{"product_id":"building-a-government-during-revolution-eight-original-new-jersey-legislative-manuscripts-1776-1778","title":"Building a Government During Revolution: Eight Original New Jersey Legislative Manuscripts, 1776–1778","description":"\u003cp dir=\"auto\" class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\"\u003eAn extraordinary archive of \u003cstrong\u003eeight original working manuscripts from New Jersey’s Revolutionary legislature\u003c\/strong\u003e, documenting the creation and preservation of civil government during the state’s most dangerous and formative years.\u003cspan class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchor\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eWritten principally between 1776 and 1778, these manuscripts address the establishment of New Jersey’s courts following independence, organization of the state militia, creation of an Admiralty Court, administration of public oaths and the problem of Loyalist influence within the new government.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe collection’s centerpiece is \u003cstrong\u003e“An Act to Confirm \u0026amp; Establish the Several Courts of Justice Within this State,”\u003c\/strong\u003e reported September 30, 1776, and ordered to be engrossed. Written less than three months after American independence, it explicitly invokes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e“the Declaration of Independency lately made by the Honourable the Continental Congress”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe act ensured that New Jersey’s courts, officers and pending legal proceedings would continue despite the transfer of authority from the British Crown to the independent state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eAnother major manuscript, \u003cstrong\u003e“An Act to Regulate the New Jersey Militia,”\u003c\/strong\u003e addresses the state’s urgent need to organize troops while British and American forces contested New Jersey. Detailed provisions concern companies, battalions, officers, equipment, exemptions, fines and military service.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eTwo related security and allegiance acts reveal the new state’s concern over Loyalist influence. Jurors, attorneys, public officers and other persons occupying positions of trust were required to swear allegiance to New Jersey and renounce allegiance to the British Crown. One remarkable passage discusses schoolmasters and the need to protect the rising generation from arbitrary principles while educating them in:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e“the amiable Ideas of Liberty \u0026amp; Republican Virtue.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThe archive also contains an early manuscript act establishing New Jersey’s \u003cstrong\u003eCourt of Admiralty\u003c\/strong\u003e, which adjudicated maritime prizes and captured enemy property during the Revolutionary War.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003eThese are not ordinary transcriptions. They are working instruments of government, filled with deletions, substitutions, interlineations and marginal additions. They preserve the legislative process as New Jersey’s lawmakers struggled to convert revolutionary principles into a functioning system of courts, military organization and republican government.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArchive includes:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAct confirming and establishing New Jersey’s courts, September 30, 1776\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSupplementary act regulating small-causes courts\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDraft requiring jurors to take oaths of allegiance\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAct requiring designated persons to take oaths of abjuration and allegiance\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMulti-page act regulating the New Jersey militia\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMulti-page act securing the government of New Jersey\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAct directing public officers to take official oaths\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAct establishing a New Jersey Court of Admiralty\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"auto\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e Manuscripts on period laid paper with original deckled edges and filing folds. Expected toning, scattered stains, edge wear, small losses and occasional fold separations are present. Numerous corrections, cancellations and interlineations are intrinsic to the documents’ legislative use. Overall, the writing is exceptionally well preserved and substantially legible.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Signature Documents LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52884345553178,"sku":null,"price":64872.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2221\/0931\/files\/IMG_3081.jpg?v=1789495205","url":"https:\/\/www.thearchiveauthority.com\/en-ca\/products\/building-a-government-during-revolution-eight-original-new-jersey-legislative-manuscripts-1776-1778","provider":"Signature Documents LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}