TEXAS, Provisional Government

Journals of the Consultation held at San Felipe de Austn [sic], October 16, 1835. Published by the Order of Congress

Houston: [Telegraph Power Press], 1838. 12mo. (7 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches). 54pp. Foxing and bronwing.

Modern half speckled calf and marbled boards, red morocco label to spine

The beginnings of independence in Texas and the formation of the provisional government at the start of the Revolution: the rare first edition of "the record of the proceedings of the group of Texans which first set up a formal ... government for Texas as a state independent of Mexico" (Streeter): a seminal work of Texana and an early Houston imprint.

This Journal documents the proceedings of the Consultation in October and early November of 1835, as it guided Texas towards independence amidst the Siege of Bexar. The work includes a printing of the "Declaration of the People of Texas, in General Convention Assembled" (p. 21), a declaration of causes for taking up arms against Mexico preliminary to the Texas Declaration of Independence. On November 13, the Consultation prepared twenty-one articles (pp. 42-49) creating the framework for a provisional government for Texas; from that date, until March 1, 1836, the Consultation was the only governing body in Texas. The formation of the Consultation is described by Streeter: "At a meeting of the citizens of Columbia held on August 15, 1835, it was resolved that 'a consultation of all Texas, through her representatives is indispensable,' ... it having become apparent, because of the opening of hostilities with Mexico, that there would be difficulty in assembling a quorum, on October 11, 1935, a small group, acting on a suggestion made by Stephen F. Austin a fortnight or so before, set up at San Felipe an informal organization sometimes referred to as the 'Permanent Council' and sometimes as the 'General Council of Texas.' The 'Permanent Council' were so informally chosen that this Journals of the Consultation may be regarded as the record of the proceedings of the group of Texans which first set up a formal, though provisional, government for Texas as a state independent of Mexico. They were the body that drew up the Declaration of the People of Texas, in General Convention assembled. These Journals, not printed until 1838, are the first record of all the sessions of the Consultation." Five hundred copies were printed of this record of the birth of an independent Texas; Streeter records fifteen extant, including his own.

Streeter, Texas I:245; Rader 3055; Sabin 94952; Howes S69; Raines, p.229; Eberstadt 110:259.

Item #33849

Price: $22,000.00