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

Lot Number: 47046

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47046

San Antonio Broadside Ordinance on Slavery. One page, 7 3/4 x 12 1/8 inches, San Antonio; October 2, 1850. A printed municipal ordinance titled "An Ordinance Concerning Slaves," comprising six sections, establishing a nighttime curfew for enslaved people in San Antonio and authorizing severe punishments for violations. Though slaves and slaveholders represented only a small portion of the city's population, anxieties about the growing opposition to slavery prompted the council to impose increasingly restrictive measures. This 1850 ordinance was the first in a series of laws passed between 1850 and 1859, each expanding the authority of city officials to police enslaved residents. The ordinance reads, in part:

"Section 1. Be it Ordained by the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of San Antonio, in Council assembled: That if any Slave hereafter be found in the City of San Antonio, after the hour of 9 1/4 o'clock P.M., from the first of October to the first of April; after the hour of 10 1/4 P.M., from the first of April to the first of October, outside of the premises of his or her owner...it shall be the duty of the City Marshal, or his Deputy, to take such Slave into custody, and him or her safely to keep in the Calaboose...

Sec. 2...That the owner...of any slave so taken into custody, may appear and reclaim the same...

Sec. 3...That if the owner...of such Slave, does not appear to reclaim him or her...it shall be the duty of the Mayor, to order such slave to be employed at work on the public streets...

Sec. 4...That if the owner of such slave...shall require the Marshal to whip such a slave, not to exceed thirty-nine stripes, on the bare back...it is hereby made the duty of the Marshal to whip such slave...

Sec. 5...That it shall be the duty of the Marshal, to ring the bell every night...as a signal for all slaves to go home, and no slave shall be arrested as herein provided until after the lapse of fifteen minutes from the ringing of said bell, when a second bell shall be rung...

Sec. 6...That the city Marshal is hereby authorised to appoint one or more Deputies, to act under the provisions of this Ordinance." Signed in print by J. M. Devine as Mayor, and Ben Edwards as Secretary.

Heritage sold a similar ordinance issued in Houston in 1855 which sold for $5975 in 2011. This is only the second such ordinance we have seen.

Condition: Lightly toned with smoothed folds. Minor soiling and edgewear, including a few small chips, not affecting text. A few very small separations at fold intersections.

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