Partly-printed DS as governor of Texas, one page, 14 x 11.5, June 22, 1860. Governor Houston grants “Stalia Wilkins…three hundred and twenty acres of land, situated…in Cass County.” Signed prominently at the conclusion by Sam Houston as governor and countersigned by Francis M. White as commissioner of the General Land Office. Matted and framed with a picture of Houston to an overall size of 28.5 x 21. In good to very good condition, with paper loss to the center, and heavy staining and soiling, throughout, affecting the text of the document but not the large signature.
Houston had been elected governor of Texas in 1859, becoming the only person to date to serve as governor of two states (he was governor of Tennessee from 1827 to 1829) and the only to be a former head of state of a foreign nation. Four months after this document was signed, Abraham Lincoln won the U.S. presidential election, and the Texas Secession Convention convened, with Houston fervently opposing the state’s secession. When Texas seceded in February 1861, and Houston refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, the legislature declared the governorship vacant. Houston did not recognize the validity of his removal, but he did not attempt to use force to remain in office, and he refused aid from the federal government to prevent his removal. His successor, Edward Clark, was sworn in in March 1861.
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