EL C. IGNACIO ROMERO VARGAS, GOBERNADOR CONSTITUCIONAL INTERINO DEL ESTADO L. Y S. DE PUEBLA, Á SUS HABITANTES: SABED.QUE EL DIA CUATRO DE JULIO, DEL AÑO MIL OCHOCIENTOS SESENTA Y OCHO, FUÉ CONCLUIDA Y FIRMADA EN LA CIUDAD DE WASHINGTONUNA CONVENCION ENTRE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS MEXICANOS Y LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA[caption title and beginning of main text].

A very rare bilingual broadside printed in Puebla, informing the citizenry of a joint American-Mexican Claims Commission established to resolve all international claims between the two nations since the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo on February 4, 1848. Even prior to the Mexican-American War, claims of damages in both directions across the border were common, and bilateral commissions were a key strategy for quickly arbitrating large numbers of disputes, most notably in 1839 (following the rebellion of Texas), the present one in 1868 (encompassing the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the Gadsden Treaty, the U.S. Civil War, and the Second French Intervention), and in 1923 (after the Mexican Revolution and the First World War). The present commission was the largest of the three, taking Secretary of State William H. Seward and his Mexican counterpart Matias Romero nearly eight years (vs. the stipulated two and a half) to arbitrate. Finally concluded on April 29, 1876, the commissioners arbitrated a total of 1,017 claims on the part of citizens of the United States against the Mexican Republic (with a total value of $470,126,613.40), and 998 with the reverse impetus (totaling a more modest $86,661,891.15). 831 of the American claims were dismissed or disallowed; the remaining 186 resulted in awards to the U.S. claimants, for a net total of $4,125,622.20. An eerily reflective 831 of the Mexican cases were thrown out, with 167 (150 of these from Piedras Negras, which were treated as one case together) awarded a total value of $150,498.41. Thus, Mexico was left with a deficit of $3,975,123.79 to pay the United States over the next decade and a half. This rare broadside was ordered to be printed by the governor of Puebla on May 31, 1869, in order to inform the citizens of the pressing need to submit cases before the deadline. Printing the full text of the commission's duties in both languages, it leaves no room for doubt about the goals and duties of the commission and of claimants. OCLC records only two copies, at Yale and the University of New Mexico. OCLC 54227705. Old folds, faint dampstaining, a few small marginal tears and chips. Very good in all.…