ACTS PASSED AT THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, 1839-40

Nashville: J. Geo. Harris, 1840. x,291pp. Contemporary three-quarter calf and paper-covered boards, gilt morocco label. Extremities worn, mild rubbing and staining to boards. Contemporary ink ownership signatures on front endpapers, light scattered foxing. Very good. A rare collection of the laws passed by the Tennessee General Assembly during October 1839. Laws address the typical legal and governmental concerns of a frontier American state, namely infrastructure, military & militia service, land & estate matters, voting laws, establishing courts and banks, taxation, and more. This session also incorporates the town of Chattanooga, among others, and amends an earlier act incorporating Memphis. Particularly notable is the act "to prohibit the practice of permitting slaves to act as if they were free persons of color." Also contains a resolution "removing the seat of government from the city of Nashville to the town of Murfreesborough." Rare. Allen does not record a copy. ALLEN 1638. AII (TENNESSEE) 463. (Inventory #: WRCAM53640)