[ANNOTATED DRAFT COPIES OF THE TENNESSEE CONSTITUTION, PLUS PRINTED AMENDMENTS AND INSTRUCTIONS, ACCOMPANIED BY A SERIES OF HANDWRITTEN NOTES, EMANATING FROM THE 1834 STATE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION].

A remarkable series of annotated draft copies of the Tennessee state Constitution, plus printed amendments and corrections, with an additional two sheets of handwritten notes, from the 1834 convention to revise the state constitution, the new version of which was adopted in 1835. Tennessee's first constitution was adopted in 1796 in Knoxville by a convention of fifty-five delegates, a document that Thomas Jefferson called the "least imperfect and most republican of the state constitutions." In 1834 a state constitutional convention was held in Nashville with sixty delegates in attendance and presided over by William Carter. It revised the constitution to reflect the state's growing population (more than six times what its size had been in 1796) and to update the court system and address some of the problems in the original constitution. This 1834 revision was centered mainly on taxation to reflect the state's increasingly urban nature, and on the courts (providing for a state Supreme Court with three judges, one from each grand division of the state). It also required the legislature to cherish literature and science, and established the common school fund. Although anti-slavery advocates petitioned the convention to abolish slavery, their efforts were rebuffed, and in fact the delegates specifically limited suffrage to white males, disenfranchising free Black men (who had the right to vote under the 1796 constitution). The next revision of the Tennessee State Constitution would not take place until 1870 under Reconstruction. The documents included in this collection consist of the following: 1) Copy of the 1796 Constitution, printed in 1834, annotated with occasional check marks, bound with string. 16pp. 2) Printed document outlining the duties of the President of the convention and the rules of debate. 3pp. 3) Printed document containing Articles VI through X, annotated with corrections. [4]pp. 4) Printed draft section containing Articles II through XI, with annotations to last two leaves. 14pp. 5) Printed draft section containing Articles II through XI, heavily annotated throughout. 12pp. 6) Two and a half sheets of contemporary handwritten briefs on constitutional amendments. 7) Printed copy of amendments and alterations to an initial draft. [6]pp. 8) Potential final draft of entire document, lightly annotated with scattered strikeouts. 16pp. 9) Printed copy of the Constitution as amended, August 1834. 18pp. An outstanding collection of material documenting the revision of the Tennessee state Constitution in 1834. [90]pp., plus two and a half folded sheets of handwritten notes. Folio. Loose and string-tied gatherings. Light wear, a few chips and short closed tears. Some moderate tanning and occasional foxing. Manuscript notes split neatly along folds. Very good. In a blue cloth chemise and blue morocco and cloth slipcase, spine gilt.…