Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47045

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47045

Oran M. Roberts Presentation Copy of Our Federal Relations from a Southern View of Them Inscribed to Samuel W. T. Lanham. Austin: Eugene Von Boeckmann, 1892. 8vo. 175, 23, 16 pages. Original red pebbled cloth, spine and upper cover stamped in gilt and blind. Inscribed and signed twice on the front pastedown: "Presented to / Hon. S. W. T. Lanham, / by the author, / O. M. Roberts. / P.S. / Please read the last lecture in this book first OMR."

Oran Milo Roberts (1815-1898) was a central figure in Texas' secessionist movement and later a leading architect of the state's post-Reconstruction political order. As president of the Texas Secession Convention of 1861, he presided over the debates that led to Texas' withdrawal from the Union and signed the Ordinance of Secession. After the Civil War, he remained an unrepentant advocate of states' rights and Southern constitutional theory during his tenures as Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court (1874-1879) and later Governor of Texas (1879-1883). Roberts' policies focused on dismantling Reconstruction's legacy by restoring Democratic control, weakening executive authority, resisting federal intervention, and accepting practices that effectively curtailed Black political participation. These views were clearly articulated in his influential collection of essays, Our Federal Relations in which he defended secession as a constitutional remedy, condemned Reconstruction as illegitimate coercion, and advanced a theory of federalism rooted in state sovereignty.

The book is inscribed to Samuel W. T. Lanham, and although undated, it was likely presented the year of publication (1892) at which time Lanham was representing Texas in the U.S. Congress. Lanham had fought for the Confederate army during the Civil War, and later became Texas' 23rd governor (1903-1907).

Condition: Wear to bindings, including a few small scuffs and chips, mostly confined to the edges and spine. Sticker reading "FG Lanham / No. 575" affixed to front pastedown; Texas Wesleyan College stamp on front pastedown. Textblock very toned and somewhat brittle; several pages detached or starting but present.

Reference: Raines 193.

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