1837 MICHIGAN. Michigan Founded as a Terminal on the Underground Railroad. Fugitive Slaves Welcome Here.

Very rare with no examples on the market, the official journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, admitted into the Union in the year of issuance, 1837. None in the auction record or on the market at the time of cataloguing.

In the present, the new Michigan House takes up issues like, . . . if you live in Michigan you know, the maintenance of roads . . . a bill to allow for the destruction of wolves and panthers, a loan to the state for $5,000,000 to begin operations, and many bills creating the state structures of education, libraries, jails, etc,.

Importantly, it is also the document that began the process of ensuring Michigan would become a major terminus of the Underground Railroad. In this first year of the House, it was Mr. Cressey of Lenawee County who arose to move for two items of consideration: 1. That the right of trial by jury may be extended to fugitive slaves [virtually guaranteeing Michigan's non-compliance with the later Fugitive Slave Act and enshrining it as a haven for "runaways"]; and, 2. That the State of Michigan oppose the Annexation of Texas since it would be a slave state and shift the power in Washington D.C. in a pro-slavery direction. 

[Slavery, Michigan]. Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan; Adjourned Session. 1837. Detroit. John S. Bagg. State Printer. 1837. 187 + 50 + 9pp

A very finely preserved example in quarter cloth and paper boards, lightly rubbed, very solid and crisp interior with sporadic foxing as shown. Unusually nice.