Rumblings of a Coming Storm: The Beginnings of the Mexican-American War

[Mexico]: [Texas]: Condelle, Nicolás:

[Circular Issued by the Governor of the Department of Mexico, Nicolás Condelle, Promulgating a National Decree Ordering the Texas Campaign to be Carried Out in Full, Fearing Annexation by the United States].

Mexico City: December 2, 1844. Broadside, 17 x 11.5 inches, untrimmed. Old folds, very minor wear. Near fine. Item #12880

A very rare entry in the long goodbye between Mexico and the Republic of Texas in the run-up to the Mexican-American War. The present circular was issued by the Governor of the Department of Mexico, Nicolás Condell, promulgating a national decree from the interim President of the Mexican Republic, Valentín Canalizo, ordering the Texas campaign to be carried out in full, with all consequences. The decree is signed in type by citizen Nicolás Condelle, Brigadier General and Governor of the Department of Mexico.

The text of the decree reveals that the end of 1844 was yet another turbulent time in Mexico. Interim President Canalizo rails against the inflexibility of the laws, the intransigence of congressional authorities in fixing them, the inability of the Mexican constitution to resolve such issues, and the general disruption in the public order. Most notably here, Canalizo seems to anticipate war with Texas and perhaps the United States, a possibility that was certainly in the air at the end of 1844. James K. Polk had just been elected President of the United States in no small part because he advocated for the annexation of Texas as part of a larger expansionist platform. Reaction in Mexico was suitably antagonistic, as the country had never acknowledged the independence of Texas in the first place.

Here, in the first clause of the decree, Canalizo states that "the Executive is in position to make the Texas campaign effective and sustain all the consequences of this war." Canalizo suspends Congress, references the expulsion of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and asserts that "the Supreme Executive Power will continue to be vested in the individual who currently exercises it," i.e., himself. Canalizo reiterates in the third clause that part of the government's responsibility lies in continuing to "make the Texas campaign effective, and prepare to sustain it in all its consequences." This will be accomplished by adopting "measures conducive to the better arrangement and prosperity of the Treasury and the army," and by improving foreign relations. Essentially, Canalizo seizes control of the Mexican government in order to give the executive branch the power to conduct war with Texas. Clearly, Canalizo is anticipating this conflict, and seems to prepare the country for the coming storm, which would officially begin in the Spring of 1846. Condelle states towards the end of the decree that this particular publication is printed so "that it may come to the attention of all...by national proclamation."

Rare, with only three institutional copies, at the Bancroft Library, the Benson Latin American Collection at UT-Austin, and SMU. A Zacatecas printing of the decree, dated nine days later, exists in only one institutional copy, at Yale.

Price: $4,250