[Mexico]. [Spanish Constitution of 1812]

Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza, Lopez de Letona y Lasqueti, Conde del Venadito, Gran-Cruz de las Ordenes Militares y Nacionales de S. Fernando y S. Hermenegildo... La Junta Preparatoria Establecida en Esta Capital en Cumplimiento del Decreto del Rey Convocando las Cortes de los Años de 1820 y 1821... [caption title and first line of text]

Mexico City: July 11, 1820. Large, double-sheet broadside, approximately 23.5 x 17 inches. Two sheets joined at central horizontal fold. Five chips at left edge, not affecting text, and some additional minor edge wear; otherwise light toning and dust soiling. Two contemporary manuscript signatures at foot; contemporary duty stamps on blank verso. About very good. Item #3330

Fascinating and otherwise unrecorded broadside that dictates the organization and process for the 1820 election of Mexican deputies to the Spanish Cortes during the second and last period of constitutional monarchy in Mexico. Colonial Mexico first achieved some representation in the Spanish government under the liberal Constitution of 1812, which lasted for two years before being revoked by Ferdinand VII upon his return to power in 1814. The reinstatement of the liberal constitution and the Cortes of Cadiz in 1820, however, was not enough to prevent Mexico from obtaining full independence one year later. This broadside, promulgated in Mexico on July 11, 1820 by the colonial Viceroy Juan Ruiz de Apodaca y Eliza, announces the renewed representation via regional elections to select Provincial Deputies for the Cortes, and contains eight articles delineating the process by which these elections are to be held. In brief, these articles order representation be apportioned according to the population, as approximated from the 1792 census; divides Mexico into provinces for the purposes of the election; and places parameters on representation for each province. In all, a very interesting window onto the formation of the brief, final period of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico.

Price: $3,750.00