None of these may be entirely satisfactory if a book-length study of the
convention is required, but I suggest the relevant sections of:

Merrill D. Peterson, ed., Democracy, Liberty, and Property: The State
Constitutional Conventions of the 1820s (Bobbs-Merrill, 1966), which has
a fine introduction, prints excerpts from the speeches, and treats
Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia.

Alison Goodyear Freehling, Drift Toward Dissolution: The Virginia
Slavery Debate of 1831-1832 (LSU, 1982), which has a chapter or two on
the constitutional convention that almost immediately preceded the
legislative debates on slavery, putting each in the context of the
other.

Robert P. Sutton, Revolution to Secession: Constitution Making in the
Old Dominion (University of Virginia, 1989), which treats the
conventions and constitutions of Virginia up to the Civil War.

John Dinan, The Virginia State Constitution, A Reference Guide
(Greenwood, 2006), which has nice but short summaries of all of the
constitutional conventions and full descriptions of the provisions in
each constitution from that of 1776 to that of 1970.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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Please note the new e-mail address.

Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
http://www.lva.virginia.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kristofer Ray
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] Books on the 1829 VA Constitutional Convention

Hello All--
 
Today a colleague of mine asked me for good sources on the 1829 VA
Constitutional Convention.  Off of the top of my head, I wasn't sure
what to tell him.  There is the _Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia
State Convention_, of course, but are there any strong monographs
devoted to the topic?
 
Thanks--
 
Kris
 
Kristofer Ray
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Ashland University
Ashland, OH  44805
(419) 289-5233