About this Item
Broadside decree, 12 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches. In Spanish, ink notation in manuscript at top, "No. 6" and two notations at bottom, a "Nota" and one reading "Al Alcalde Verico(?) de Allende." Folio. Minor marginal staining, light foxing. Very good. Untrimmed. A rare Mexican Texas legal decree in which the state government of Coahuila and Texas officially adopt the Plan of Jalapa, which aimed to restore greater governing authority to the various Mexican state. This decree was printed by Samuel Bangs, the most prominent printer in Texas history. This copy was issued to the mayor of Allende, Coahuila, located about forty miles south of the Rio Grande. It is signed in type by José María Viesca, the governor of Coahuila y Tejas at the time of its printing, and his secretary Santiago del Valle, with both of their manuscript rubrics following their printed names. In the present decree (translated into English in Kimball), the state congress of Coahuila and Texas "hereby declares its adoption of the plan of the army of reserve, proclaimed in Jalapa." The Congress plans to make further "observations as occur" to them in the next session, and then makes a rather bold proclamation related to public order in the third article: "Should any citizen, of whatever class, excite commotion, compromising the public safety under pretence of joy for this event, he shall on sole investigation of the fact, be deemed guilty of a capital crime." The Plan of Jalapa was a controversial political manuever proclaimed on December 4, 1829, in which Mexican political leaders inside the military publicly discredited centralist President Vicente Guerrero and eventually replaced him with Anastasio Bustamante, who vowed to restore the federalist form of government in Mexico. After taking over the presidency, Bustamante filled his cabinet with so-called "good men" but the political fallout led to clashes between centralist and federalist forces in several Mexican states. The military reservists called for in the Plan of Jalapa and referred to in the present document were called on to support Bustamante's government, though it was always difficult for any Mexican government during the Texas colonial period to recruit any lasting military force in the far-flung northern territory of Texas. It was especially difficult to do so after a steady stream of Americans and Europeans began to stream into the state in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The present decree was printed by Samuel Bangs, the most famous printer in Texas history. According to Texas bibliographer and bookseller John H. Jenkins, Samuel Bangs was also the "first printer in Texas, the first printer in three Mexican states, and the first printer west of the Louisiana Purchase." From about 1817 until his death in 1854, Bangs served as a printer for the Mina expedition, the Mexican government before the Texas Revolution (including the states of Tamaupilas and Coahuila y Tejas), various printing shops in the United States, and in various cities in the Republic of Texas, mainly Houston and Galveston. He has been the subject of two book-length biographical/bibliographic treatments: Lota M. Spell's PIONEER PRINTER and Jenkins' PRINTER IN THREE REPUBLICS. Bangs printed the present work during his time as official printer to the state legislature of Coahuila and Texas, which had lured him away from the government of Tamaulipas in 1828. Despite his rather prolific output, Bangs imprints are rarely encountered in today's market. Jenkins cites only one copy, at the University of Texas at Austin. OCLC adds only the copy at Yale, in a serial record. An exceedingly rare document printed by Samuel Bangs in which the state of Coahuila and Texas aligns itself with the new government of Bustamante. KIMBALL, p.137. JENKINS, PRINTER IN THREE REPUBLICS 318. SPELL 258. OCLC 173724746. Seller Inventory # WRCAM56026
Contact seller
Report this item