[PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BEVERLEY ALLEN, ESQ., A MEMBER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE CONVENTION WHICH FORMED THE CONSTITUTION OF MISSOURI]

Jefferson City, Missouri, 1841. 15, [1 blank] pp. Disbound and lightly foxed, else Very Good.

The Correspondence is prefaced by a transmittal letter from Missouri Secretary of State James L. Minor. Seeking to resolve the vexing problem of the location of Missouri's northern boundary, Allen has "addressed a circular to each of the members, now living, of the Convention which formed the Constitution of this State. My object is to ascertain of them their information as to the opinions and intention of the Convention, as to the phrase in the Constitution, on which has arisen the dispute respecting our Northern boundary." The troublesome constitutional phrase is a reference to the meridian "which passes through the Rapids of the River Des Moines..."
Several living members plead a "very indistinct recollection." But Edward Bates, later Lincoln's Attorney General and the State of Missouri's first Attorney General in 1820, gives a clear and direct answer; John D. Cook's and John Scott's replies agree with Bates.
MO Imprints Inventory 289. OCLC records six locations under two accession numbers as of October 2024.