[Adams, John]: [Massachusetts]:

$9,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

THE CONSTITUTION OR FRAME OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. The first folio edition of the final ratified Massachusetts constitution, issued after corrections and revisions had been made to a second printing of the octavo edition by Edes and Sons the previous year. This ratified constitution for the Commonwealth was the product of the convention adjourned in March of 1780. The present constitution begins with a long declaration of the rights of Massachusetts citizens (including freedom of the press and protection from unreasonable searches) and then spells out the roles and powers of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. "The people's rejection of the 1778 constitution...ensured that Massachusetts would now hold a true constitutional convention, establishing a crucial precedent that would be repeated on both the federal and state levels for years to come. In 1779 all freemen at least twenty-one years old could vote for delegates to represent them at a gathering in Cambridge. The convention's only job was to write a constitution and to arrange for its ratification by the people. When the convention met, it appointed a committee to produce a draft. The committee asked one of its members, John Adams, to handle the bulk of the work" - Hrdlicka."In some respects the constitution of 1780 remedied the defects of its predecessor of 1778. A bill of rights assured to each citizen 'the security of his person and property' as an unassailable condition to t

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