July 2012 Auction Ends Tuesday, July 31st, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/31/2012
Volume I of the ''Journals of Congress,'' the official record of the First and Second Continental Congresses which met from 1774-1775. Published in Philadelphia: R. Aitken: 1777. The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia as a reaction to the ''Intolerable Acts'' imposed by Great Britain after the Boston Tea Party. This Journal reflects the growing tension and independence of the colonists with its first entry, on 5 September 1774: ''...This House ...being deeply affected with unhappy differences, which have long subsisted and are increasing, between Great-Britain and the American Colonies, do Resolve...to deliberate and determine upon wise and proper Measures...for the recovery and establishment of their just Rights and Liberties...'' The representatives to the Congress would subsequently boycott British goods, establish an Army (with Washington as General) and Navy, appoint ambassadors, issue currency and obtain loans. It also records the order to print the proceedings of the Congress, of which this Journal is the result; on 26 September 1776, Congress authorized the printer Robert Aitken to produce a uniform edition of their Journals. Aitken combined the Journals of the First and Second Continental Congresses of 1774 and 1775 (originally published by Bradford in two separate volumes) into one volume, to form Volume I of this series. 310 deckled-edge leaves plus 12 pages of index are bound in 5.5'' x 8.5'' paper boards with unfinished surface, not in original leather biding. A 1.75'' strip has been removed from the top of the title page and previous owner's stamp is on front pastedown and once again in the book. Moderate toning and chipping to pages and boards with some paper loss to pages. In very good condition considering age.
1774 Journals of Congress, Volume I -- The New Nation Takes Shape in This Vital First-Hand Account of American History
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