is now depending at Roen. I enter not into the case whether it was right or wrong in Hayley to make a prize of the cargo by the stratagem he employed. He had been cruelly treated by the British whilst he was their prisoner in the American Revolution, and, as I am informed, has been cheated by the London insurencers, {and besides those things the British made no ceremony of seizing American vessels} [phrase in angled brackets is written on the otherwise blank verso of the second sheet and indicated to be inserted by a caret]. I admit the supposition that under a sense of such injuries, he may have sought to redress himself by an act which though it appears right to him, may not appear in the same light to others." While living in Dieppe under the regime of the Directorate (1795–1799), Paine borrowed seven thousand livres from Haley, in part to underwrite the publication of Pacte maritime, Paine’s essay endorsing a compact that would protect the maritime rights and commerce of neutral nations during times of War. Paine’s letter continues, playing to his correspondent’s antipathy to Great Britain by referencing Haley’s delivering of Paine’s famous public letter to George Washington denouncing Jay’s Treaty, as well as his opposition to President Adams's incumbent Federalist party: "I know that his resentment against the British and the British Party in America are high. It was Hayley who carried my letter to America addressed to the ex-President Washington, on the subject of the British [Jay's] Treaty, to be printed. Your colleague Revilliere Lepeaux has read that letter in English; and I recompence the trust which Hayley executed for me by writing you this letter in his behalf. From every thing that I know of the case, and of the political sentiments of Hayley, who has been uniformly attached to the French Revolution, and has been engaged in several broils with the English Party in America [the Federalists] in supporting it, the cargo in question is not a smuggled cargo. The capture was a stratagem, and the tribunal of Dieppe has mistaken the stratagem for smuggling. Whether (as have just said) Hayley has done right or wrong in making the capture is not with me a question; but as he stands exposed to be pursued for it at some future day, by the owners or insurers of the cargo, it is no other than Justice that he be left with the means in his hands to defend himself, or to repair the injury if he has done one. But no error on his part can justify the Judgment at Dieppe. This, Citizen Director is my candid opinion of the case. …" The "stratagem" that Paine refers to was complicated and legally and ethically questionable, although the French courts did side with Haley, who sometimes subscribed his name as a French naval lieutenant, on appeal: "American Nathan Haley (or Halley) was captain of the privateer Entreprenant of Dieppe in March 1797 when he captured the Hare, whose papers also showed a Nathan Haley as captain. Although Charles Cotesworth Pinckney informed Timothy Pickering that the two men were cousins, Rufus King reported to the State Department that Haley had brought his own ship in as a prize. The lower French prize tribunal reached the same conclusion and declared the Hare good prize to the state; the higher tribunal reversed the decision and declared both ship and cargo good prize to Haley" (note to a letter from Fulwar Skipwith to James Madison, 3 March 1804, The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, ed. Hackett, et al., 6:539–544). Both Paine and Haley returned to America after the election of Thomas Jefferson and the defeat of the Federalist Party. In August 1803, Paine went to see Haley at Stonington, presumably to pay off some of his debt accrued in Dieppe. As Paine biographer John Keane notes, Paine ended up staying with Haley for several months, becoming an "itinerant lecturer on political affairs," prognosticating the imminent conquest of Britain by Napoleon. Haley, who continued to travel between France and the United States, was appointed U.S. consul at Nantes in 1839 (cf. John Keane, Tom Paine: A Political Life, 1995, pp. 489–92).

View 1 of Lot 1151: Paine, Thomas | Did privateer captain Nathan Haley turn in his own ship as a prize to the Directorate?

paine, thomas | did privateer captain nathan haley turn in his own ship as a prize to the directorate?

United States Congress Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America, begun and held at the city of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, in the year M,DCC,LXXXIX, … Being the Acts Passed at the First Session of the First Congress of the United States. New-York: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, Printers to the United States, [1789] (bound with:) Acts Passed at the Second Session of the Congress of the United States of America, begun and held at the city of New-York, on Monday the fourth of January, in the year M,DCC,XC. New-York: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, Printers to the United States, [1790] 2 volumes bound in one, folio (297 x 178 mm). Some browning and staining, title-page expertly cleaned removing some old library stamps. Handsome retrospective tree calf, spine gilt with red morocco labels, marbled endpapers, binding accomplished utilizing period materials. Red morocco folding-case gilt. Rare official folio printings of the acts of the first two sessions of the first Congress, including the first official House printing of the Bill of Rights, with distinguished provenance. The first session of the first Congress met in New York on March 4, 1789, and continued until the end of September. It officially ratified the Constitution and Washington’s election as first U.S. president, and passed much of the most basic legislation for the machinery of government, regulating the Customs, Judiciary, Post Office, Mint, and the like. Much time was spent on the Bill of Rights, which appears here in what is among its earliest printings, still including twelve amendments (the first two, relating to the numbers in a congressional district and congressional salaries, were later omitted). "The importance of the First Federal Congress cannot be exaggerated. It played a critical role as the body which began to implement and interpret the new Constitution of the United States. The conception of the government occurred at the Federal Convention, but it was not until the First Federal Congress began to make decisions and pass enabling legislation that life was breathed into that government" (Documentary History of the First Federal Congress). "Evans erroneously records two distinct issues of the Acts of the first session: his numbers 22189 and 22949, ascribing a date of 1790 to the latter. Close comparison of multiple copies of each "issue" reveals that the two are identical, from the same setting of type and on the same paper stocks, with the only distinction between the two being the presence of an eleven-page index in the rear, following the Table of Contents (22189, with the Index). There is no evidence to suggest a second issue, without the index, was published in 1790; indeed, it would stand to reason that examples without the index preceded the issuance of copies with the Index, as the work would have needed to have been completed (and fully paginated) before the index could have been compiled. In addition, that the Index was printed subsequently is supported by the collation of the gatherings, with the last leaf preceding the Index being Aa1, and with the first leaf of the Index being Bb1 (rather than Aa2). Finally, a second printing of the Acts of the first session, as suggested by Evans, would have required Congressional approval for the additional expense, which is not recorded. NAIP has corrected Evans’s error by merging the two records into Evans 22189, ascribing both to have been printed in 1789, issued with and without the index (as here)" (Celebration). PROVENANCE Christopher Gore (1758–1827, Boston attorney and delegate to the 1788 Massachusetts ratifying convention; signature [slightly cropped] on first text page of First Session Acts, authoring that "a correct Copy of the Constitution" be prefixed to the publication) — Fisher Ames (1758–1808, a Federalist Representative to the First Congress from the first district of Massachusetts and a strong supporter of the Constitution; signature on title-page of Second Session Acts) REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 121; ESTC W14332, 14343; Evans 22949, 22952; Federal Hundred 24; Grolier/American 20

View 1 of Lot 482: United States Congress | Rare official folio printings of the acts of the first two sessions of the first Congress

united states congress | rare official folio printings of the acts of the first two sessions of the first congress

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. Together with The Yeas and Nays on the decision of the Grand Question. To which The Federal Constitution is prefixed. Boston: Printed and sold by Adams and Nourse, in Court-Street; and Benjamin Russell, and Edmund Freeman, in State-Street, 1788 12mo (183 x 115 mm). Browning and spotting, a few primarily marginal closed tears, faint dampstaining to a few leaves, long closed tears to F4, H4, I1, J4 with old tape repairs, top of H2 torn costing one letter, top of I2 torn, more extensive tape repairs to X2, Z1 trimmed and with tape repair, paper flaws to a few leaves, shelfmark in ink to a few leaves. Contemporary brown calf; rebacked to style, rubbed. The debates of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention"The Constitution might well be considered the central document of all American political discourse ... An evolving rather than static document, its text has never left a central place in American political discourse" (Federal). The struggle to ratify the Constitution can be viewed as the first national, grassroots political campaign in the United States. The differences between the Federalists, who advocated for passage of the new frame of government, and the Anti-Federalists, was significant and ratification was by no means assured. When the Confederation Congress resolved to send the Constitution to the states for ratification on recommendation by the Convention and George Washington himself, they intended it to be voted upon on its face. In Massachusetts, however, Anti-Federalist opposition was significant. In order to mollify their concerns, delegate to the convention Theophilus Parsons added nine amendments, which were presented by John Hancock (dramatically arising from his sick bed to deliver them). Thus, the Constitution was ratified by Massachusetts with the amendments added as a recommendation to "remove the fears, and quiet the apprehensions of many of the good people of this Commonwealth, and more effectually guard against an undue administration of the federal government." Three of these recommendations would become the Fifth, Seventh and Tenth Amendments of Constitution. The sixth state to ratify the Constitution, Massachusetts was the first to suggest amendments, which in turn led directly to the passage of the Bill of Rights. REFERENCE: Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions 13; ESTC W36221; Evans 21242; Federal Hundred 21; Liberty's Legacy USC-25; Sabin 45702 PROVENANCE: Lynn Public Library (bookplate to front pastedown)

View 1 of Lot 138: Massachusetts | Ratifying the Constitution in Massachusetts

massachusetts | ratifying the constitution in massachusetts

United States Congress Congress of the United States … An Act to Provide more Effectually for the Settlement of the Accounts between the United States and the Individual States [caption title]. [New York: Francis Childs and John Swaine, 1790] Folio (385 x 242 mm) printed recto and verso on a half-sheet (watermarked J Whatman), attesting signature of the Secretary of State ("Th: Jefferson") on verso. Faintest browning but withal in superb, as-issued condition. Half red morocco slipcase, chemise. The official printing, one of just a few signed by Thomas Jefferson, of the "Assumption Act," one of the most essential laws ever passed by the United States, and a cornerstone of Alexander Hamilton's economic program. The "Assumption Act" authorized the federal government to receive the outstanding debts of the individual states and to issue federal securities in exchange. Hamilton's biographer, Robert Hendrickson, has called the federal assumption of state debts the most intractable economic issue of the early republic. Combined with Hamilton's ideas for solidifying public credit (see lot 224) and establishing a National Bank, the Assumption Act would cause creditors holding these securities to seek the national government for their payment, and thus increase their support of the new government at the expense of the states. The assumption debate helped define the political divisions that soon evolved into the Federalist and Democratic-Republican political parties. By this Act, Congress assumed a total of $21.5 million of state debt with a quota apportioning the sums assumed to each State. However, not all the quotas were filled so the total assumed was only $18.3 million. Support for the Assumption Act was divided. The northern states carried a greater proportion of the total debt and supported the plan. The southern states were generally opposed, failing to see the benefit of paying taxes to settle northern debts. The proposed Act was debated in the House of Representatives in the winter and early spring of 1790, with James Madison of Virginia leading the opposition. After a narrow defeat in a House vote on 12 April, Hamilton's supporters tabled the Act. It sat idle through the spring and early summer of 1790, during which time it became entangled with a seemingly unrelated controversy arising from the choice of the location for the new national capital. With the adroit assistance of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton procured an agreement by which Southern votes in Congress were secured for the assumption of state debts in return for Northern votes to locate the national capital on the banks of the Potomac River. Since it would take time to build the new capital it was agreed that the Government, then located at New York, should be transferred to Philadelphia for ten to fifteen years, and then to the present site of the national capital city at Washington, D.C. The votes for moving the capital and passing the Assumption Act came in July 1790, and both were approved by the House and Senate by identical margins on 4 August 1790. The Assumption Act established a board of three commissioners to settle the accounts between the United States and the individual states. All claims from the states for debts "accrued for the general or particular defence during the war" would be filed with the commissioners before 1 July 1791. The commissioners would take into account any advances which had been made to the states from the federal government, and also the amount a state had already paid toward its debt burden. Although at the time the Act was criticized for widening the influence of the federal government it is now generally believed that as a result of the erosion of debts, the states were in a better position to focus on economic growth and development. The present copy of the Assumption Act bears the printed signatures of President George Washington, Vice President John Adams, and House Speaker Frederick Muhlenberg, as well as the holograph signature of Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. Individual acts and bills of Congress were routinely printed for public distribution but there was a provision to print a few large-paper copies of each act for official dissemination to the states which bore the Secretary of State's signature. The present copy is one of the large-paper issues; only two other large-paper copies signed by Jefferson are known: one is held by the Library of Congress, the other was sold by us, 4 June 2013, lot 161. Just one further copy of the Act has been located, at the American Antiquarian Society: it is unsigned and its dimensions are smaller. REFERENCE Celebration of My Country 124; Evans 22969; ESTC W14368; Federal Hundred 28 note; Paul Trescott, "Federal-State Financial Relations 1790–1860," in The Journal of Economic History 15:3 (Sept. 1955), pp. 227–45; cf. Hendrickson, Hamilton 2:37–52

View 1 of Lot 483: United States Congress | The official printing, signed by Thomas Jefferson, of the "Assumption Act," a cornerstone of Alexander Hamilton's economic program.

united states congress | the official printing, signed by thomas jefferson, of the "assumption act," a cornerstone of alexander hamilton's economic program.

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