Collection of Antonio López de Santa Anna Broadsides and Decrees
Scope and Contents Note
The documents here present are grouped by State secretariats: Volume I: Foreign, Interior and Development, Trade and Industry (three secretariats); Volume II: Justice and the Church; Volume III: War; Volume IV: Treasury. The information covered by the decrees includes a wide array of topics range from contracts for the British company of J.L. Rickards to build Mexico's first main railway from Mexico to Veracruz via Puebla to the politically unpopular imposition of heavy taxes on mescal and alcoholic pulque to numerous detailed uniform regulations for Santa Anna's lavish new army.
Particularly interesting in the collection is the notable array of rare pamphlets and books of government regualtions or statistics. Among the documents included are the following:
1) Estatutos de la Nacional y Distinguida Orden Guadalupe (11 November 1853), Imprenta de J.M Lara. 64 articles and "ceremonial".
2) Decreto Para la Organización de la Nacional y Distinguida Orden Mexicana de Guadalupe (19 November 1853), Imprenta de J.M Lara. Lists members of the Order.
3) Reglamento para los Teatros de Mexico (3 June 1853, no imprint).
4) Reglamento para el Gobierno Interior del Palacio Nacional (16 June 1853, no imprint); chronicles arrangements for Santa Anna's living and state apartments.
5) Ordenanza Provisional del Ayuntamiento de Mexico (2 May 1853), Imprenta de Andres Boix. The entire Ayuntamineto of Mexico had resigned on 8 August 1852 and was restored by Santa Anna on 5 May 1853.
6) Ley Sohre Bancarotas (31 May 1853), Imprenta de J. M. Lara. Intended to regulate, but also to foster, Mexican capitalists by reforming the law of bankruptcy.
7) Ley Penal Para los Empleados de Hacienda (28 June 1853, no imprint).
8)Lista de los Oficiales del Ejercito y Guardia Nacional ... Prisioneros de Guerra en La Ciudad de Mexico, despues de la toma de Mexico por el ejercito de los Estados Unidos, mandado por el Mayor General Winfield Scott a 14 de Setiembre de 1847 (27 April 1853, no imprint). Based on a list of Mexican prisoners paroled by U.S. Lieutenant-Colonel E.A.Hitchcock during the occupation of Mexico City.
9) Decreto Sohre Organizacion del Ejercito Mexicano ... (20 May 1853, no imprint).
10) Decreto Para Reemplazar las Bajas del Ejercito Mexicano, por Rigoroso Sorteo (30 November and 7 December 1853), Imprenta de J.M Lara. 94 articles and a detailed schedule of illnesses disqualifying men from military service.
11) Arancel de Aduanas Maritimas y Fronterizas de la Republica (1853), Tipografia de R. Rafael. 159 articles and 4 laws of 1827-1849.
Printed in Spanish with a few autograph signatures of the ministers, and original initialled validations in manuscript. Consisting of 222 official printed circulars, and presidential and ministerial decrees, 66 officially-produced lithographic facsimiles of ministerial documents, and 19 pamphlets or books of regulations. 307 items total, totalling 559 leaves : 746 printed pages and 372 blank.
This inventory and description is based on the vendor's original description and may be incomplete or inaccurate.
Dates
- Creation: 1853
Language of Materials
Spanish
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted.
Use Restrictions
Standard copyright restrictions apply.
Biographical Note
President of Mexico. Born 1794 or 1795 in Jalapa; died 1876 in Mexico City. Began military career in 1810; promoted to brigadier general in 1822. Offices and honors include: governor of Yucatan (ca. 1825 and 1829), governor of Veracruz (1828), benemérito de la patria (1829), and benemérito en grado heróico (1835).
Santa Anna was first named president of Mexico on March 30, 1833, which position he repeatedly abdicated and resumed until leaving the office for the final time in 1855. He led Mexican forces in 1835 and 1836 in the campaign against Texas independence, and in 1847 in the war with the United States. During the latter he served alternately as president and as military commander.
Santa Anna spent repeated periods of exile in the Caribbean. Upon one return to Mexico in February 1864, he promptly was deported by General Achille Bazaine for failing to abide by the terms of the agreement allowing his reentry. Santa Anna was imprisoned in 1867 then exiled until 1874, when he returned to Mexico under a general amnesty. He died in poverty in Mexico City on June 20, 1876.
The present four volumes cover the whole course of Mexican government in April-December 1853, the first months of Santa Anna's last dictatorship. During this time Santa Anna resumed power as though he had never lost it. Among the notable events of these months was the signing of the first draft of the Treaty of Mesilla, known as the Gadsen Purchase. Under this secretly-negotiated treaty, Mexico ceded a small slice of land in modern New Mexico and Arizona to the United states in exchange for US$10 million.
In these months, the present documents also show that Santa Anna initiated some reforms, especially in army organization and supply, education, control over the Catholic Church and gradual development of national industry and a communications system.
Full Extent
.5 linear feet
Abstract
Four volumes of officially printed laws, decress and directives by ministers including Lucas Alamán, together with other contemporary Mexican Government publications from Mexico City and Tacubaya, mainly dating to 1853.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from William Dailey Antiquarian Books, Los Angeles, California, 1977.
Accession number: 1977-01
Additions
No further materials are expected for this collection.
Processing Information
No processing information is available.
- Title
- Collection of Antonio López de Santa Anna Broadsides and Decrees
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard (Dacs)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Repository
2300 Red River Street
Austin Texas 78712 United States
(512) 495-4578
bensonspecialcollections@austin.utexas.edu