John Calvin Mason's Presentation Copy of Constitution of the United States of America...with the Amendments Thereto, Signed by Mason and the Majority of Members of the 32nd U.S. Congress. Washington: Robert Armstrong, 1852. Octavo. 150 pages. Bound in black leather with decorative borders in gilt on the front and rear covers and "John C. Mason" in gilt on the front. Gilt titling on the spine. John C. Mason has signed his name in pencil on the title page. Signed by members of both houses of the thirty-second Congress including Hannibal Hamlin, who later served as President Lincoln's first vice president; Charles Sumner, best-remembered as an outspoken opponent of slavery who was beaten on the floor of the Senate in 1856 after his famous "Crimes Against Kansas" speech; Hamilton Fish, who served President Grant as his secretary of state; William H. Seward, secretary of state to both Presidents Lincoln and Johnson; Salmon P. Chase, who served as secretary of the treasury under President Lincoln and, later, as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Stephen A. Douglas, Democratic candidate for president in 1860 who lost the election to Abraham Lincoln; Lewis Cass, secretary of state under President Buchanan; Sam Houston, best-remembered for his role as general of the Texan Army during the Texas Revolution, the only man to serve as governor of two states, and two-time president of the Republic of Texas; Thomas Bocock, who served as speaker of the Confederate House of Representatives; Alexander H. Stephens, vice president of the Confederate States of America; Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's second vice president and seventeenth president after Lincoln's assassination; et al. Also found are the signatures of the Speaker of the House, Clerk, Sergeant-At-Arms, and Doorkeeper of the House of Representatives. This book, "Printed for the Use of the House of Representatives," contains the entirety of the U.S. Constitution and all Amendments up to that point with the "standing rules and orders for conducting business in the House of Representatives of the United States and the rules of the Senate." This copy contains nearly three hundred signatures, each of which appear on the blank pages spread throughout the book. While the vast majority are undated, the signatures appear to have been acquired between 1853 and 1854. John Calvin Mason (1802-1865) was born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. During hostilities with Mexico, he served with Ben McCulloch's Texas Rangers. He later served as a Democrat from Kentucky in the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses, from 1849 to 1853. When the Civil War broke out, Mason joined the Texas State troops that served in Brenham, Texas. He passed away in 1865 and is buried in Frankfort, Kentucky. Condition: Corners and spine edges are bumped and worn. Leather binding is scratched and worn throughout, with a small amount of material loss on verso. Cracking along the spine near the title. The binding has been repaired with archival material on the front and back inner boards. Pages are toned and have light foxing throughout, with some chipping in areas. Signatures have lightly bled through to other pages. Towards the middle of a book, a number of pages have dampstaining, soiling, and paper loss along the lower edge. Signatures are very bold. Binding appears to be sound. Overall good. HID03101242017