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1781 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS, JOHN ADAMS, VERY RARE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT for Sale - Soviet-Awards.com

1781 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS, JOHN ADAMS, VERY RARE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT For Sale

1781 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS, JOHN ADAMS, VERY RARE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT
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1781 CONSTITUTION OF MASSACHUSETTS, JOHN ADAMS, VERY RARE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT:
$895.00

EXCEPTIONAL PIECE OF AMERICAN HISTORY--JOHN ADAMS’MASSACHUSETTS CONSTITUTION OF 1780 (SECOND, 1781 PRINTING). “DESERVING OF A PLACE ALONGSIDE THEDECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, THE BILL OFRIGHTS AND THE FEDERALIST AS ONE OF THE FIVE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS OF THEREVOLUTIONARY ERA”

(ADAMS, John). AConstitution or Frame of Government, Agreed upon by the Delegates of the Peopleof the State of Massachusetts-Bay, in Convention, Begun and Held at Cambridgeon the First of September, 1779, and Continued by Adjournments to the Second ofMarch, 1780. To be submitted to theRevision of their Constituents, in Order to the compleating of the same, inConformity to their Amendments, at a Session to be held for that Purpose, onthe First Wednesday in June next ensuing.

Printed in Boston: Benjamin Edes & Sons, 1781. EVANS 17229. SABIN 45691. 24pp. Folio. This is the second printing of the finalratified constitution for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the product of theconvention adjourned in March of 1780. Thefirst printing (also by Edes) was in octavo format, in forty-three pages. Preserved in modern marbled wrappers andprovided in tri-fold insert in half morocco and cloth, gilt-labeled box. As shown in the final photo, the piece comesin an antique hardwood presentation box.

Please study photos for condition, which includes minor edgewear, moderate browning and some dampstaining. Title page is missing, substituted in expertfacsimile, else very good.

The only competitive listing of this document presently found is from William Reese (see last photo), asking $9,500.00 for the complete document. Here, only the title page is missing (it is provided in expert facsimile on archival paper, see photo 2), so this sale start price presents an extraordinary opportunity to obtain this exceptional piece of early American history.

The 1780 Massachusetts Constitution was a landmarkdocument during the American Revolutionary War.Chiefly authored by Founding Father John Adams, this “ideal of a‘perfect constitution’” (Wood) notably contains the Massachusetts’constitutional convention’s revision of Adams' initial wording—that all men are“born equally free and independent”—to “All men are born free and equal,”reflecting Jefferson’s timeless phrase in the Declaration.

"When Americans todaycontemplate their heritage… few are aware of the importance of therevolutionary state constitutions as cornerstones of the new republic… TheMassachusetts Constitution of 1780 is, on any fair assessment, the mostsignificant of these early state constitutions, and it is arguably deserving ofa place alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of theUnited States, the Bill of Rights and the Federalist as one of the five mostimportant documents of the revolutionary era… This Constitution wasamong the first written constitutions in the world, was the first writtenconstitution ever based upon the fully developed concept of a constitutionalconvention, and was the first written constitution ever expressly approved bythe people over whom it was to operate. It stands today as the oldest writtenconstitution in the world. The principal architect of the Constitution was JohnAdams, who was by all accounts the most influential figure in the shaping ofthe new government… Even Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independenceand Notes on Virginia, was not as highly regarded during the Revolution as wasAdams" (Peters, Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, 12-14). To historianGordon Wood, the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 "came to stand for thereconsidered ideal of a 'perfect constitution" (Creation of the AmericanRepublic, 434).

The Massachusetts Constitution remains "one of the mostadmirable, long-lasting achievements of John Adams' life." Working throughout September 1779, Adams"completed the draft sometime in early October. Printed copies, for the consideration of theconvention, were ready at the end of the month… A tone of absolute clarity and elevatedthought was established in the opening lines, in a Preamble, a new feature inconstitutions… A Declaration of Rights,following the Preamble and preceding the Constitution itself," stated inAdams' initial draft that "all men were 'born equally free andindependent'—words Adams had taken from the Virginia Declaration ofRights." Though the Massachusettsconstitutional convention would "approve nearly all of his draft," itpreferred "what Jefferson had written in the Declaration of Independence…[and] revised the first article of the Declaration of Rights, that all men were'born equally free and independent,' to read that all men were 'born free andequal" as seen herein. It was"a change Adams did not like… He did not believe all men were createdequal, except in the eyes of God, but that all men… were born to equalrights."

With its landmark guarantees of free elections and"liberty of the press," and grounded in the separation and balance ofpowers, the form of government outlined in this seminal American work "wasvery like what Adams had proposed in his Thoughts on Government [1776]… In addition, notably, there was Section II ofChapter 6, a paragraph headed 'The Encouragement of Literature, &c.' whichwas like no other declaration to be found in any constitution ever writtenuntil then, or since… As time wouldprove, Adams had written one of the great, enduring documents of the AmericanRevolution.

“The constitution of the Commonwealth ofMassachusetts is the oldest functioning written constitution in the world" (McCullough, John Adams, 220-25), and thus themost enduring example of the American insistence on limited government,separation of governmental powers, and each branch of government controlled bychecks and balances. Replacing theMassachusetts colonial charter, it was "drafted by the first body whichcould rightfully be called a constitutional convention" in Massachusetts[V Dictionary of American History 166]."Of the original thirteen states only Massachusetts has avoided thenecessity of wholesale revision of her constitution. Her 1780 document, while extensively amended,still serves her." [Id. at 167]. Itserved as the model for other States. Its 'Free and Equal Clause' was ofprofound importance: "by making the status of slave property uncertain,the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 may have had more to do with thewithering away of slavery in the state than did the decisions in theWalker-Jennison cases" [II Gephart 10385].This vital document was "more sophisticated than many of the otherstate constitutions due to its construction. For example, instead of just listingprovisions, it had a structure of chapters, sections and articles. Thisstructure served as a foundation for the U.S. Constitution. The Massachusetts Constitution also hadsubstantial influence on the subsequent revisions of many of the other stateconstitutions" (Latimer, Civil Liberties, 23).
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