![[MASSACHUSETTS, CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION]. State of Massachusetts Bay. In Convention, June 16, 1780. Whereas...more than Two-thirds of the Inhabitants...have expressed their Approbation of the Form of Government agreed upon by this Convention...This Convention do hereupon declare the said Form to be the form of government established by and for the Inhabitants of the State of Massachusetts-Bay...James Bowdoin, President. [Boston: Benjamin Edes and Sons?, 1780?]. Folio broadside, 15¾ x 10 1/8 in., with full margins, preserving the original deckle edges of the sheet. In virtually perfect condition. Evans 16846; Ford, Massachusetts Broadsides 2259.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01630_1089_000(102126).jpg?w=1)
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[MASSACHUSETTS, CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION]. State of Massachusetts Bay. In Convention, June 16, 1780. Whereas...more than Two-thirds of the Inhabitants...have expressed their Approbation of the Form of Government agreed upon by this Convention...This Convention do hereupon declare the said Form to be the form of government established by and for the Inhabitants of the State of Massachusetts-Bay...James Bowdoin, President. [Boston: Benjamin Edes and Sons?, 1780?]. Folio broadside, 15¾ x 10 1/8 in., with full margins, preserving the original deckle edges of the sheet. In virtually perfect condition. Evans 16846; Ford, Massachusetts Broadsides 2259.
ANNOUNCING THE RATIFICATION AND IMPLMENTATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE CONSTITUTION, THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY FUNCTIONING CONSTITUTIONAL COMPACT
A very rare broadside announcing formal ratification of Massachusetts' Constitution by the Constitutional Convention, declaring that the new constitution "by and for the Inhabitants of the State of Massachusetts-Bay," would be implemented in October and directing that elections be held for governor, lieutenant governor, senators and representatives. The Massachusetts Constitution was some five years in the making; it was largely drafted by John Adams, Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin (President of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention). John Adams, the constitution's primary author, had made a careful study of constitutional law and as early as 1775, when reconciliation with the crown appeared increasingly doubtful. His work, eventually published as Thoughts on Government: Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies (Philadelphia, 1776), circulated in manuscript and influenced the thought of constitution writers in Virginia, Massachusetts, and in Philadelphia in 1787.
ANNOUNCING THE RATIFICATION AND IMPLMENTATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE CONSTITUTION, THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY FUNCTIONING CONSTITUTIONAL COMPACT
A very rare broadside announcing formal ratification of Massachusetts' Constitution by the Constitutional Convention, declaring that the new constitution "by and for the Inhabitants of the State of Massachusetts-Bay," would be implemented in October and directing that elections be held for governor, lieutenant governor, senators and representatives. The Massachusetts Constitution was some five years in the making; it was largely drafted by John Adams, Samuel Adams and James Bowdoin (President of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention). John Adams, the constitution's primary author, had made a careful study of constitutional law and as early as 1775, when reconciliation with the crown appeared increasingly doubtful. His work, eventually published as Thoughts on Government: Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies (Philadelphia, 1776), circulated in manuscript and influenced the thought of constitution writers in Virginia, Massachusetts, and in Philadelphia in 1787.