"THUS WAS A DANGEROUS INTERNAL WAR FINALLY SUPPRESSED, BY THE SPIRITED USE OF CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS, WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD BY THE HAND OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE"

MINOT, George Richards. The History of the Insurrections, in Massachusetts, in the Year MDCCLXXXVI. Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1788. Octavo, 20th-century half dark green morocco gilt, raised bands. $4500.

Uncommon first edition of the earliest account of Shays' Rebellion of 1786-1787, a turning point in the development and ratification of the U.S. Constitution, elegantly bound.

When Continental Army Captain Daniel Shays launched a violent uprising in response to the debt crisis in Massachusetts, the subsequent calls for reforming the Articles of Confederation eventually resulted in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787, which then, rather than rewriting the Articles, drafted the first version of the United States Constitution. This description of the rebellion and the economic and political factors that led up to it—the first published account—was written by Minot, the clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and secretary of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention, as well as co-founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society. "George Washington spoke of the book's 'perspicuity and impartiality.' John Quincy Adams commented on its 'authenticity, impartiality, penetration and sagacity.' The historian David Ramsey thought that it did the writer 'great honor' and that it had 'the air of impartiality.'" (Feer, "Minot's History of the Insurrections"). In a letter to Benjamin Lincoln dated August 28, 1788, Washington wrote: "I received with your letter of the 9th instant, one from Mr Minot and also his History of the Insurrections in Massachusetts. The work seems to be executed with ingenuity, as well as to be calculated to place facts in a true point of light, obviate the prejudices of those who were unacquainted with the circumstances & answer good purposes in respect to our government in general. I have returned him my thanks for his present, by this conveyance." Evans 21259. Sabin 49324. Howes M651. ESTC W20463. Inked owner name on title page and a few tiny penciled annotations in margins.

Minor toning and foxing; one leaf creased. A handsome copy.