(CONSTITUTION) Gazette of the United States

Sale 2263 - Lot 127

Price Realized: $ 24,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 40,000

FIRST NEWSPAPER PRINTING OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS (CONSTITUTION.) Gazette of the United States. 4 pages, 16 1/4 x 10 inches, on one sheet; stitch holes, minor foxing, date corrected in an early manuscript hand from the misprinted "October 1." New York: John Fenno, 3 October 1789

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The bi-weekly Gazette of the United States, as the semi-official organ of the new federal government, was the first to press with many congressional resolutions. Perhaps none were as significant as this, the first newspaper printing of the Bill of Rights as submitted to the states for ratification.
After extensive debate and revision, Congress passed the original twelve articles of the Bill of Rights on 25 September 1789. These were then submitted to the states for ratification as amendments to the Constitution. This newspaper was the first opportunity for the American public to see its new proposed rights as authorized by Congress--freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right of trial by jury, and other enduring favorites. The first two proposed articles (regarding the size and compensation of Congress) met with some resistance in the states, so the Bill of Rights as we know them were winnowed down to the ten amendments which were ratified in December 1791.
The Bill of Rights appears on page 3 with the preface that "a number of the States . . . at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory & restrictive clauses should be added." The act is signed in type at its conclusion by House Speaker Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg and Vice President John Adams.
This issue also features the text of a letter from George Washington to the Society of Cincinnati of Rhode Island, signed in type by the president; and an editorial pronouncing the year 1789 to be "most remarkable that the annals of time have produced," citing the formation of American government and the "spark from the altar of liberty" which has recently alighted in France. a handsome copy of a scarce and important newspaper.