PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO. DEPARTAMENTO DEL INTERIOR. EL EXMO. SR. PRESIDENTE INTERINO DE LOS ESTADOS-UNIDOS MEXICANOS.PARA RESTABLEER EL ORDEN PUBLICO EN EL ESTADO DE COAHUILA Y TEJAS.[caption title and later portion of text]

[Texas]: Barragán, Miguel

Published by Mexico City, 1835

[1]p., 9 1/4 x 8 inches, on a folded folio sheet, with integral blank. Old horizontal fold, mild edge wear. Near fine. A rare decree from a tumultuous time in the history of Mexican Texas, issued during the period when Santa Anna resigned his presidency to fight rebels and consolidate his power in northern Mexico and Texas. It is a document that encapsulates the struggle between the centralist and federalist forces at work in Mexico during this time. Here, the interim president of Mexico, Miguel Barragán reinforces Santa Anna's call for a restoration of order in the state of Coahuila and Texas. This decree was promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior, José María Gutiérrez de Estrada. While the language in the first section of this edict might sound like it refers to the growing unrest of the rebels in modern-day Texas, the "restoration of public order" at hand here pertains to the continuing tensions between political adversaries in Coahuila, particularly in Monclova and Leona Victoria (Saltillo). Political actors in each city had previously fought over the dictatorial machinations of Santa Anna, the location of the capital of Coahuila, and the candidacies for upcoming federal and state congressional elections, which would have certainly also affected potential political candidates in Texas. Certain dissidents, such as former Coahuila and Texas governor Francisco Vidaurri y Villaseńor, who had openly rebelled against Santa Anna's dissolution of Congress and consolidation of dictatorial power, were barred as candidates to the coming elections. This decree was issued by Miguel Barragán, who was serving as interim president of Mexico after Santa Anna resigned, albeit temporarily, and declared himself "General Presidente." Santa Anna then raised an army and headed north to quell rebels in Zacatecas, where he ransacked the city and plundered the local silver mine, which occurred just a couple of weeks before this decree was issued. Later, fearing that Santa Anna would then turn his attentions to Coahuila, the governor of Coahuila, Agustín Viesca dissolved the legislature and actually attempted to move the capital to San Antonio. In this act, he was unsuccessful. "The strife between Monclova and Leona Vicario still smoldered, and this evidently was Santa Anna's way of telling them he had quelled it, and that was that" - Eberstadt (who sold the last retail copy on record for $175 in 1963). Streeter notes three copies of this decree: his own (which sold at the sale of his collection in 1966 for $25 to Ken Nebenzahl), one at Yale, and one at the Archivo General del Estado in San Luis Potosí. Two physical copies are reported in OCLC, at the University of Southern California and the University of Texas at Arlington. We can find no other physical copies in institutions, though some may be accounted for in a microfilm record in OCLC (21580553). A rare Streeter Texas item illustrating the political chaos in Mexico during Santa Anna's consolidation of power just before he would lose Texas to the revolutionaries. STREETER TEXAS 834. STREETER SALE 338. EBERSTADT 162:369. OCLC 51962974. Seller Inventory # WRCAM55814

Bibliographic Details

Title: PRIMERA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO. DEPARTAMENTO ...
Publisher: Mexico City
Publication Date: 1835