Red straight grain morocco, probably bound for presentation to Jefferson, gilt ornaments on the back, marbled endpapers. Initialled by Jefferson at sig. I and T in both volumes. With the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate.

Jefferson owned two copies of this work, one for which he had subscribed (see above), and one which was sent to him as a gift, and which was the only one sold to Congress in 1815.

Volume I of this copy was sent to Jefferson by John Vaughan, with a letter dated from Wilmington December 29, 1801: “It has been suggested to me by a member of Congress, who has seen the specimen volumes of the political writings of M ^r. Dickinson, that you would probably accept one of those volumes for the present. on this belief, I have enclosed a copy per mail, which you will please to accept:--permit me to add, the work will be completed & delivered about the first of February; & the editors design to prefix a portrait of the Author, to convey his likeness with his precepts to posterity.

"The late fugitive condition of those valuable papers, rendered them useless to the public, & they would eventually have been forgotten in the lumber rooms of political science; but it is to be hoped, their present aggregated form will tend to preserve & disseminate the important doctrines they contain, & contribute to the final establishment of republicanism in our much envied country.”

John Dickinson, 1732-1808, statesman, lawyer, and member of Congress, was a member of the convention to frame the Federal Constitution.