The Constitution of the United States of America as proposed by the Convention held at Philadelphia, Sept. 17, 1787, and since Ratified by the several States.

Aaron Burr's personal copy of the ratified United States Constitution, with his ownership signature to the title page. Octavo, finely bound in full red crushed levant morocco by Zaehnsdorf with gilt titles and ruling to the spine, triple gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and dark olive full morocco doublures stamp-signed and dated 1905 by Zaehnsdorf, all edges gilt. Association copy, signed on the title page by Aaron Burr, “A. Burr.” In 1791, Burr was serving as Attorney General of New York and had been newly elected to the United States Senate, having defeated Philip Schuyler, the father‑in‑law of Alexander Hamilton. That victory sharply intensified Burr’s rivalry with Hamilton, rooted in their opposing visions of constitutional power and federal authority and culminating in their fatal duel in 1804. Burr did not take a public role in debates over New York's ratification of the Constitution but was generally regarded as a moderate anti-Federalist who favored amendments to secure individual liberties, but also accepted the political necessity of ratification. As New York Senator from 1791 to 1797 and Vice President from 1801 to1805, this copy of the Constitution was in the hands of a leading figure of the founding generation who made important constitutional rulings, most notably while presiding over the impeachment trial of Justice Samuel Chase. A century later, this copy was owned by Katherine Mackay, an influential New York suffragist who, in 1905, was the first woman elected to the Board of Education in her school district of Roslyn. Mackay likely acquired this book and commissioned its binding in commemoration of that event in 1905. Three years later she founded the Equal Franchise Society in New York City. In very good condition with faint offsetting from an armorial bookplate to the front flyleaf. An exceptional association copy, owned by one of the most consequential and controversial figures of the early American republic, held in a single private collection for nearly fifty years. Evans 23888.