![[AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION]. AN EXTRAORDINARY VOLUME OF NINE REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY FEDERAL PAMPHLETS, INCLUDING THE EARLIEST AVAILABLE EDITION OF "COMMON SENSE" AND THE FIRST REPORT OF THE SECRET SESSIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/NYR/2005_NYR_01614_0063_000(102404).jpg?w=1)
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[AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION]. AN EXTRAORDINARY VOLUME OF NINE REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY FEDERAL PAMPHLETS, INCLUDING THE EARLIEST AVAILABLE EDITION OF "COMMON SENSE" AND THE FIRST REPORT OF THE SECRET SESSIONS OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
8o (202 x 122 mm). (A few occasional marginal tears, some pale browning, overall in very good condition.) Contemporary sheep, black morocco spine label (some wear to extremities, rubbed); red quarter morocco slipcase. Provenance: James P. Chichester (signature dated 1 September 1819 at head of introduction to the Paine).
COMPRISING:
PAINE, Thomas (1737-1809). Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America...Second Edition. Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, 1776. 80 pages. American Independence 222b; Gimbel CS-3; Evans 14964.
INGLIS, Charles (1734-1816). True Interest of America Impartially Stated, In Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet Intitled Common Sense. Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1776. 70 pages. (Small hole in title-page with loss of two letters.) Evans 14809.
DALRYMPLE, John (1726-1810). Address of the People of Great-Britain to the Inhabitants of America. London: T. Cadell, 1775. 60 pages. (Lacks half title.) American Controversy 75-39a.
LEE, Richard Henry (1733-1794). Observations Leading to a Fair Examination of the System of Government, Proposed by the Late Convention. [New York: Thomas Greenleaf], 1787. 40 pages. Evans 20454; Wellsprings of a Nation 198.
WARREN, Mercy (1728-1814). Observations on the New Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions. Boston, printed, New York, reprinted: [Thomas Greenleaf], 1787. 22 pages. Bernstein, Are We To Be A Nation? p. 225; Evans 21112.
MARTIN, Luther (1748-1826). The Genuine Information, Delivered to the Legislature of the State of Maryland, Relative to the Proceedings of the General Convention, Lately Held at Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Eleazar Oswald, 1788. 93 pages. Evans 21220; Howes M-343; Sabin 44897.
WOOD, Silas (1769-1847). Letters Addressed to the Electors of Representatives to Congress for the First Election District in the State Of New-York. New York: T. & J. Swords, 1800. 22 pages. Evans 39135.
SHEFFIELD, John Holroyd, Earl of (1735-1821). Observations on the Manufactures, Trade, and Present State of Ireland. Dublin: J. Exshaw, 1785. 56 pages.
KENT, James (1763-1847). Introductory Lecture to a Course of Law Lectures. New York: Francis Childs, 1794. 23 pages. Evans 27183.
This exceptional volume of pamphlets, evidently bound together about 1800, contains two of the rarest and most important works from the foundation of the nation: Thomas Paine's Common Sense, in its earliest obtainable edition, and the only contemporary work to describe the secret sessions of the Federal Constitutional Convention, Luther Martin's The Genuine Information.
Common Sense ranks as the most famous political utterance of the American Revolution. This is the earliest reasonably obtainable edition, the second, issued eleven days after the first by the same publisher Robert Bell. The only copy of the first edition to appear on the market in recent decade was the Engelhard copy, which realized $123,500 in January 1996.
Even rarer and of equal importance is the sixth pamphlet in the volume, Luther Martin's The Genuine Information, the only contemporary source to describe the debates in the Federal Constitutional Convention. These debates have now become an integral part of the founding documents of the United States, and a basic resource for Constitutional scholars interpreting the meaning of the Constitution. At the time, however, virtually nothing was known of its proceedings because of the surprisingly effective veil of silence drawn by the secrecy oath its members had taken. It was not until 1819-1821, a third of a century later, that the debates of the Convention became generally known.
The exception to this was The Genuine Information. Martin, a delegate from Maryland who was at odds with almost every position expressed there, violated his oath of secrecy on the grounds that the Maryland Legislature had required its delegates to report on the proceedings. He therefore published his minutes of the debates, the only detailed account of the arguments put forward in the Constitutional Convention to appear then or for decades to come. As such, it is a landmark work of extraordinary importance in American history, the only public record of the Constitution in the making that was available during the struggles of ratification and the political battles of the Federalist era. "Maryland had the unusual distinction of dispatching to the Convention the most intemperate and insufferably voluble antinationalist, Luther Martin, who quit the Convention before it ended, leaving the signing to his fellow delegates" (Richard C. Morris, The Forging of the Union 1781-1789, New York, 1987, p. 274). It is written that Martin arrived at the Convention in a "cloud of suspicion" and left in a "cloud of disgust" (Clinton Rossiter, 1787 The Grand Convention, New York, 1987, pp. 164-5).
"His main target was Article III, concerning the judiciary. Martin insisted that the states were better judges of the construction of tax laws than the federal judiciary, and as for an inferior federal court system, that would be superogatory, giving rise to an army of federal officials at enormous expense. In the course of time each of the three branches of the federal government would raise its own bureaucratic army, but none of the three could have envisioned the scope of that bureaucracy two centuries later" (Morris, p. 308).
Martin finally left the Convention in September, going home with his fellow delegate John Francis Mercer to fight against ratification. While Virginia's James Madison long "withstood the pressures and temptations to publish his own precious notes (about which, indeed, not more than a few friends had any information)...A few bits and pieces of trustworthy evidence, to be sure, did leak out in the early years" (Rossiter, pp. 330-1). For one, Benjamin Franklin's closing remarks of 17 September appeared in several newspapers with his consent before the end of 1787. "Luther Martin disclosed a number of secrets (although he was careful not to name names) during his savage campaign against ratification in 1787-1788" (ibid, p. 331). This contradicted the principles of most members, however: "To an extent that must seem astonishing in this age of instant and total publicity, however, the Framers continued to honor their formal and informal rules of secrecy" (ibid). Not until 1836, at the reading of Madison's will, was it learned that he wished to have his journal published and attributed to him, and not until 1840, after Congress had paid his widow for the papers, did they appear in print.
The Genuine Information is VERY RARE: No copy has appeared in auction records in the last forty years and none is known to have come on the market.
Also of importance is Richard Henry Lee's Observations. It has been said that this tract was to anti-Federalists what The Federalist was to pro-ratification forces. A leading figure in 1776, when he moved the motion for Independence, Lee believed in a loose Confederation and feared strong federal power. He was particularly concerned with the absence of a Bill of Rights from the Constitution, and sets forth his case against the "defective" document here. It is also a work of considerable rarity.
On the other side, Mercy Otis Warren's Observations on the New Constitution was another Anti-Federalist voice. It is notable as the most effective contribution by a woman to the political debate (she wrote under the pseudonym "A Columbian Patriot"). The importance of Luther Martin is emphasized here, for she, like many in the Anti-Federalist party, drew on his account of the Convention.
Charles Inglis's The True Interest of America Impartially Stated was the first reply to Paine's pamphlet, and the only significant rebuttal of it to appear in Philadelphia. This had originally been published in New York as The Deceiver Unmasked, but only two copies survive of this first edition. This work was popular enough, though, for two Philadelphia editions, of which this is the first. Three of the other pamphlets are of minor interest. Unrelated to these larger questions of American government, but of interest in a different sphere, is James Kent's Introductory Lecture, the first published work of the celebrated American lawyer, Chancellor Kent. A REMARKABLE COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT AMERICAN POLITICAL WORKS.
8
COMPRISING:
PAINE, Thomas (1737-1809). Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America...Second Edition. Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, 1776. 80 pages. American Independence 222b; Gimbel CS-3; Evans 14964.
INGLIS, Charles (1734-1816). True Interest of America Impartially Stated, In Certain Strictures on a Pamphlet Intitled Common Sense. Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1776. 70 pages. (Small hole in title-page with loss of two letters.) Evans 14809.
DALRYMPLE, John (1726-1810). Address of the People of Great-Britain to the Inhabitants of America. London: T. Cadell, 1775. 60 pages. (Lacks half title.) American Controversy 75-39a.
LEE, Richard Henry (1733-1794). Observations Leading to a Fair Examination of the System of Government, Proposed by the Late Convention. [New York: Thomas Greenleaf], 1787. 40 pages. Evans 20454; Wellsprings of a Nation 198.
WARREN, Mercy (1728-1814). Observations on the New Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions. Boston, printed, New York, reprinted: [Thomas Greenleaf], 1787. 22 pages. Bernstein, Are We To Be A Nation? p. 225; Evans 21112.
MARTIN, Luther (1748-1826). The Genuine Information, Delivered to the Legislature of the State of Maryland, Relative to the Proceedings of the General Convention, Lately Held at Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Eleazar Oswald, 1788. 93 pages. Evans 21220; Howes M-343; Sabin 44897.
WOOD, Silas (1769-1847). Letters Addressed to the Electors of Representatives to Congress for the First Election District in the State Of New-York. New York: T. & J. Swords, 1800. 22 pages. Evans 39135.
SHEFFIELD, John Holroyd, Earl of (1735-1821). Observations on the Manufactures, Trade, and Present State of Ireland. Dublin: J. Exshaw, 1785. 56 pages.
KENT, James (1763-1847). Introductory Lecture to a Course of Law Lectures. New York: Francis Childs, 1794. 23 pages. Evans 27183.
This exceptional volume of pamphlets, evidently bound together about 1800, contains two of the rarest and most important works from the foundation of the nation: Thomas Paine's Common Sense, in its earliest obtainable edition, and the only contemporary work to describe the secret sessions of the Federal Constitutional Convention, Luther Martin's The Genuine Information.
Common Sense ranks as the most famous political utterance of the American Revolution. This is the earliest reasonably obtainable edition, the second, issued eleven days after the first by the same publisher Robert Bell. The only copy of the first edition to appear on the market in recent decade was the Engelhard copy, which realized $123,500 in January 1996.
Even rarer and of equal importance is the sixth pamphlet in the volume, Luther Martin's The Genuine Information, the only contemporary source to describe the debates in the Federal Constitutional Convention. These debates have now become an integral part of the founding documents of the United States, and a basic resource for Constitutional scholars interpreting the meaning of the Constitution. At the time, however, virtually nothing was known of its proceedings because of the surprisingly effective veil of silence drawn by the secrecy oath its members had taken. It was not until 1819-1821, a third of a century later, that the debates of the Convention became generally known.
The exception to this was The Genuine Information. Martin, a delegate from Maryland who was at odds with almost every position expressed there, violated his oath of secrecy on the grounds that the Maryland Legislature had required its delegates to report on the proceedings. He therefore published his minutes of the debates, the only detailed account of the arguments put forward in the Constitutional Convention to appear then or for decades to come. As such, it is a landmark work of extraordinary importance in American history, the only public record of the Constitution in the making that was available during the struggles of ratification and the political battles of the Federalist era. "Maryland had the unusual distinction of dispatching to the Convention the most intemperate and insufferably voluble antinationalist, Luther Martin, who quit the Convention before it ended, leaving the signing to his fellow delegates" (Richard C. Morris, The Forging of the Union 1781-1789, New York, 1987, p. 274). It is written that Martin arrived at the Convention in a "cloud of suspicion" and left in a "cloud of disgust" (Clinton Rossiter, 1787 The Grand Convention, New York, 1987, pp. 164-5).
"His main target was Article III, concerning the judiciary. Martin insisted that the states were better judges of the construction of tax laws than the federal judiciary, and as for an inferior federal court system, that would be superogatory, giving rise to an army of federal officials at enormous expense. In the course of time each of the three branches of the federal government would raise its own bureaucratic army, but none of the three could have envisioned the scope of that bureaucracy two centuries later" (Morris, p. 308).
Martin finally left the Convention in September, going home with his fellow delegate John Francis Mercer to fight against ratification. While Virginia's James Madison long "withstood the pressures and temptations to publish his own precious notes (about which, indeed, not more than a few friends had any information)...A few bits and pieces of trustworthy evidence, to be sure, did leak out in the early years" (Rossiter, pp. 330-1). For one, Benjamin Franklin's closing remarks of 17 September appeared in several newspapers with his consent before the end of 1787. "Luther Martin disclosed a number of secrets (although he was careful not to name names) during his savage campaign against ratification in 1787-1788" (ibid, p. 331). This contradicted the principles of most members, however: "To an extent that must seem astonishing in this age of instant and total publicity, however, the Framers continued to honor their formal and informal rules of secrecy" (ibid). Not until 1836, at the reading of Madison's will, was it learned that he wished to have his journal published and attributed to him, and not until 1840, after Congress had paid his widow for the papers, did they appear in print.
The Genuine Information is VERY RARE: No copy has appeared in auction records in the last forty years and none is known to have come on the market.
Also of importance is Richard Henry Lee's Observations. It has been said that this tract was to anti-Federalists what The Federalist was to pro-ratification forces. A leading figure in 1776, when he moved the motion for Independence, Lee believed in a loose Confederation and feared strong federal power. He was particularly concerned with the absence of a Bill of Rights from the Constitution, and sets forth his case against the "defective" document here. It is also a work of considerable rarity.
On the other side, Mercy Otis Warren's Observations on the New Constitution was another Anti-Federalist voice. It is notable as the most effective contribution by a woman to the political debate (she wrote under the pseudonym "A Columbian Patriot"). The importance of Luther Martin is emphasized here, for she, like many in the Anti-Federalist party, drew on his account of the Convention.
Charles Inglis's The True Interest of America Impartially Stated was the first reply to Paine's pamphlet, and the only significant rebuttal of it to appear in Philadelphia. This had originally been published in New York as The Deceiver Unmasked, but only two copies survive of this first edition. This work was popular enough, though, for two Philadelphia editions, of which this is the first. Three of the other pamphlets are of minor interest. Unrelated to these larger questions of American government, but of interest in a different sphere, is James Kent's Introductory Lecture, the first published work of the celebrated American lawyer, Chancellor Kent. A REMARKABLE COLLECTION OF IMPORTANT AMERICAN POLITICAL WORKS.