The Constitutions of the United States, According to the Latest Amendments, to Which are Prefixed the Declaration of Independence and the Federal Constitution. This Edition Contains all the Federal Acts Concerning the government of the New States...
Philadelphia, PA: John Conrad & Co., 1804. Early Printing. 8vo. Very Good. Item #17573
An important work assembling a printing of the 1787 U.S. Constitution together with the Bill of RIghts, and the First Edition of this work to include the act creating the newly purchased territory of Louisiana, as well as the 12th Amendment, unratified as of this printing and presented as a proposed amendment.
This historic piece features fantastic Tilghman family provenance, the signature of Tench Tilghman, dated 1804, at the top of the title page, likely a nephew of Washington's Aide de Camp.
Originally published in 1781 during the Revolutionary War as a collection of the state constitutions as well as the Articles of Confederation, the governing document of the original 13 states, until the U.S. Constitution in 1788, the first edition to include the U.S. Constitution was in 1791.
"This edition contains the late Constitutions of Vermont, Delaware, Georgia, and Kentucky, with the Regulations for the Government of the Territory north-west of the River Ohio; also, the Amendments to the Constitution of Maryland - not in any former edition."
This 1804 Fourth American Edition includes the constitutions of 17 states, the most recent being Ohio, admitted to the Union in 1803. Also presented here are the Northwest Ordinance, and the governing documents of the District of Columbia and Washington, DC.
Contemporary calf boards, rebacked in a lighter tan with black gilt spine labels. 391pp. Square tight binding. Clean interior. Pages browned. Original boards rubbed and worn, with some loss at corners.
An exceptional piece of early American legal history from the early Jefferson Administration, with desirable Tilghman family provenance.
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