• 23 • “WE THE PEOPLE… DO ORDAIN AND ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION”: FIRST PUBLICATION OF THE SECRET PROCEEDINGS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, ONE OF 1000 COPIES, RARE ASSOCIATION COPY OF JEFFERSON’S ATTORNEY GENERAL 23(CONSTITUTION) UNITED STATES CONGRESS. Journal, Acts and Proceedings of the Convention… which Formed the Constitution of the United States. Boston, 1819. Octavo, contemporary brown sheep rebacked with original spine laid down; custom clamshell box. $10,500 First edition of the Journals, Acts and Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention, one of only 1000 copies, printed by order of Congress, breaking the “seal of secrecy” and revealing publicly for the first time “the Secret Journals of the Acts and Proceedings, and the Foreign Correspondence.” With the owner signature of Caesar Augustus Rodney, the nephew and namesake of Caesar Rodney, signer of the Declaration of Independence. “The Congress of the Confederation had empowered the Philadelphia Convention to recommend amendments to the Articles of Confederation, not to write a constitution for the nation. The Convention decided, however, to discard the Articles and to devise an entirely new government. When the framers were done they bypassed the Congress and submitted the new Constitution directly to the states, which were called upon to organize popular conventions to ratify their actions and adopt the Constitution. The framers appealed to the people directly, rather than to the state legislatures, to ensure that the new Constitution would be regarded as a higher law, more fundamental than normal legislation… The framers believed that only the people themselves could compact together to ordain the Constitution” (Lutz & Warren,A Covenanted People 47). The Convention itself worked in absolute secrecy by vote of a majority of its members. No official records were kept. Sentries were posted around the building and windows and doors were shut up tight. This secrecy was so well enforced that even personal correspondence between the closest friends could not reveal anything of the nature of the debates. We now know about these debates only through a handful of documents, as well as Madison’s journal. This publication, the first and earliest obtainable account of the Constitutional Convention, is based on State Department documents and the now-famous “secret” journal of James Madison, as well as material obtained from other members of the Convention. Sabin 15557. Shaw & Shoemaker 49802. This is the personal copy of Caesar Augustus Rodney (17721824), with his signature. A prominent statesman who served as Attorney General for both Jefferson and Madison, he was named after his uncle, Caesar Rodney, a leading figure in the Revolution. In 1776 the elder Rodney played a crucial role when the Continental Congress took up the subject of independence on July 2nd. With the Delaware vote divided and Rodney away in Lewes, investigating a Tory uprising, he was urgently called to Philadelphia in order to cast the deciding vote. “He rode 80 miles through the night of 1-2 July 1776 and arrived at the Pennsylvania state house, ‘tho detained by Thunder and Rain,’ in time to join [fellow assemblyman] McKean in casting Delaware’s vote for independence” (ANB). Text quite fresh with trace of marginal loss to page 55 not affecting text, mild edge-wear rubbing to contemporary boards. A handsome near-fine copy with an especially memorable provenance.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=