Weller, John B.:

$500 · Offered by William Reese Company

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE OF JOHN B. WELLER, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, AT THE TENTH SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE [wrapper title]. A presentation copy, inscribed by Weller on the front wrapper and with a manuscript note correcting the legislative session from the tenth to the eleventh. A rare early California gubernatorial report with sections on the wine industry in the state, gaming laws, Indian difficulties, education, naturalization, land issue, and much more. The final twenty-five pages contain tables listing pardons granted by Weller in 1859, restorations to citizenship of former prisoners, and six instances where Weller commuted the death sentence of convicted murderers or postponed their execution. OCLC lists only a single copy, at the Huntington Library. Rare, and with significant information on criminal justice in antebellum California.

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