Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled..

1836. The First Record of the Constitutional Convention Yates, Robert [1738-1801]. Lansing, John [1754-1829]. Martin, Luther [1748-1826]. Secret Proceedings and Debates of the Convention Assembled at Philadelphia, In the Year 1787, For the Purpose of Forming the Constitution of the United States of America. From the Notes Taken by the Late Robert Yates, Esq., Chief Justice of New York, And Copied by John Lansing, Jun., Esq., Late Chancellor of That State, Members of That Convention. Including "The Genuine Information," Laid Before the Legislature of Maryland, by Luther Martin, Esq., Then Attorney of that State, And a Member of the Same Convention. Also, Other Historical Documents Relative to the Federal Compact of the North American Union. Washington: Printed for G. Templeman, 1836. 308 pp. Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/4"). Later three-quarter calf over marbled boards, raised bands, gilt ornaments and red and black lettering pieces to spine, endpapers renewed. Light rubbing to extremities with minor wear to spine ends and corners, partial crack to text block between title page and following leaf, some edgewear to leaves at beginning and end of text block. Light browning to interior, light foxing to sections of text, faint dampstaining to upper-outside corner of text block, early owner signature (R.K. Richards) to title page and a few other places, extensive early annotations (by Richards) to endleaves, brief annotations in same hand to half-title, title page and a few text leaves, later annotations in pencil to verso of half-title. $450. * Second edition. James Madison thought that Yates and Martin "reported in angry terms what they observed with jaundiced eyes." It must be added that in many particulars Yates' notes were fuller than Madison's own. Martin's "Genuine Information" summarized the course of the debates, criticizing the various provisions of the Constitution. The first edition was published in 1821. Four more editions were published afterwards, the last one in 1845. Quotations from Warren's Making of the Constitution and Larned's Literature of American History cited in Marke, A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University (1953) 382. Cohen, Bibliography of Early American Law 2938.