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Rare Book – Alien and Sedition Laws Secretly Written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison with Va. Inf. ID – This rare publication, entitled “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800, Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia, and Several Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions” was initially encompassed in printed, political publications, after being drafted in the late 18^th century. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (or Resolves) were indeed political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the Federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. The resolutions argued that the states had the right and the duty to declare unconstitutional any acts of Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution. In doing so, they argued for states’ rights and strict constructionism of the Constitution. The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 were written secretly by Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively. This edition of this rare book was printed and published in Richmond, Virginia, by J.W. Randolph, in 1850. Needless to say, the thrust of what is the thesis of this work portends much of the contentious positions taken by antebellum southern politicians just prior to the onset of the Civil War and may have been re-published, in Richmond, in 1850, to help buttress their arguments and contentions regarding states’ rights. We obtained this book from the descendants of Virginia’s renown Page family; the book once was the possession of Edward Trent Page, as indicated by his signature in three places in the book. Edward Trent Page served in the 16^th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.The book had been in the library of the Page house, Caryswood, in Buckingham County, Virginia; this house still stands today. The book remains in overall good condition, with some scuffing to the calfskin spine and marbled front and back boards. The Moroccan red leather, gold embossed title section, on the spine, is complete and in good condition. This is a rare and important work.

Edward Trent Page (1833-1906)

By Donald Trent January 08, 2008

The census question is easy because in 1850 Edward was only 17 and was living with his father at their Locust Grove Plantation in Cumberland County, Virginia. After he built his home in the mid 1850’s he was now located in Buckingham County and this is where we see him until his death in 1906. The location of Caryswood, Bell Branch, & Belmont Plantations; the homes of the Page, Gannaway, and Trent families in the mid 19th century are located on the eastern edge of the Buckingham County line where it adjoins Cumberland County. Close by and just inside Cumberland County is Union Hill, an old plantation home of both the Page and Trent families.

Edward Trent Page Sr., son of John Cary Page and Mary Anna Trent, was born on 20 May 1833 in Locust Grove, Cumberland, VA 6 and died on 19 Apr 1906 at age 72.
Noted events in his life were:
• He had a residence in 1850 Caryswood Plantation (was Halfway Branch), Buckingham Co., VA
• Military: 1861 14th Va Regt, CSA

• He served in the military 16th Virginia Infantry from 1861 to 1865 Edward married Elizabeth Coupland Nicholas daughter of John Scott Nicholas
  and Ann Harrison Trent on 28 Feb 1854 in the Seven Islands, Buckingham, VA.
  Elizabeth was born on 7 Mar 1834 at “Auburn”, Cumberland, VA and died on 8 Jan 1897 at age 62. They had five children: Nannie Nicholas, Mary Byrd, John Nicholas, Edward Trent, and Bessie Coupland.