Trying to Make Los Angeles the Capital of Alta California in 1835
A Fundamental Document for the History of California, especially Southern California
In a Handsome Period Mexican Binding
This compilation of the laws and decrees of Mexico promulgated in 1835 is notable for printing the text of the decree officially proclaiming Los Angeles a city, while simultaneously declaring it the capital of Alta California. At the time the erstwhile "pueblo" of Los Angeles was a very small settlement of fewer than 1000 residents. The text of the law, which appears on pages 189-190, is as follows:
Que el pueblo de los Angeles de la Alta California sea capital de aquel territorio. Se erige en ciudad el pueblo de los Angeles de la Alta California, y será para lo succesivo la capital de este territorio.
Though the text of the law is brief it is highly significant, reflecting the internal conflicts then simmering in Alta California between sectional rivals: the arribeños (northerners) and abajenos (southerners). When José Antonio Carrillo, a native of Los Angeles, took his seat as the sole Alta California delegate in the Mexican Congress, he advocated for his constituents by getting this law passed. However Monterey, the capital of Alta California since Spain first colonized the province, was able to remain the capital due to the efforts of the northerners and their leader, Juan Bautista Alvarado. Perhaps the larger historical significance of this decree is the role it played, through the sectional controversy, in inducing the Californianos to declare Alta California "a free and sovereign state."
About a decade later, during the administration of Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, Los Angeles did briefly serve as Alta California's capital.
Another Notable Law Relating to Texas.
The volume also includes a decree regarding the restoration of order in Coahuila and Texas, dated May 23, 1835, relates to the Texas Revolution. The decree was approved under interim President Miguel Barragán, putting into effect Santa Anna's earlier decree of December 2, 1834 concerning the restoration of order in Coahuila and Texas. The text of this law can be found on pages 191-195 under the caption title:
Ley. Sobre restablecer el órden en el estado de Coahuila y Tejas, y que no se use de la fuerza para reducir al departamento del Saltillo.
The significance of this law was not lost on Stephen F. Austin, who saw it as important in giving "every part of the State a ... voice in the election of all the public functionaries." He thus recommended that "the people of Texas unanimously sustain" the decree. Below are excerpts from a letter Austin wrote to Thomas F. McKinney about Santa Anna's original Dec. 2, 1834 decree, penned from a Mexico City prison:
Don Ramos Arispe and D. Victor Blanco visited me this day and informed me that the difficulties between Monclova and Saltillo had been terminated by the decission [sic] of the President Genl. Santana to whom the subject was referred by the treaty between the contending parties. By this decision of the President the seat of Government of the States is to remain at Monclova in conformity with the law fixing it there.... A new election is to be ordered for the whole state.... I am informed that the President considered this last clause to be necessary for a final and amicable termination of this entangled business, by refering [sic] it directly to the source and original of power, the people so as to give a voice to the department of Saltillo which it had not in the September election.
The object of the President is to terminate all the local disputes and give to every part of the State an unembarased [sic] voice in the election of all the public functionaries. This is certainly a most important and desirable object, and the means which have been adopted to attain it are probably the best if not the only ones that the confused State of the circumstances will admit.
Under this view I recommend that the people of Texas unanimously sustain the decission [sic] of the President and proceed without any hesitation or doubt to hold new elections in conformity with the orders that are to be circulated.... It will be an honourable evidence of the disposition of those people to promote harmony and union with the other parts of the state....
I wish you to show this letter to my friends and make use of it as you think best for the attainment of the object which is harmony and union between all parts of the State and union in sustaining the measures of the President as to the new elections. (Austin Papers, Vol. III, pages 30-31)
Rarity
Copies of this early Mexican law book are rare in the market. There are a few examples in institutional confines, including in the Houston Public Library and the University of Virginia.
The separately printed bando of the Los Angeles decree is virtually unobtainable, with only three confirmed copies recorded, those in the Huntington Library, USC, and the Lilly Library at Indiana University. The Texas-related decree is also very rare in the separately printed format (the Streeter copy resides at Yale and there is a copy in a Mexican collection in San Luis Potosi).
An opportunity to own a rare contemporary Mexican printing of two significant laws for the history of California and Texas. Here in a very handsome period Mexican binding.