In February 1787, following the inconclusive Annapolis Convention of the year before, the Continental Congress called for a convention to meet in Philadelphia in order to revise the Articles of Confederation, the country’s first, and largely inefficient, national charter. Meeting in secret, the delegates, presided over by George Washington, instead drafted an entirely new Constitution. Two early “draft” versions were printed for the committees of Detail and Style for the purposes of discussion and revision. After four months of labor, the final text was agreed to and printed for submission to the Continental Congress, with copies distributed to the delegates to the Constitutional Convention for use at their discretion. This “Official Edition” is the first printing of the final text of the Constitution. Printed in an edition of about 500 copies by John Dunlap and David Claypoole, the official printers to the

Convention, only 11 copies are now known to exist, and of those, only the Goldman copy is one of just two copies in private hands. The Official Edition also prints the Convention's accompanying resolutions and its letter, over the name of George Washington, to Congress submitting the Constitution for consideration. The first printing of the Constitution of the United States is considerably rarer than the first printing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the few documents in history to which it can be compared in terms of significance and influence. Unique in its focus on constitutions for both governmental and civic organizations, the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Collection truly brings history to life, charting America’s rich history and infinite journey to achieve a “more perfect union” and allowing us to utilize documents from the past to interpret our nation’s history and inform our future.

As the collector has said, “All of our important American documents were written by ordinary citizens who were engaged enough in their new country to have a hand in developing it. Our republic was an experiment in hope, assembledbymenwhoknewmoreaboutwhattheydidnotwantinagovernmentthanwhatitcouldbe.” Mrs. Goldman began collecting as a young child and has developed a passion for collecting on a large scale, including American Indian baskets, Chinese works of art, Ming furniture, modern drawings, and much else—but the Constitution has long held pride of place among her many collections.

The present document emerged in 1988 from a private Philadelphia collector, and was sold at Sotheby’s that same year for $165,000, when it was acquired by Mrs. Goldman’s late husband, S. Howard Goldman. It has remained in the Goldman collection ever since. Through the Goldman’s commitment to philanthropy and education, this edition of the constitution has been on loan at the New-York Historical Society, New York, the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, United States Supreme Court, National Constitution Center, Museum of the American Revolution, and more across the more than 30 years it remained in their collection. The document helped form the centerpiece of the Colonists, Citizens, Constitutions: Creating the American Republic exhibition at the New-York Historical Society, which showcased the deep holdings of the Goldman’s collection of important American documents.