U.S. Constitution – Earliest Printings
Table of Contents for the several types of Constitution printings, created during August and September 1787.
• Constitutional Convention confidential drafts, only for the use of the delegates…... pp 2-6.
• Final “Official” Constitutional Convention printing, with the complete text of the proposed Constitution, as well as the two associated resolutions. Including that offered in Sotheby’s December 13, 2022 auction………………………………………………….……. pp 7–10.
• Newspaper printings of the Constitution. (pp 16-19 is Sept. 20 printing)….…….. pp 11–19.
• Other Printings, including those after September, 1787. I.e., printings for the United State in Congress Assembled, and for the individual states pp 20.
And Addenda – Ratification Documents
Note on funky looking “f”s:
Despite appearances, that says “secure the Blessings.” The “long s” was a style convention that started in the 11th century and died out around 1800. We can’t tell you why. But it was read and pronounced as an “s.”
The following pages show examples of each of the earliest printings of the Constitution.
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Constitutional Convention Confidential Drafts
There are three official Constitutional Convention printings, all by John Dunlap or Dunlap & Claypoole. The first two were drafts, the third was the final text.
1. (First Draft) August 6, 1787. Committee of Detail (also known as “Committee of Five”)
“We the People of the States of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, do ordain, declare and establish the following Constitution for the Government of Ourselves and our Posterity”
Five delegates were appointed to a committee, established on July 24th, to write a draft reflecting the agreements made by the Convention up to that point, which included the Virginia Plan’s 15 resolutions. The Convention adjourned from July 26 to August 6 to await the report. The Committee added the phrase “giving them aid and comfort” to the section on treason to narrow the definition, and also added an Electoral College.
60 copies were printed for the use of delegates, on seven pages, on one side only of seven folio leaves. 17 are known to survive. Of those, 11 have extensive annotations – showing the actual work of drafting the Constitution.
We acquired the last two known in private hands, which our clients have since donated to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Page 1 of GLC 00819.01
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Here is how a complete copy of the First Draft looks, showing the blank pages.
Courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
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2. (Second Draft) September 12, 1787, Committee of Style and Arrangement
“We, the People of the Unites States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”
Appointed “to revise the style of and arrange the articles which had been agreed to by the house.” Previous committees included members from different regions and viewpoints, but the members of this final committee were mainly supportive of a strong national government, were unsympathetic to calls for states’ rights, and did not favor the small states.
After comparing this printed draft to the delegates’ notes, the Constitution was then ordered engrossed on Saturday, September 15 by Jacob Shallus. It was submitted and signed on September 17.
60 copies were printed for use of the delegates, on four pages, on two leaves. 14 are known to survive.
We acquired the last known copy in private hands, which our clients have since donated to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Page 1, GLC 00819.02
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Here is how a complete copy of the Second Draft looks, showing the blank pages.
Courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania
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Final “Official” Constitutional Convention Printing
3. (Final Text) September 17 [-18], 1787, the “Official Edition” by Dunlap & Claypoole
After four months of contentious but productive debate, the Convention completed its work and 39 delegates signed the engrossed Constitution on September 17.
The Constitution, with two covering resolutions signed by George Washington as president of the Convention, was immediately sent to printers Dunlap & Claypoole. According to an invoice record, 500 copies were printed, but we believe the actual number is lower. 1
4 are known to survive (including the copy offered at Sotheby’s.) 1
By Tuesday, September 18th, copies were ready for distribution to and by the delegates. That morning, William Jackson, Secretary to the Convention, set out on the 10 a.m. stagecoach from Philadelphia to deliver the results to the Articles of Association Congress in New York. That same morning, the Constitution was first publicly read to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
We acquired privately, from a descendant of the original recipient, Jonathan Williams, what was the third copy in private hands, inscribed by Benjamin Franklin. Our clients have since donated it to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
The copy sold by Sotheby’s on November 18, 2021 to Ken Griffin for $43.2 million, is the only other known remaining in private hands.
Below are images of the copy being offered by Sotheby’s, December 13, 2022 2
Note: The Constitutional Convention had no authority to set the Constitution in motion. It sent the proposed Constitution to the Confederation Congress in New York for the next step. After the engrossed and signed Constitution and printed copies of the Official Edition were received on September 20th, the Confederation Congress debated and agreed to the Convention’s suggestion calling for each state to organize a ratifying convention.
1 American Philosophical Society, extensively annotated Benjamin Franklin signed copy; Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, Benjamin Franklin signed copy (first 4 of 6 pages); Library of Congress (Edward Pendleton extensively annotated, and James Madison unannotated); Delaware Hall of Records, copy inscribed by George Read; Independence Historical Park, copy with one word change by George Washington); New Jersey State Archives, with cover letter signed by Wm Livingston, David Brearley, Wm Houston, Jonathan Dayton; Historic Society of Pennsylvania; The Huntington Library; Princeton University Scheide Library; Yale University; Public Records office, London ; Ken Griffin, acquired at Sotheby’s Nov.18, 2021; the Van Sinderen copy at Sotheby’s, December 13, 2022.
2 Sewn into later blue paper covers. As it is now, one can see either the inside cover paper and page 1, or pages 2-3, or pages 4-5, or page 6 and the inside back cover paper. I recommend removing the original pages from the cover. Then, three original pages could be displayed at one time (page 1 or 2, pages 3 or 4, and page 5 or 6). This is shown as if the pages were separated.
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(front of first leaf) (verso of first leaf)
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(front of second leaf) (verso of second leaf)
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(front of third leaf) (verso of third leaf)
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Newspaper Printings
On September 17, the engrossed original Constitution was signed, and the Convention ordered its final printing, the “Official Edition.” On September 18th, the delegates were given copies to distribute, and copies were taken to New York to be delivered to Congress. That same morning, the Constitution was first publicly read to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Also on September 18, before the complete text was ready for the public, Dunlap’s paper, The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser, announced that the Constitution had been created: “We have the heart-felt pleasure to inform our fellow citizens that the Federal Convention adjourned yesterday, having completed the object of their deliberations And we hear that Major W. Jackson, the secretary of that honorable body, leaves this city for New York, this morning, in order to lay the great result of their proceeds before the United States in Congress.” (In large type, at the top of page 3, column 1). #26498
Later, the Pennsylvania Evening Chronicle made a similar announcement. “Yesterday afternoon, about 4 o’clock the federal convention, after having concluded the important task of framing a federal system of government, broke up: and many of the delegates, we are informed, are already on their way to communicate to their constituents the result of their deliberations. And we trust every friend to the peace and prosperity of America, is prepared to receive with respect, and to consider with candor the propositions which will soon be divulged.” (p/c) We have what may be the only copy of that paper known to survive. #26746
On September 19, five Philadelphia newspapers published the Constitution. Freeman’s Journal, The Independent Gazetteer, The Pennsylvania Gazette, The Pennsylvania Journal, and The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser
A triweekly paper, The Pennsylvania Herald, was the next and only paper to publish the Constitution on Thursday, September 20.
There were approximately 80 American newspapers at that time. Within twenty days, at least 55 had printed the Constitution (Rapport, “Printing the Constitution,” p. 89). The news from Philadelphia went northeast to New York, north to Portland, south to Savannah, west to Lexington, and from Philadelphia and the next locations in widening ripples. Thanks to a free press, the great debate on its ratification would begin
All the 1787 newspapers below are four pages printed on one leaf. (Displayed unfolded, you see pages 4 (on left) and 1 (on right) on the front, and pages 2 and 3 on the verso.)
Notes:
A rare Dunlap & Claypoole broadsheet printing apparently followed the “Official Edition” and preceded this newspaper. Four pages on one leaf. Evans 45178. The type setting of the preamble had to be re-set to accommodate the size and format (with a masthead) of their newspaper. There are only two known copies of that, at Library of Congress and Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. (not shown here)
Because of Dunlap and Claypoole’s connection to the Convention, their Pennsylvania Packet is typically considered the first newspaper printing, though we aren’t aware of any evidence that it came out before the four other Philadelphia papers that published the Constitution that day.
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September 19, 1787. Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser.
Approximately 32 known.
Kaller has handled four of the last six copies on the market. The example shown below was acquired for the David M. Rubenstein Collection. Currently on display at Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago.
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Pages 2 and 3
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September 19, 1787, The Independent Gazetteer, or the Chronicle of Freedom.
11 known copies. We have one, originally acquired for a client, that is available.
https://www.sethkaller.com/item/1962-21085.99-Rare-First-Printing-of-the-U.S.-Constitution
We aren’t aware of any other examples found in 100 years of auction records.
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September 19, 1787, Pennsylvania Gazette.
Approximately 20 known.
Warning: issues often come on the market with oval “Tontine Coffee” house stamp, on paper appearing aged/distressed. But these are actually old facsimiles, not authentic originals
Sold by Kaller. Private Collection. #22897
Page 1 Page 3
September 19, 1787, Freeman’s Journal.
7 known. Kaller acquired the last copy on the market at Sotheby’s in 1990. Since donated to The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC 00259.01.
Image at right.
September 19, 1787. Pennsylvania Journal
Six known No image here.
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September 20, 2787, Pennsylvania Herald, and General Advertiser.
Very Rare Printing on the Second Day of Publication of the United States Constitution
7 known copies. We are not aware of any other example in private hands, and only six institutions list runs that should include this issue. 3
The entire Constitution and the two cover resolutions are on pages 2-3 (so are visible on one side.)
[U.S. Constitution]. The Pennsylvania Herald, Thursday, September 20, 1787. Philadelphia: William Spotswood. Alexander J. Dallas, editor. 4 pp. 11¾ x 19 in as folded, or when displayed open, 23½ x 19 in. #27499
Historic Background
On September 17, 1787, after four months filled with contentious debate, the Constitutional Convention completed their work and 39 delegates signed the engrossed Constitution. George Washington, as President of the Convention, also signed two cover Resolutions.
The first resolved that the proposed United States Constitution be “laid before the “United States in Congress assembled,” meeting in New York under the Articles of Confederation. It provided a succinct plan for them to send the Constitution to the states for ratification, and once ratified, to implement the new Federal government by electing representatives, convening Congress, and electing the first president. The second was a transmittal letter to the Confederation Congress. Hoping to avoid Congress and the states relitigating every hard-fought issue, Washington and the Convention acknowledged that every state, if considering their interests alone, would disagree on certain points, but that compromise was necessary for the greater good of all.
“It is obviously impracticable in the federal government of these states, to secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety of all: Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest… It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be reserved... the several states as to their situation, extent, habits, and particular interests.
3 American Antiquarian Society, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Library of Congress; New York Public Library Research Library; New-York Historical Society; Western Reserve Historical Society
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In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily in our view, that which appears to us the greatest interest of every true American, the consolidation of our Union, in which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps our national existence. This… led each state in the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magnitude, than might have been otherwise expected; and thus the Constitution, which we now present, is the result of a spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered indispensible.
That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every state is not perhaps to be expected; but… that it is liable to as few exceptions as could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe; that it may promote the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.”
Original Provenance: subscriber “J. Bloomfield Esq.,” very likely New Jersey Attorney General Joseph Bloomfield (1753-1823), who later served as the state’s governor.
The Pennsylvania Herald, and General Advertiser (1785-1788), was founded by Irish-born Mathew Carey (1760-1839) in January 1785 as Carey’s Pennsylvania Evening Herald. Carey had fled Dublin to avoid prosecution for his anti-British publications, arriving in Philadelphia in November 1784. Learning of his misfortunes, the Marquis de Lafayette gave him $400 to start a newspaper. By March 1785, it had become the Pennsylvania Evening Herald, and the American Monitor, with fellow Irishmen Christopher Talbot and William Spotswood as partners. Carey began attending Pennsylvania’s General Assembly in the summer of 1785, taking down the debates and votes in shorthand. Although newspapers in England had begun to do so, it was novel in the United States, and the circulation of the Herald grew dramatically. At the end of May 1786, the title changed to The Pennsylvania Herald, and General Advertiser. In February 1787, the partnership dissolved, and Spotswood continued publishing the paper alone. In February 1788, when he retired, Carey again became the publisher.
Alexander James Dallas (1759-1817), who later served as Secretary of the Treasury under James Madison, edited the paper in 1787 and 1788, while simultaneously editing the Columbian Magazine. During Pennsylvania’s ratification debates, Dallas published versions of the debates with his own commentary, which readers considered too Anti-Federalist. Carey fired Dallas, but the Herald lost too many Federalist subscribers to survive; it soon went out of business.
https://www.sethkaller.com/item/2289-27499-The-United-States-Constitution-%E2%80%93Very-Rare-Printing-on-the-Second-Day-of-Publication
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Pages 2 and 3.
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Other Important Official Printings of the Constitution
These continue after September, 1787. For example:
[ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION CONGRESS.] 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. Vol. XII. [New York], 1787. 255, [9, Index] pp., 5 3/8 x 8 3/4 in.
This official printing includes the Northwest Ordinance among the other important content.
We are presently cataloging a unique copy signed on the title page by diplomat Richard Rush, who later became Attorney General and after that, Secretary of the Treasury K#26436
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Addenda
Ratification Documents, 1787-1790
There are important state printings from the ratification process, but they are not covered in this report.
There are also exceedingly rare manuscript and broadside ratification process documents.
On July 21 at Sotheby’s we acquired this official and attested copy of Virginia’s Ratification of the U.S. Constitution, including a proposed Declaration of Rights and twenty other proposed amendments to the Constitution, signed by Virginia Ratification Convention President Edmund Pendleton and Secretary John J. Beckley. 14 page manuscript, June 25-27, 1788.
It is one of only three known surviving sets that the Convention ordered to be engrossed and sent to the other state executives or legislatures. The Convention also ordered that a set be sent to the Confederation Congress. For a detailed description see here
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References
Bernstein, Richard B. Are We To Be A Nation? (Harvard University Press, 1987).
Brigham, Clarence S. History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, Vol. II, pp. 942-944
Davis, David Brion & Mintz, Steven. The Boisterous Sea of Liberty (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Rapport, Leonard. “Printing the Constitution: The Convention and Newspaper Imprints, August – November 1787” in Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives. Vol. 2 No. 2, Fall 1970.
Seth Kaller, Inc. Private records and research
Links www.sethkaller.com https://www.gilderlehrman.org/ https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/gilder-lehrman-collection https://www.portal.hsp.org/
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