Pennsylvania Constitution | Minutes of the Pennsylvania Convention, where the Constitution of 1776 was passed

[Pennsylvania Constitution]

Minutes of the Proceedings of the Convention of the State of Pennsylvania Held at Philadelphia, the Fifteenth Day of July, 1776. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Henry Miller, in Race-Street, MDCCLXXVI (1776)

Folio (329 x 195 mm). Originally issued in ten parts, with continuous pagination, woodcut title-page ornament, typographic ornaments in text; tiny nicks to the edges of the title-page, a few very minor instances of pale spotting or light soiling, expert paper restoration to lower margins with infill to catchwords and sometimes the final line of text, a small repair at the upper corner and a barely discernable early ownership signature to the final leaf. Bound to style in half calf, marbled paper boards, the spine and red leather title label gilt; thin lines of wear along the joints, a scratch to the rear board.

The exceedingly rare primary account of the convention that passed Pennsylvania's Constitution of 1776, the most liberal of the early state constitutions.

The Pennsylvania Convention was held at Independence Hall between 15 July and 28 September 1776, beginning just days after the Second Continental Congress had passed the Declaration of Independence. The minutes of the proceedings were documented in a series of weekly publications, which were issued in parts.

Pennsylvania's Constitution of 1776 is often deemed the most liberal of state constitutions. The convention's ninety-six delegates, led by its president Benjamin Franklin, created a unicameral legislature, a weak executive who was elected annually, and broad suffrage that allowed all "free" taxpaying men to vote, as opposed to restricting voting only to landowners. They also instituted an uncommon degree of government transparency and, as such, this was one of the few state constitutional conventions to make its deliberations public, and the only one to do so while still in session. Due to the way the convention was formed, with eight delegates from each of the eleven counties and eight delegates from Philadelphia, the "country" vote had overwhelming representation. This accounts for the high level of distaste in centralized government that is reflected in this Constitution.

Copies of this critical, firsthand account of the proceedings are extremely rare, and this is probably the only one to change hands in the last hundred years. We locate just three institutional copies, at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the State Library of Pennsylvania.

For a contemporary copy of the text of the Pennsylvania Constitution, see following lot.

REFERENCES

ESTC W19588; Evans 14977; Hildeburn 3417; Lipman/Celebration 68

PROVENANCE

Nancy Channerly (faintly discernable early ownership inscription on p. 67) — The New York City Bar Association (the ghost of a library stamp on title; sold at Doyle Auctions, 24 November 2014, lot 94) — Barbara and Ira Lipman (Sotheby's New York, 13 April 201, lot 377)