Francis Bailey was a member of the Bailey family of printers, an important printing family in the early history of the United States. He was one of the first printers to use the Caslon type, which Benjamin Franklin had brought back from London upon his return to Philadelphia in the 1760s, and established himself to become one of the official printers of the new country and of the State of Pennsylvania

This significant book is a first edition, published by order of Congress, of the complete constitutions of the individual states of America, the Declaration of Independence, the articles of confederation between the states and the alliance between the United States and France, signed in 1778. These are some of the most important documents in the foundation of the United States. They set out the principles of the new nation and the values that each State aimed to uphold.

This book is one of 200 copies printed by Bailey in Philadelphia in 1781, possibly following the American victory at Yorktown in the October of that year, a victory which ended the land campaign in North America, and which started peace negotiations between the United States and Britain. The second edition of this book, printed in 1783, contains a map delineating the territory of the new country.