[Americana] [Constitution] Debates, Resolutions and other Proceedings, of the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Convened at Boston, on the 9th of January, 1788, and Continued until the 7th of February following, for the Purpose of Assenting to and Ratifying the Constitution Recommended by the Grand Federal Convention...

Boston: Printed and sold by Adams and Nourse; and Benjamin Russell, and Edmund Freeman, 1788. First edition. 8vo. 219 pp. Full contemporary brown calf, front joint worn, rear joint rubbed, extremities rubbed; all edges trimmed; ownership signature on front blank and at top of p. 3; scattered spotting and creasing to text; in tan cloth fall-down-back box. Evans 21242; Ford 97; Reese, The Federal Hundred 21; Sabin 45702; Gephart 9607

First edition in a contemporary binding of the debates of the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention.

In Massachusetts, anti-federalist opposition to the Constitution was significant. In order to mollify their concerns, convention delegate Theophilus Parsons added nine amendments, which were presented by John Hancock. The Constitution was ratified by Massachusetts with the amendments added as a recommendation to “remove the fears, and quiet the apprehensions of many of the good people of this Commonwealth, and more effectually guard against an undue administration of the federal government.” Three of these recommendations would become the Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Amendments of the Constitution. The sixth state to ratify the Constitution, Massachusetts was the first to suggest amendments, which in turn led directly to the passage of the Bill of Rights.