Property of a Kansas Free Soil Leader 
The Constitution of the United States of America, with the Declaration of Independence Philadelphia, 1854 - Seventh Edition 
 
A mid-nineteenth-century edition of the nation’s founding documents, preserved in its original publisher’s gilt cloth binding. The volume is illustrated with three lithographic plates, including a portrait of George Washington, together with a half-title and engraved text embellishments characteristic of American book production of the period. This example bears the ownership inscriptions, twice signed, by George W. Smith, an early settler of Lawrence, Kansas, and an active participant in the territory’s Free Soil movement. During the turbulent years known as Bleeding Kansas, Smith was associated with the anti-slavery settlers who resisted the establishment of slavery in the territory; he participated in the Wakarusa War and was subsequently imprisoned by pro-slavery territorial authorities. 
 
Books of the nation’s founding texts owned by participants in the Kansas Free Soil struggle provide a compelling link between the ideals of the American Revolution and the sectional crisis that would soon culminate in the Civil War. 
 
Condition: Intermittent foxing; ownership inscriptions present; minor wear to the binding.