PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION..
1839 · Harrisburg
by [Pennsylvania]
Harrisburg, 1839. Twelve (of fourteen) volumes. Uniform 20th-century tan buckram, leather spine labels. Minor shelf wear and shelf marks. Institutional ink stamps on titlepages and some leaves. Overall good. Lacking volumes eight and thirteen. An almost-complete set of the work recording the 1837-38 Pennsylvania state constitutional convention. According to the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission: "In 1837, a convention was called to revise the state's laws and draft a new constitution. The resulting constitution, in 1838, reduced the governor's appointive power, increased the number of elective offices and shortened terms of office. The voters were given a greater voice in government and were better protected from abuses of power. However, free African Americans were disenfranchised despite protests from blacks in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The burning of Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia, a center for many reform activities, in the same year, showed that the new constitution coincided with an awakened hostility toward abolition and racial equality." Single volumes are scarce, while a complete set is hardly ever encountered in the market. SABIN 60401. (Inventory #: WRCAM53967)