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[Loyalty Oath Taken by an African American Man in Early Reconstruction Texas]

[Loyalty Oath Taken by an African American Man in Early Reconstruction Texas] by [Texas]: [African Americana]: Bell, Billie

2 to 8 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $7.70
Details
$3,750.00
( US$)
Seller: The Joe Fay Company LLC
Title
[Loyalty Oath Taken by an African American Man in Early Reconstruction Texas]
Author
[Texas]: [African Americana]: Bell, Billie
Seller
The Joe Fay Company LLC (United States)
Description
New Orleans: Peter O'Donnell Stationer, 1867. Partially-printed broadside, completed in manuscript, approximately 10.25 x 8.5 inches. Minor edge wear, a few small edge chips. Very good. A fascinating document from Reconstruction Texas just two years following the end of the Civil War.  Here, an African-American man named Billie Bell signs a loyalty oath in Travis County, swearing to "faithfully support the Constitution and obey the laws of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, encourage others to do so."  The beginning of the oath states that it is being taken by "Billie Bell (Col'd)."  Bell signs the bottom of the oath with an "X - his mark."  The document is attested to and certified by Travis County officials, and then curiously, a large notation is written boldly across most of the document, reading "Cancelled Col C.C. Moore." The body of the oath includes a number of promises to which Bell was ordered to agree, affirming that he had never been a member of any State Legislature or any part of a government "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States" or "given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof," nor previously offered an oath to the United States then "afterwards engaged in insurrection and rebellion against the United States."  Part of the oath signed by Bell states that he has "not been disenfranchised for participation in any rebellion or civil war against the United States."  This was certainly true, as the disenfranchisement of African-American voters was a much larger campaign. The stripping away of the rights of African Americans in Texas began shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War.  The 1866 Texas Constitutional Convention produced a new constitution and the Texas Legislature passed "Black Codes" that denied suffrage to and severely limited the economic opportunities for Black people.  Various Texas laws in the intervening years also prohibited officeholding, jury service, and racial intermarriage by African Americans, etc. The Texas Legislature also refused to ratify the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments until 1870.  As such, at the time Bell signed this loyalty oath, to paraphrase the Dred Scott decision, he had few rights which white people were bound to respect; the large addition of the word "Cancelled" across the page provides a kind of visual repudiation to Bell's attempt to pledge renewed faith to the country.  We have sold just two other examples of this oath taken by an African-American man in Travis County, all signed on this same day, but can locate no other examples of any similar documents from Reconstruction Texas.
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Travaux d'Achievment Del Dique De Cherbourg De 1830 a 1853 Par M. Jospeh Bonnin.ATLAS by Bonnin, Jospeh (engineer)

7 to 14 days for delivery
Standard Shipping: $5.00
Details
$125.00
( EU VAT US$0)
Seller: Johnnycake Books ABAA, ILAB
Title
Travaux d'Achievment Del Dique De Cherbourg De 1830 a 1853 Par M. Jospeh Bonnin.ATLAS
Author
Bonnin, Jospeh (engineer)
Seller
Johnnycake Books ABAA, ILAB (United States)
Condition
Very Good
Description
Paris: Victor Dalmont, 1857. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to, contemporary binding, leather spine over decorated boards, 13 plates each doube-paged of Bonnin's plans for the port of Cherbourg. Engraving by Dulas. Firmly bound, scattered foxing throughout. Rare.

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