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[2],597,[1]pp. Pages 565-566 and 569-570 in index bound out of order, but all present. 20th-century half calf and marbled boards, spine gilt with raised bands, gilt leather label. Corners bumped. Text tanned, scattered light foxing and staining. Very good. This law book is essentially the first legal code for Iowa and the Nebraska, Dakota, and Montana territories. Issued as the first collected Iowa laws, it was adopted as the de facto law of all the country west of the Missouri to the Rocky Mountains between the 42nd and 45th parallels, and became famous as the "Old Blue Book." In addition to the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Organic Law of Iowa, this prints the Northwest Ordinance and other resolutions and acts of the Territory. Some of the laws include acts providing for public schools in each county, establishing strict requirements for divorce, outlawing all gambling, banning liquor sales to Native Americans, and codifying arrest and forced labor for anyone who "comes within the description of vagrants." While slavery was outlawed by the Missouri Compromise twenty years before the drafting of these laws, the "Act to regulate Blacks and Mulattoes" within nonetheless discouraged Blacks from settling in Iowa by enforcing heavy restrictions, including extensive documentation of freedom and a mandatory $500 bond to the county of residence, for "good behavior." This was only the second book printed in Iowa Territory, preceded by a volume of the Wisconsin legislature, printed in Burlington in 1838, when that legislature was forced to temporarily relocate. A seminal frontier American law book. SABIN 35020. FITZPATRICK, IOWA TERRITORIAL DOCUMENTS, p.19. LC, IOWA CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION 122. Seller Inventory # WRCAM62572
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