1845 Republic of Texas Letter to President James K. Polk Regarding Political Appointment of Richard Bache

Item Details

1845

1845 Republic of Texas Letter to President James K. Polk Regarding Political Appointment of Richard Bache

Blue lined paper with previous folds, apparently dis-bound. Measures 9 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches. Several small chips, ink smudges and lightly toned. Verso is blank. Written in an unknown hand. Good condition.

Manuscript letter to President James K. Polk in 1845 from group of Texas politicians requesting the appointment of Richard Bache to Navy Agent at Galveston "whenever such an office shall have been created."  We surmise that the signatories of this letter comprised a committee at the 1845 State Convention charged with appointments on behalf of the newly formed state government. We were unsuccessful in identifying two names on the letter.   

Signatories read like a who's who of 1845 Texas politics and includes at least six members of the 1845 State Convention which considered and approved statehood for the Republic.  Convention members include: Thomas Jefferson Rusk, President of the convention, James Pinckney Henderson, first Governor of the State of Texas, Nicholas Darnell, former speaker of the house for the Republic of Texas, Abner Lipscomb, Texas Supreme Court and Secretary of State, Hiram G, Runnells former Governor of Mississippi, Edward Burleson former Vice-President of the Republic of Texas and V.E. Howard member of the newly formed Texas House of Representatives. W.R. Scurry served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas in 1844 and 1845 and served in the House of Representatives in 1845.

Richard Bache was an interesting figure not the least of which because he was the grandson of Benajmin Franklin. According to Wikipedia: "In 1832, he abandoned his family (in Philadelphia) and moved to Texas, possibly for financial reasons. He settled in Stephen F. Austin's colony at Brazoria and served on the Zavala in the Texas Navy. On May 1, 1836, he joined the Louisiana Independent Volunteers, commanded by J. J. Robinson, who were supporting the Texas War of Independence. 

In 1838–39 Bache served as chief clerk in the Navy Department in Houston. He was appointed as enrolling clerk of the House of Representatives in the Third Congress of the Texas Republic.

In 1842, Bache settled in Galveston, Texas, where he afterward held a number of appointed government posts. He became commissioner of the navy yard and was appointed as collector of customs, and later as a justice of the peace for Galveston County. In 1845, he was elected as a delegate to the Texas Annexation convention. He was the only elected official to vote against annexation, allegedly because he did not wish to enlarge the domain of his brother-in-law, George M. Dallas, then vice-president of the United States. Bache helped draft the Constitution of 1845. He was elected twice, to the First and Second Texas Legislatures." 

An outstanding grouping of signatures from noted Texas politicians in and around the 1845 State Convention.