Rare 1787 copy of US Constitution up for sale at auction
6 September 2024, 20:24
The document, which is almost 237 years old, was discovered in a filing cabinet in 2022.
A copy of the US Constitution, the only of its type thought to be in private hands, is to be offered for sale at auction later this month with a minimum bid of 1 million dollars.
The document, almost 237 years old, had been stored inside in a filing cabinet in North Carolina until it was discovered in 2022.
The copy of the document was printed after the Constitutional Convention approved the proposed framework of the nation’s government in 1787 and it was ratified by the Congress of the ineffective first American government under the Articles of Confederation.
It is one of about 100 copies printed by the secretary of that Congress, Charles Thompson.
Just eight are known to still exist and the other seven are publicly owned.
Auctioneer Andrew Brunk said: “This is the point of connection between the government and the people. The Preamble — ‘we the people’ — this is the moment the government is asking the people to empower them.”
What happened to the document up for auction between Mr Thomson’s signature and 2022 is not known.
Two years ago, a property was being cleared out in Edenton in eastern North Carolina that was once owned by Samuel Johnston. He was the governor of North Carolina from 1787 to 1789 and oversaw the state convention during his last year in office that ratified the Constitution.
The copy was found inside a squat, two-drawer metal filing cabinet with a can of stain on top, in a long-neglected room piled high with old chairs and a dusty bookcase, before the old Johnston house was preserved. The document was a broadsheet that could be folded one time like a book.
“I get calls every week from people who think they have a Declaration of Independence or a Gettysburg Address and most of the time it is just a replica, but every so often something important gets found,” said historical document appraiser and collector Seth Kaller.
“This is a whole other level of importance,” he added.
Along with the Constitution on the broadsheet printed front and back is a letter from George Washington asking for ratification. He acknowledged there would have to be compromise and that rights the states enjoyed would have to be given up for the nation’s long-term health.
“To secure all rights of independent sovereignty to each and yet provide for the interest and safety for all — individuals entering into society must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest,” wrote the man who would become the first US president.
Mr Brunk isn’t sure what the document might go for because there is so little to compare it to. The last time a copy of the Constitution like this sold was for 400 dollars in 1891.
In 2021, Sotheby’s of New York sold one of only 13 remaining copies of the Constitution printed for the Continental Congress and delegates to the Constitutional Convention for 43.2 million dollars, a record for a book or document.
However, that document was mostly for internal use and debate by the Founding Fathers. The copy being sold later this month was one meant to be sent to people all around the country to review and decide if that is how they wanted to be governed, connecting the writers of the Constitution to the people in the states who would provide its power and legitimacy.
There are other items up for auction in Asheville including a 1776 first draft of the Articles of Confederation and a 1788 Journal of the Convention of North Carolina at Hillsborough where representatives spent two weeks debating if ratifying the Constitution would put too much power with the nation instead of the states.
