Journal of the United States In Congress Assembled: Containing the Proceedings From the Sixth Day of November, 1786, to the Fifth Day of November, 1787. Volume XII.

$75,000.00

Item Number: 129855

New York: Published by Order of Congress, 1787.

Rare first edition of Vol. VII of the Journal of Congress; containing the first official Congressional Journal publication of the proposed Constitution of the United States. Octavo, original boards. Contains the first Congressional Journal publications of the proposed United States Constitution (pp. 149-166) and the Northwest Ordinance (pp. 85-93). In very good condition. Small loss to the title page affecting the “L” in “Journal”. A rare and important piece of American history.

Late in the day on September 17, 1787, American printers Dunlap and Claypoole received the final revisions to the United States Constitution from the Constitutional Convention. They worked through the night to print the document in time to distribute it to the delegates of all thirteen states for ratification on the morning of September 18. 500 copies of this "official edition" were printed and there are are purported to be 11 surviving copies.