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1819 Constitution for the new state of Alabama...
1819 Constitution for the new state of Alabama...
Item # 705235
September 18, 1819
NILES' WEEKLY REGISTER, Baltimore, A consecutive pair of issues dated Sept. 18 and 25, 1819
* New state of Alabama Constitution
Typically, prior to formally becoming a state of the union a territorial government needs to create and approve a Constitution that would not be in conflict with the federal Constitution.
Printed in these two issues in its entirety is the "Constitution of the State of Alabama, Adopted Aug. 2, 1819" with this text taking 4 full pages of the Sept. 18 issue and the first five pages of the Sept. 25 issue. Included also is the list of members of the convention. A few months later, Alabama would be accepted into the union.
You get both issues, each complete in 16 pages 6 by 9 1/2 inches, various foxing, browning to a corner of the Sept. 25 issue does not affect readability, good condition.
background: The 1819 Alabama Constitution was the foundational legal framework that established Alabama as the 22nd state of the United States, reflecting the political and social norms of the early 19th-century South. It created a government structured with three branches—executive, legislative, and judicial—where the legislature was bicameral, consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate, and the governor was chosen by the legislature rather than by popular vote. Voting rights were limited exclusively to white male property owners, explicitly excluding free African Americans, Native Americans, and women, underscoring the era’s racial and gender restrictions. The constitution explicitly protected the institution of slavery, treating enslaved individuals as property and embedding the practice into the state’s legal system. Additionally, it included provisions forbidding ministers from holding public office, allowed religious freedom primarily for Christians, and established counties as units of local government. This constitution not only set the foundation for Alabama’s governance but also codified the social hierarchy and racial inequalities that shaped the state’s early political and social order.
As noted in Wikipedia, this title: "...(was) one of the most widely-circulated magazines in the United States...Devoted primarily to politics...considered an important source for the history of the period."
Category: Pre-Civil War
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$48.00
