hood, it would then be permitted to exercise powers in this
88. Ibid., Session of 1851-1852.
89. Ibid., Session of 1852-185S.
40. William F. Boone to Attorney General of the United States, Albuquerque,
February 14, 1859, N. A., Justice Department Records, Attorney General MSS.
41. Santa F6 Weekly Gazette, December 6, 1860.
THE SECTIONAL CONTROVERSY 243
respect which a territory did not possess. In the opinion
of the governor, the only Indians that could be held in a
state of slavery were those in that condition at the time of
the annexation of New Mexico and who had been so recog-
nized as slave property under the Mexican Government. 42
What the legislature was attempting to do in enacting
a slave code for Indians was to legalize a situation that had
existed in New Mexico long prior to the American occu-
pation. As already noted, the practical enslavement of
Indians had been practiced in New Mexico for over two
hundred years. 43 In 1862, the number of Indians held in
slavery was estimated at six hundred. 43 As late as 1867,
Indians were still being held in this condition by owners
who "were exceedingly sensitive of their supposed interest
in them, and easily alarmed at any movement of the civil
courts, or otherwise, to dispossess them of their imagined
property." 44
The adoption of a slave code was generally accepted by
local politicians as New Mexico's complete conversion to
southern principles. During the following year, a group
of legislators of the Ninth Territorial Legislature, sitting
as a special committee, adopted a resolution in which they
declared that although New Mexico had been negligent in
its delay to recognize slavery before 1859, this omission was
a result of the small number of slaves in the territory, and
not of a lack of sympathy for the institution. 45 The com-
mittee declared its belief that the Dred Scott decision had
shown to the lawmakers of New Mexico the necessity of a
slave code. In the opinion of the committee members, pro-
tection of property in slaves prevented discrimination
against a large group of the American people. In conclusion,
they stated that efforts should be made in New Mexico to
42. Fourth Annual Message of Governor Rencher, N. A., State Department
Records, Territorial Papers, New Mexico, II.
43. John Ayres, A Soldier's Experience in New Mexico, MS., Bancroft Library,
Berkeley.
44. Bancroft, History of Arizona and New Mexico, 681, note.
45. Report of a Special Committee of the House of Representatives of the Terri-
tory of New Mexico, N. A., State Department Records, Territorial Papers, II.
244 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW
induce slaveholders to come into the territory in large
numbers. "We have room enough," they said, "and employ-
ment enough for all that will come." The report was signed
by Salazar y Vigil, Miguel Lobato, Candelario Garcia, An-
tonio Tafoya, and Matias Medina. 46 If any member of this
group could speak the English language, it was probably
with difficulty. Alexander Jackson, on intimate terms with
the legislators, might have made a few suggestions.
If the adoption of a slave code were so well received
by the inhabitants as the special committee declared, the
introduction of a repeal measure by Levi Keithly during the
session of 1859-1860 was unexpected. 47 He was a member
of the lower chamber from San Miguel County and had been
elected speaker. According to one account, Keithly, "a plain,
honest, straightforward old farmer," employed no devious
political methods to assure the success of his proposal,
believeing that it would pass on its own merits. The same
account related that when "those corrupt office-holders who
had procured the passage of the law" heard of it, they took
steps immediately to prevent the bill coming before the house
for discussion. "That night," continued the report, "govern-
ment officials kept open house. John Barleycorn did his
work, and 'mint drops' were freely administered where
other means failed." A Mexican was promised the speaker-
ship if he would employ his influence to defeat the bill, and,
the report concluded, on the following morning Keithly was
deposed, the Mexican became speaker, and nothing more was
heard of the bill. 48 A study of a territorial record for that
date cites the election of Keithly and his replacement by
Celso C. Medina but takes no cognizance of a repeal measure
at that session. 49
The adoption of a slave code for New Mexico did not
create such interest as that which developed in the East
46. Idem.
47. Broadside, N. A., State Department Records, Territorial Papers, New
Mexico, I.
48. Bingham's BUI and Report on New Mexico Slave Codes, pamphlet (Wash-
ington, 1860), Huntington Library Collections.
49. Ritch, The Legislative Blue Book, 106-107.
THE SECTIONAL CONTROVERSY 245
and North after the adoption of the anti-slavery memorial
of 1848. New Mexico, in the period after 1850, had dis-
appeared from the national picture. Far more momentous
events occupied men's minds in 1859, accounting for the
people in New Mexico regarding themselves as a "lost
colony." 50 The slave code, however, was not entirely neg-
lected in congress. Representative John Bingham of Ohio,
chairman of the judiciary committee of the house in the
Thirty-sixth Congress, introduced a bill on February 16,
1860:
To disapprove and declare null and void all
territorial acts and parts of acts heretofore passed
by the legislative assembly of New Mexico which
establish, protect, or legalize involuntary servitude
or slavery within said Territory, except as punish-
ment for crime upon due conviction. 51
A further provision of this bill would have nullified
the peon law, which had been adopted along with the slave
code. On May 10, 1860, a committee to which the bill was
referred, made majority and minority reports. In recom-
mending adoption of the bill, the majority justified its
authority for such action by the terms of the territorial act
for New Mexico, which gave to congress the right to declare
null and void any measures passed by the New Mexico
legislature. The minority report of the same committee
asserted that by the terms of the Act of September 9, 1850,
New Mexico might admit or prohibit slavery at the time of
admission into the Union. By prohibiting protective legis-
lation for slavery during the period that New Mexico en-
joyed territorial status, congress was virtually driving out
the institution. 52
The house took slight interest in the debate on the bill.
The fact that the Baltimore convention of the democratic
party was then in session probably accounted for the absence
of a considerable part of the membership. Representative
50. Santa Fe Weekly Gazette, January 29, 1859.
51. Congressional Globe, 36 Cong., 1 Sess., 808.
52. House Reports, 36 Cong., 1 Sess., no. 508.
246 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW
Lawrence Keitt of South Carolina registered a brief protest,
however, likening it to the Wilmot Proviso. 53 Representa-
tive William Montgomery of Pennsylvania, a democrat,
thought it was nothing less than an attempt by republicans
to show their attitude on the principle of popular
sovereignty. 54
When finally brought to a vote, it passed the house
ninety-seven to ninety, members voting according to strict
party lines. 55 On the following day, it was sent to the senate,
and on motion of Senator James S. Green of Missouri, was
passed to the committee on territories, from which it did
not emerge. 56
In New Mexico, keen interest was evidenced by the
Gazette and by the expressions of opinion among the poli-
ticians. 57 "The abolitionists are seeking to take from us
our sacred privileges," exclaimed the Gazette. At a meeting
of citizens at Santa Fe, protest was made to any action of
congress that threatened to deprive the inhabitants of their
rights as citizens. 58
That New Mexico would follow the leadership of the
southern states in any action taken by them appeared certain
to leaders, local and national, in the summer of 1860. To
all appearances, New Mexico with its twenty or thirty
slaves, had aligned itself with Texas which, but a decade be-
fore, had claimed the greater part of its territory.
(to be continued)
63. Congressional Globe, 86 Cong., 1 Sess., 2044-2046.
54. Idem.
55. Idem.
56. Ibid., 2059, 2744.
57. Clippings from New Mexico newspapers, N. A., Justice Department Records,
Attorney General MSS.
58. Clipping from the Santa Fe Gazette, N. A., Justice Department Record*,
Attorney General MSS.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY MINUTES, 1859-1863
Edited by LANSING B. BLOOM
THE FACT that the Historical Society of New Mexico came
into being in December 1859 suggests that the early
records of this organization might afford a somewhat novel
picture of community life in Santa Fe just prior to the Civil
War. This surmise is confirmed by a perusal of the minute
book which served for the years 1859 to 1863, because in the
names of officers and members, active and honorary, we have
a perfect galaxy of men many of whom are well known
historically in widely variant walks of life but all of whom
here unite for the objectives which we shall find set forth in
their constitution and by-laws. Participating in the meet-
ings and activities of the Society during this initial period of
its existence, we shall find officers of the U. S. Army and
Territorial officials (some of whom were shortly to resign
their commissions and throw in their lot with the Southern
Confederacy), judges and lawyers, churchmen (Protestant
as well as Catholic), Indian agents, politicians, merchants
and traders, publishers, officials and members of the Terri-
torial Assembly. Altogether it is a remarkable aggregation,
and a significant fact is that a large number of the men
who thus showed their interest in the investigation, study,
and preservation of things cultural were Spanish- American.
Their names represent some of the best known old Spanish
families of the Southwest. Several names also will be recog-
nized as those of early representatives of the Jewish race
who found their way to New Mexico as traders and
merchants.
Where did the Historical Society hold its sessions? By
the time of its second regular monthly meeting, they were
occupying a hall which had been "rented from Bishop Lamy,
for the reasonable sum of Twelve Dollars per month" and
which had been furnished (because of much liberality of
Santa Fe merchants) at a total expense of only about $175.00.
247
248 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW
Aid was acknowledged also in "transportation of the
property by Major Donaldson and in making of curtains by
Misses Bonneville and Sloan." Unfortunately the location
of this hall which seems to have served the Society until they
disbanded in September 1863 is not indicated ; nor have we
identified the residence of the first president, Colonel Gray-
son, where the adjourned meeting of December 28, 1859, was
held and also probably the first regular meeting of a month
later.
We are on somewhat surer ground as to the place where
the first "public meeting" was held (and also its two ad-
journed sessions), for we are told that those interested in
the "preliminary proceedings to form a Historical Society
of New Mexico" gathered on the evening of December 15,
1859, in the "Council Chamber." We know that this was
then one of the halls of the Palace of the Governors ; and
we are fortunate in having a contemporary description of
this hall from the pen of W. W. H. Davis. 1
After locating and describing the court-house of that
period, Davis continues :
Having seen all the sights in and about the
court-house, we turn our backs upon the casa de
justida, and continue our journey of route. We
enter the Plaza at the northeast corner, and im-
mediately the eye ranges along the portal of the
palace in front of which we are now standing. It
is not far from three hundred and fifty feet in
length, and varies from twenty to seventy-five in
width. 2 The portal or piazza in front is about fifteen
feet wide, and runs the whole length of the building,
the roof being supported by a row of unhewn pine
logs. ... At each end is a small adobe projection,
extending a few feet in front of the main building
that on the east being occupied by the post-office,
while the one on the west was formerly the cala^
bozo, but is now partly in ruins. The first apart-
ments we come to in going the rounds of the palace
1. Davis, El Gringo (New York, 1857), 168-170.
2. Query: in what part was the Palace then only twenty feet in depth?
SOCIETY MINUTES, 1859-1863 249
are the office of the secretary of the Territory,
which we enter through a quaint little old-fashioned
door. 3 . . .
We next visit the chamber of the Legislative
Council. Passing along under the portal, we again
enter the palace about midway of the front, and,
turning from a small vestibule to the right, we find
ourselves in the room where a portion of the
wisdom of New Mexico annually assembles to make
laws. The room is a comfortable one, with a good
hard floor, and just large enough to accommodate
the thirteen councilmen and the eight officers. The
pine desks are ranged round the wall facing in-
ward, and the president occupies a raised platform
at one end, which is ornamented with a little red
muslin drapery. Figured calico is tacked to the
walls to prevent the members carrying away the
whitewash on their coats a thing they have no
right to do in their capacity of law-makers. The
executive chamber is on the opposite side of the
passage-way, into which we step and find his
excellency hard at work. . . .
Next in order is the House of Representatives
la Cdmara de Representantes, the door of which
opens upon the portal. This room differs in no
essential from the council-chamber except being
about one half larger, and having a small gallery
separated from the body of the room by an adobe
wall breast high, where the "unwashed" and "un-
terrified" sit and behold the operation of making
laws with wonder and astonishment. . . .
Leaving the hall of the House, we enter the
territorial library, which opens into a small
vestibule leading from the portal. We find our-
selves in a room not more than fifteen feet square.
. . . Opening into the same vestibule is the office
of superintendent of Indian affairs, which, with
another room adjoining used for a store-room,
occupies the west end of the palace building. Near
The identifying of this door is essential to an understanding of Davis*
description. Some years ago, there was such an entrance around on the east flank of
the Palace, but Davis seems to indicate an entrance on the long south side, under
the portal.
250 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW
by is a large vacant room, appropriated to the use
of the Indians when they come in to see the super-
intendent on business, at which times they are fed
by the government.
Davis* description of the Palace of the Governors as it
was in the 1850's has been quoted at length for the con-
venience of any who wish to try to identify the location of
the various halls and offices. The building as it is today
shows numerous changes from what it was in 1882 in the
removal of various partition walls, doors changed to
windows or entirely closed, and new doorways opened. And
in a similar way, a little study of the ground-plan of 1882 4
will show that at that time numerous alterations in the build-
ing had been made from what it was in the 1850's. All that
we can safely say is that the Council chamber where our
Historical Society was started on its career was in the
famous old Palace of the Governors. It is not difficult to
visualize the gathering in such a hall as Davis describes,
on a cold December evening; and we may venture to add
that the hall would be heated by a glowing open fireplace
at each end, and that it would be lighted by flickering candles
distributed in sconces and candlesticks.
How comprehensive were the ideas of those who organ-
ized this new society is manifest in the constitution which
they formulated ; nor did they propose to admit to member-
ship any drones or other undesirable persons. An appli-
cation must be in writing and with recommendation of two
members, and must lie over to the next regular meeting
at which time it must have a three-fourths ballot! Once
elected, every member was to be assigned to one of the six
(later, eleven) sections created: history, geography, Indian
races, geology and mineralogy, antiquities and collections,
natural history; agriculture, statistics, botany, biography,
meteorology and climatology.
4. This ground-plan will be found in Historical Society Papers, No. 29 ; also in
R. E. Twitchell, Old Santa Fe, The Story of New Mexico's Ancient Capital (Santa Fe,
1925), p. 331.
SOCIETY MINUTES, 1859-1863 251
Especial interest will be found in the lists of names of
those who signed as charter members at the meeting on
December 26, 1859 (and the adjourned meeting of December
28) , and of those who applied for membership at the January
and February meetings. It is a remarkable array of names.
However little the Society may seem to have accomplished
before it was broken up by events of the Civil War, it is clear
that the activities of the new organization represented an
important addition to the cultural life of Santa Fe during
this brief period. Santa Fe had at this time at least two
Church orders ; also two fraternal orders, Masons and Odd
Fellows; and we find passing mention of two "literary
societies." But here was an organization which disregarded
such segregations and barriers; instead, its membership
represented a cross-section as it were of Santa Fe society.
The picture thus revealed may call for some readjustment
by those whose idea of social life in early Santa Fe has been
largely typified by drinking and gambling.
MINUTES OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NEW MEXICO
Founded December 26th A. D.
1859
Officers of the Historical Society
of New Mexico
President: Colonel John B. Crayson U. S. A.
Vice President: W. A. Street
Corresponding Secretary: Dr. W. J. Sloan U. S. A.
Recording Secretary: David V. Whiting
Curator and Librarian: Winslow J. Howard Esq.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Thursday Evening
December 15th, 1859
On this evening a public meeting was held at the Council Chamber
for the purpose of taking preliminary proceedings to form a Historical
Society of New Mexico.
On motion David V. Whiting Esq. was called to the Chair, and
Winslow J. Howard Esq. was elected Secretary. 5
The object of the meeting being stated by the Secretary and after
remarks from the President and others,
It was ordered, on motion, that a committee of five persons be ap-
pointed by the chair, for the purpose of framing a Constitution and By
Laws for the intended Society and to report on Thursday evening
December 22nd.
5. Our earliest mention of David V. Whiting is in a letter of J. S. Calhoun,
dated at the Indian agency in Santa Fe, February 16, 1851. (Abel, ed., Official Cor-
respondence of James S. Calhoun, 292) Soon, Calhoun was using him as translator
and interpreter, and presently as private secretary. In December 1863, Whiting was
made clerk of the same house in the legislative assembly, and two years later, again
held the same post. He was also official translator for Surveyor-General Wm. Pelham,
1854-1860. In the Historical Society, he served through the year 1860 and is last
mentioned as a member in June 1861.
Regarding Winslow J. Howard, unfortunately we know nothing except what is
found in these records. It is evident, however, that he was one of the prime movers
in organizing the Society. Possibly he nominated Whiting to preside ; he himself
was made secretary of the meeting and it was he who stated the object for which
they had gathered ; and in the permanent organization he was made curator and
librarian. Perhaps he found inspiration in the pages of the Historical Magazine
(Boston, 1857-1869), of which he presented the Society a complete volume of the
year 1859. He was the first one named in the charter of incorporation, the others
specifically named being Grayson, Whiting, Clever, Sloan, Sena y Baca, Baird, and
Pedro Valdez. At the April meeting Howard resigned his office, expressing regret that
business reasons were causing his departure.
252
SOCIETY MINUTES, 1859-1863 253
The following Gentlemen were appointed said Committee viz:
Messrs C. P. Clever, Facundo Pino, W. J. Howard, Jose G. Gallegos
and M. Ashurst. 6
On motion, the Committee were instructed to make the membership
Five Dollars.
On motion, the meeting adjourned, to meet at the Council Chamber
on Thursday Evening December 22nd at 7 O'clock p. m.
Thursday Evening
December 22nd 1859
The meeting was called to order pursuant to adjournment.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.
The Committee appointed to draft a Constitution and By Laws
for the Historical Society of New Mexico submitted their report.
On motion the Constitution was read entire and then read and
acted upon by sections, and adopted as amended.
After protracted debates and discussions upon the several articles
of the Constitution, it was
6. Charles P. Clever (1880-1874), native of Cologne, Germany, came to the U. S.
in 1848 and to Santa Fe in 1850. He was engaged in merchandising from 1855 to
1862, to '56 being a member of the firm Seligman and Clever. He was U. S. mar-
shal, 1858-61; adjutant general 1861 (and again in 1867). After study of the law,
he was admitted to the bar in 1861 and at once began to practice. He was clerk of
the council in December 1857; attorney general 1862 (reappointed 1863, 1865, 1867) ;
delegate to Congress 1869.
Facundo Pino was one of those at Santa Fe in December 1846, suspected of plot-
ting against the U. S. government, but in later years his loyalty was unquestioned.
He represented Santa Fe county repeatedly in the legislature: as a member of the
house (1853, 1854), and council (1855, 1856 as president). In December, 1860 he
was clerk of the house ; a year later he was presiding again over the council, and
sill again in December 1862. With Benedict and Clever, Pino was appointed by
Governor Connellj* in 1862 on a commission to codify the laws of New Mexico, but
Pino died in January 1863 before this task was finished.
Jose Guadalupe Gallegos should not be confused with Jose Manuel Gallegos. The
former was from San Miguel county and served in the House (Dec., 1855) ; the latter
was from Bernalillo county. In December 1858, Jose 1 Guadalupe Gallegos was speaker
of the house; a year later (when the Society was organizing) he was president of the
council ; and still again in December 1860 at which session Jose M. Gallegos presided
over the lower chamber (now elected from Santa Fe county).
Merrill Ashurst was born in Alabama and was educated in the law. He came to
New Mexico in 1851 and began to practice in Santa Fe. He served as attorney general
1852-54 and again 1867-69. He has been described as "'a man of unusual ability, a
convincing orator, and very successful as a prosecutor." In 1863 he and Clever were
associated as a law firm.
In the first legislative assembly (1851) he was one of four members of the house
from Santa Fe county ; and was president of the same chamber in 1857. In Decem-
ber 1859 he was representing Santa Fe in the council, and again a year later. He
died in 1869.
254 NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW
On motion ordered that the Constitution be referred to a new Com-
mittee consisting of five members with instructions to report again on
the evening of the 26th December inst.
The following Gentlemen were appointed said Committee viz:
Major J. L. Donaldson, Col. John B. Grayson, Hon. K. Benedict, Dr.
W. J. Sloan and C. P. Clever Esq. 7
On motion, the meeting adjourned, to meet on the evening of
December 26 at 7 O'clock.
Monday Evening
December 26th 1859
The meeting was called to order pursuant to adjournment.
The Committee to whom were referred the Constitution to be re-
framed, made the following Report, viz:
7. It will be noted that Clever was the only one of the original committee retained.
James Lowry Donaldson was from Maryland, a graduate at West Point in 1832. During
the Mexican War, he served in the quartermaster department (brevetted major after
the battle of Buena Vista). At this time he was stationed in Santa Fe and during
the Civil War he was one of the officers who remained loyal to the Union, serving as
chief quartermaster. Upon the approach of the Texan army, it was he who trans-
ferred 120 wagons of war supplies from Santa Fe to Fort Union. These Historical