[MADISON JAMES] Virginia to Wit Resolved to Maintain and

Sale 2253 - Lot 209

Price Realized: $ 11,400

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

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

THE RARE OFFICIAL PRINTING OF MADISON'S VIRGINIA RESOLUTION [MADISON, JAMES.] Virginia to Wit. Resolved . . . to Maintain and Defend the Constitution of the United States. Printed circular letter, 2 pages on one sheet, 10 x 8 inches, issued by the Virginia House of Delegates and signed in type by John Stewart as secretary; mount remnants on left edge. [Richmond, VA: Augustine Davis, 24 December 1798]

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

Virginia's formal protest against the Alien and Sedition Acts, drafted by James Madison. It represents an evolution toward states' rights by one of the authors of the Federalist Papers: "The General Assembly doth particularly protest against the palpable and alarming infractions of the Constitution, in the two late cases of the Alien and Sedition Acts . . . the first of which exercises a power no where delegated to the Federal Government." The resolution concludes with an appeal for other states to reject the Alien and Sedition Acts, "and that the necessary and proper measures will be taken by each, for co-operating with this state, in maintaining unimpaired the authorities, rights, and liberties, reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." This nearly revolutionary call to reject an act of Congress remains influential even today. Only one copy of this first printing appears on ESTC, and no previous ones are known at auction. Evans 34942; Sabin 100105. with--Autograph Letter Signed from James Wood to "sir", transmitting the circular letter to an unidentified state legislature.