61. 1787, Jan. 6.

62. 1787, Aug. 1, 2.

63. 1789, Nov. 23.

64. 1788, Nov. 22.

65. 1787, Sept. 28.

66. 1788, July 8.

67. 1788, Sept. 13.

Act for appointing deputies to the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787, with names of those delegates who were elected.

From the New York Public Library.

Declaration of Rights and Amendments proposed by the first North Carolina ratifying convention. (4 pp. on folded sheet.)

[Hillsborough: Printed by Robert Ferguson.] From the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (p. 1) and the Library of Congress (pp. 2, 3, 4). Evans 21341.

Resolution of the second North Carolina ratifying convention instructing the Representatives of North Carolina in Congress to apply for specified amendments to the Constitution.

[Edenton: Printed by Hodge and Wills.]

From the New York Public Library. Evans 22039.

SOUTH CAROLINA

To the Citizens of Charleston District. [An election broadside by William Smith defending himself against the charge of his opponent, David Ramsay, that he had not been in the United States seven years and therefore was not qualified to run for representative.] From the Library of Congress.

CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION

Congress, having received the report of the Convention lately assembled at Philadelphia, resolves unanimously to transmit it to the States. [Signed] Charles Thomson, Secretary.

Philadelphia: Printed by Dunlap and Claypoole.
From the Library of Congress. Perhaps Evans
20790.

The Committee. .
. . . to whom were referred the Rati-
fications of the New Constitution which have been
transmitted to Congress by the several ratifying States,
report as follows:

From the Library of Congress. Evans 21520. Resolution of Congress providing for the setting up of the Government under the Constitution. [With the pen signature of Chas. Thomson, Secy.]

From the New York Public Library. Evans

21518.

68. 1789, April 29.

68a. 1789, April 30.

69.

1789, June 27.

CONGRESS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION

Order of ceremony at the inauguration of Washington as the first President of the United States, as arranged by the committees of Congress.

From the Library of Congress.

Speech of his Excellency the President of the United States to both Houses of Congress. [Washington's first inaugural address.]

[Albany:] Printed by C. R. and G. Webster.

From The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California. Reproduced by permission.

Evans 22212.

An Act to establish an Executive Department to be denominated the Department of War.

New York: Printed by Thomas Greenleaf.

From Library of Congress. Cf. Evans 22194. Report of a committee of the House of Representatives on proposed amendments to the Constitution. (2pp.) New York: Printed by Thomas Greenleaf.

From the Library of Congress. Evans 22200. Seventeen amendments to the Constitution passed by the House and referred to the Senate. (3pp.)

New York: Printed by T. Greenleaf, near the
Coffee-House.

From the Library of Congress. Evans 22201. An Act making Appropriations for the service of the present Year. An Act to recognize and adapt to the Constitution of the United States the establishment of the troops. An Act to regulate Processes in the Courts of the United States. (2pp. on both sides.)

From the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.

Petition that the residence of Congress be on the Potomac issued by a committee of residents of Alexandria and Georgetown.

[Alexandria: Printed by Hanson and Bond.] From the Library of Congress. Evans 21637. News broadside announcing the House has voted the next session of Congress be held in Philadelphia and that Rhode Island has ratified the Constitution.

[Philadelphia:] Printed by Dunlap and Claypoole. From the N. Y. Public Library. Evans 22986. City of Washington. Articles of Agreement for the purpose of raising and investing a Capital in Lots of Building in the said City. [James Greenleaf.] From the Pa. State Library. Evans 27068.

SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMPS THREE special postage stamps were issued by the United States Government during the celebration, commemorating the Signing of the Constitution, its Ratification by the Ninth State, New Hampshire (which made it binding upon the states which had previously ratified), and the Inauguration of George Washington as First President of the United States. Each stamp was 3-cent denomination, used for carrying letter mail.

The first was placed on sale at Philadelphia, on September 17, 1937, the 150th Anniversary of the Signing of the Constitution in that city, and reproduced, in bright red-violet, the painting of that great event by Junius Brutus Stearns. Eight hundred eighty thousand one hundred stamps were sold on the first day, and 281,478 "first-day" covers were canceled. The issue was made available in all other postoffices throughout the country on the following day.

The second, placed on first-day sale on June 21, 1938, also at Philadelphia, depicted two horsemen, one mounting, and the other galloping away, spreading the news that the Constitution had become effective through its ratification by New Hampshire, the ninth state to ratify. This stamp was of a deep violet color. Three hundred ninety-five thousand eight hundred ninety-two stamps were sold on the first day of issuance and 232,873 covers were canceled.

The third, a bright red-violet, was first placed on sale in New York City on April 30, 1939, and depicted Washington on the balcony of Federal Hall, in New York City, taking the oath of office as First President of the United States. The design was taken from the painting by Alonzo Chappel. First day sales amounted to 803,955 stamps, with 395,644 covers canceled.

Altogether, more than two hundred and sixty million of these stamps were printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; during the celebration they carried their patriotic message throughout the land, calling the attention of people everywhere to the historic events they commemorated.

Receipts from first-day sales were estimated in excess of $62,000. Most of these were bought by collectors and never actually put into use, therefore representing a large percentage of profit to the Post Office Department.

It is, of course, impossible to determine how many of these stamps sold during the celebration period were for collection purposes, but it has been estimated as more than sufficient to defray the entire costs of the celebration.

FOREIGN POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED IN HONOR
OF THE CONSTITUTION

DURING the celebration, a unique honor was paid the United States when fifteen nations joined in the observance by issuing sets of beautiful postage stamps commemorating the establishment of our government under the Constitution. Such special sets of stamps were issued by the following countries:

VISIT OF THE KING AND QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN DURING the celebration period, their Britannic Majesties, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, visited the United States. They were met at the Union Station in Washington by the President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, and, during their stay in Washington, on June 9, 1939, attended a congressional reception given in their honor in the rotunda of the Capitol, where the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives met their Majesties.

MAGNA CARTA

THROUGH the efforts of Representative Sol Bloom, Director General of the Commission, the British Government and Lincoln Cathedral agreed to send to the United States for exhibit, one of the four extant copies of Magna Carta. This early document of human rights had been wrested from King John by the barons of England at Runnymede in 1215, almost three hundred years before Columbus discovered America and nearly six hundred years before our Constitution was written. This copy, in a splendid state of preservation, was placed on exhibit in Magna Carta Hall at the New York World's Fair. Between the 1939 and 1940 seasons of the World's Fair, it was brought to Washington and placed in the Library of Congress, in close proximity to those later and greater documents of human liberty, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (for texts of these documents, see pp. 511, 529, 541).

MASONIC TRIBUTE

AMONG the many societies that participated in the celebration of the Sesquicentennial, the Masons were especially interested and active. Not only was this the case with respect to the special observances of

VISIT OF THE KING AND QUEEN AT THE CAPITOL

Their Britannic Majesties, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, being escorted down the steps of the East Front of the Capitol, Washington, D. C., by (left to right) Representative Sol Bloom, Senator Key Pittman, Senator Alben W. Barkley, and Senator Charles L. McNary.