Texas. Secretary of State

See the online finding aid for the agency history.

From the description of Secretary of State boundary records, 1837-1843. 1858-1860, 1873-1877, 1882, 1885-1887, 1911, undated. (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 696412192

From the description of Secretary of State consular correspondence, 1836-1850, 1873-1875 (bulk 1836-1846). (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 713873858

From the description of Secretary of State executive record books, 1835-1917. (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 713879125

See online finding aid for ageny history.

From the description of Secretary of State fugitive records 1837-1965 bulk 1875-1915. (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 698224407

See separate record for agency history.

From the description of Secretary of State records relating to passports issues by the Department of State, Republic of Texas, 1836-1845, 1855, 1858. (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 713869730

From the description of General correspondence of the Department of State, Republic of Texas, 1822-1859, undated, bulk 1835-1846. (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 696415218

In a law of December 22, 1836, the Congress of the Republic invalidated all empresario granted under the Mexican Republic, declared all vacant lands under them the property of the Republic, and required empresarios and public officers to deliver the titles for such property to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Following this repudiation, colonization in the Republic of Texas was not officially regulated until 1841, when a law of January 4 authorized the President to make contracts with W.S. Peters and others "for the purpose of colonizing and settling a portion of the vacant and unappropriated lands of the Republic." A subsequent act approved February 4, 1842, extended the provisions of the law to other colonization companies. The contracts, which were required to specify the number of families to be introduced within three years, were to be drawn up and filed by the Secretary of State. Contractors were to commence settlement within one year and to have one-third the number of families contracted for in the Republic by the end of the same period, under penalty of forfeiture of the contract. It was the duty of the Secretary of State to publish and declare such forfeitures. The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution. An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, "to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State." An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State" the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives." And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that "the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress" would be "deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State," and "declared to be Archives of said office."

From the description of Secretary of state colonization records, 1820-1879, undated, bulk 1836-1845. (Texas State Library & Archives Commission). WorldCat record id: 696418116

The Texas Constitution of 1845 required the Secretary of State to keep a fair register of all official acts and proceedings of the Governor and to provide these to the legislature when required. This duty (and others) were reiterated in the act to define the duties of Secretary of State, approved May 9, 1846. This authority was reconfirmed by the Constitutions of 1866 (Article V, Section 17), 1869 (Article IV, Section 17) and 1876 (Article IV, Section 21), and subsequent amendments.

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

Extradition of fugitives from justice between Texas and other states was covered in Article 878 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, adopted by the 6th Texas Legislature, Adjourned Session (August 1856): A person charged in any State or Territory of the United States with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice and be found in this State, shall, on demand of the Executive Authority of the State or Territory from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State or Territory having jurisdiction of the crime.

Current Texas law provides the following provisions for fugitives from justice from other states: 51.01. A person in any other State of the United States charged with treason or any felony who shall flee from justice and be found in this State, shall on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime. 51.02. All peace officers of the State shall give aid in the arrest and detention of a fugitive from any other State that he may be held subject to a requisition by the Governor of the State from which he fled.

Current Texas law also provides the following for Texas fugitives fleeing to other states: 51.09. When the Governor deems it proper to demand a person who has committed an offense in this State and has fled to another State, he may commission any suitable person to take such requisition. The accused, if brought back to the State, shall be delivered up to the sheriff of the county in which it is alleged he has committed the offense.

Also, Art. 51.13. Uniform Criminal Extradition Act: Sec. 2. Subject to the provisions of this Article, the provisions of the Constitution of the United States controlling, and any and all Acts of Congress enacted in pursuance thereof, it is the duty of the Governor of this State to have arrested and delivered up to the Executive Authority of any other State of the United States any person charged in that State with treason, felony, or other crime, who has fled from justice and is found in this State. The authority was recodified in 1965 by Senate Bill 107, 59th Legislature, Regular Session. ( V.T.C.A., Code of Criminal Procedure, Articles 51.01-51.09 )

Rewards are offered by the governor of Texas to aid in the apprehension of accused criminals who are evading arrest. Authority for the governor to issue rewards was first granted by an act of the 1st Legislature, passed April 18, 1846. The authority was codified in 1965 by Senate Bill 107, 59th Legislature, Regular Session. ( V.T.C.A., Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 51.11 )

From the guide to the Secretary of State fugitive records, 1837-1965, bulk 1875-1915, (Texas State Archives)

In a law of December 22, 1836, the Congress of the Republic of Texas invalidated all empresario grants under the Mexican Republic, declared all vacant lands under them the property of the Republic, and required empresarios and public officers to deliver the titles for such property to the Commissioner of the General Land Office. Following this repudiation, colonization in the Republic of Texas was not officially regulated until 1841, when a law of January 4 authorized the President to make contracts with W. S. Peters and others for the purpose of colonizing and settling a portion of the vacant and unappropriated lands of the Republic. A subsequent act approved February 4, 1842, extended the provisions of the law to other colonization companies. The contracts, which were required to specify the number of families to be introduced within three years, were to be drawn up and filed by the Secretary of State. Contractors were to commence settlement within one year and to have one-third the number of families contracted for in the Republic by the end of the same period, under penalty of forfeiture of the contract. It was the duty of the Secretary of State to publish and declare such forfeitures.

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State. An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives. And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress would be deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State, and declared to be Archives of said office.

From the guide to the Secretary of State colonization records, 1820-1879, undated, bulk 1836-1845, (Texas State Archives)

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

The only duty of the Secretary of State specified by the Constitution of 1836 was to receive returns of all elections for officers who are to be commissioned by the President (General Provisions, Section 2). The 1st Congress approved a Joint Resolution on December 13, 1836 defining the duties of the heads of departments of the government. However, the duties of this cabinet (composed of the Secretaries of State, War, Navy, and Treasury, and the Attorney General) were expressed in extremely vague terms, i.e.: to conform to and execute the instructions of the president, whether general or particular; and to give respectively and collectively, such needful aid and counsel whenever required so to do by the chief magistrate of the republic, as may be requisite to a firm, wholesome and harmonious administration of the government. Much of our knowledge of what the Secretary of State did during the Republic period derives from the existing records themselves. Although never so stated in law, obviously a major function of the Secretary of State under the Republic of Texas was diplomatic, a function unique to Texas' history as an independent nation.

During the next nine years of the Republic's existence, Congressional acts added little in the way of explicit duties: to receive from the chief justices of the county courts a description of their county boundaries, and such other information and observations relative to the same, as they may conceive conducive to the convenience of their citizens (December 17, 1836); to furnish Texan consuls with instruction for the proper regulation of foreign trade (December 18, 1837); to contract for the printing of the laws and journals of the Republic of Texas, and to arrange for their distribution (December 18, 1837 and later dates); to contract for the translation and compilation of Republic laws into Spanish ( the Castilian language ) (December 18, 1837 and January 12, 1842); to become the depository for a Library purchased for the Republic of Texas (January 24, 1839); to create a Patent Office, as a bureau of the office of Secretary of State, and to grant patent rights for any new and useful art, machine, instrument or composition of matter, liberal arts, sciences or literature, books, maps or charts, or any new and useful improvement of the same . . . invented or discovered (January 28, 1839); to draw from the war department funds appropriated to run a boundary line between the Republic of Texas and the United States (November 26, 1840); to assume the duties of the Postmaster General, appointing and supervising a clerk for a bureau called the General Post Office, and to receive from the former Postmaster General all records of the abolished Post Office Department (January 18, 1841); to issue writs of election to fill certain vacancies in counties (December 7, 1841).

Except for its diplomatic duties, most of the functions of the Secretary of State under the Republic were apparently continued during the period of early statehood following annexation. An act of the 1st Legislature (approved May 9, 1846) to define the duties of Secretary of State included the following: to maintain a register of all official acts of the governor, and to provide the same to the legislature when required (this duty had also been spelled out by the first state Constitution, 1845); to keep a complete register of all officers appointed and elected in the state; to commission all such appointed and elected officers when not otherwise provided for by law; to record depositions and affirmations required by law to be made by resident aliens wanting to hold real estate in Texas; to arrange and preserve all books, maps, parchments, records, documents, deeds, conveyances, and other papers belonging to the State, that have been or may be properly deposited there, and sealed with the state seal (which copies shall be considered admissible as evidence in the state's courts of law); to attend every legislative session to receive bills which have become laws, and to bind and maintain such bills and enrolled joint resolutions in the office of the Secretary of State; to deliver a certified copy of these laws (with indices and marginal notes) to the public printer, and to edit and correct them after printing; to distribute the printed laws and journals to a list of state, local, and federal officials specified; and to furnish forms to county election officials for election returns, and to receive certified election returns from these officials for members of the legislature (this last duty included in an act regulating elections, approved May 11, 1846).

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State. An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives. And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress would be deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State, and declared to be Archives of said office.

On December 18, 1837, the Congress of the Republic of Texas approved a Joint Resolution relative to consulates, which stated that no consul of this republic shall be allowed to charge any fees for passports or certificates of characters or intentions.

(Sources include: the Secretary of State Republic of Texas records appraisal report (December 1998); and the enabling legislation (1836-1887).)

From the guide to the Secretary of State records relating to passports issued by the Department of State, Republic of Texas, 1836-1845, 1855, 1858, (Texas State Archives)

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

The only duty of the Secretary of State specified by the Constitution of 1836 was to receive returns of all elections for officers who are to be commissioned by the President (General Provisions, Section 2). The 1st Congress approved a Joint Resolution on December 13, 1836 defining the duties of the heads of departments of the government. However, the duties of this cabinet (composed of the Secretaries of State, War, Navy, and Treasury, and the Attorney General) were expressed in extremely vague terms, i.e.: to conform to and execute the instructions of the president, whether general or particular; and to give respectively and collectively, such needful aid and counsel whenever required so to do by the chief magistrate of the republic, as may be requisite to a firm, wholesome and harmonious administration of the government. Much of our knowledge of what the Secretary of State did during the Republic period derives from the existing records themselves. Although never so stated in law, obviously a major function of the Secretary of State under the Republic of Texas was diplomatic, a function unique to Texas' history as an independent nation.

During the next nine years of the Republic's existence, Congressional acts added little in the way of explicit duties: to receive from the chief justices of the county courts a description of their county boundaries, and such other information and observations relative to the same, as they may conceive conducive to the convenience of their citizens (December 17, 1836); to furnish Texan consuls with instruction for the proper regulation of foreign trade (December 18, 1837); to contract for the printing of the laws and journals of the Republic of Texas, and to arrange for their distribution (December 18, 1837 and later dates); to contract for the translation and compilation of Republic laws into Spanish ( the Castilian language ) (December 18, 1837 and January 12, 1842); to become the depository for a Library purchased for the Republic of Texas (January 24, 1839); to create a Patent Office, as a bureau of the office of Secretary of State, and to grant patent rights for any new and useful art, machine, instrument or composition of matter, liberal arts, sciences or literature, books, maps or charts, or any new and useful improvement of the same . . . invented or discovered (January 28, 1839); to draw from the war department funds appropriated to run a boundary line between the Republic of Texas and the United States (November 26, 1840); to assume the duties of the Postmaster General, appointing and supervising a clerk for a bureau called the General Post Office, and to receive from the former Postmaster General all records of the abolished Post Office Department (January 18, 1841); to issue writs of election to fill certain vacancies in counties (December 7, 1841).

Except for its diplomatic duties, most of the functions of the Secretary of State under the Republic were apparently continued during the period of early statehood following annexation. An act of the 1st Legislature (approved May 9, 1846) to define the duties of Secretary of State included the following: to maintain a register of all official acts of the governor, and to provide the same to the legislature when required (this duty had also been spelled out by the first state Constitution, 1845); to keep a complete register of all officers appointed and elected in the state; to commission all such appointed and elected officers when not otherwise provided for by law; to record depositions and affirmations required by law to be made by resident aliens wanting to hold real estate in Texas; to arrange and preserve all books, maps, parchments, records, documents, deeds, conveyances, and other papers belonging to the State, that have been or may be properly deposited there, and sealed with the state seal (which copies shall be considered admissible as evidence in the state's courts of law); to attend every legislative session to receive bills which have became laws, and to bind and maintain such bills and enrolled joint resolutions in the office of the Secretary of State; to deliver a certified copy of these laws (with indices and marginal notes) to the public printer, and to edit and correct them after printing; to distribute the printed laws and journals to a list of state, local, and federal officials specified; and to furnish forms to county election officials for election returns, and to receive certified election returns from these officials for members of the legislature (this last duty included in an act regulating elections, approved May 11, 1846).

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State. An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives. And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress would be deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State, and declared to be Archives of said office.

The first Texas consulate was established on December 15, 1836, when President Sam Houston appointed John Woodward as consul-general at New York. However, previous to that time the agents of the Republic in New Orleans had come to be spoken of as consuls. The consuls acted as representatives for the Republic of Texas providing potential immigrants with information regarding Texas, certifying documents, and giving information back to Texas regarding foreign attitudes towards the Republic.

On December 18, 1837, the Congress of the Republic of Texas approved a Joint Resolution adopting the consular system of the United States for the government of the consular agents of the Republic of Texas, and delegating to the Secretary of State the duty of furnishing the Texan consuls with instruction for the proper regulation of the commercial intercourse between this and foreign countries.

(Sources include: the Secretary of State Republic of Texas records appraisal report , the previous finding aid, the Texas Constitution of 1836, and the enabling legislation.)

From the guide to the Secretary of State consular correspondence, 1836-1850, 1873-1875, bulk 1836-1846, (Texas State Archives)

During the Republic and early statehood it was the practice of Congress and the Legislature to select a public printer whose duties were supervised by the Secretary of State; this was confirmed by acts approved by the 1st Texas Congress on November 15 and 18, 1836. On December 18, 1837, Congress approved an act to provide for the publication of the laws and journals of the Republic of Texas, with the Secretary of State required to contract for the printing and to arrange for its distribution.

The duty of editing and then distributing the printed laws and journals of each session of the legislature was affirmed by the 1st Texas Legislature in the act to define the duties of Secretary of State, approved May 9, 1846. The 8th Legislature on November 22, 1859 provided that the Secretary of State, the Treasurer, and the Comptroller should advertise for proposals to print the laws and journals, governor's messages, reports, and other printing. They would award a contract and the printer would be supervised by the Secretary of State. The duties of these three were expanded by the 13th Legislature on February 17, 1873 when they constituted a board for examination and approval of the accounts of the Public Printer. The composition of the board was changed by the 14th Legislature, March 14, 1874 to include the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General. A Board of Public Printing was created by the 15th Legislature, June 27, 1876, composed of the Attorney General, the Treasurer, and the Secretary of State, with the Secretary of State in charge of the records. The Board was abolished by the 36th Legislature, April 5, 1919 and its functions transferred to the State Board of Control.

From the guide to the Secretary of State public printing records, 1835-1906, undated, bulk 1874-1897, (Texas State Archives)

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

The only duty of the Secretary of State specified by the Constitution of 1836 was to receive returns of all elections for officers who are to be commissioned by the President (General Provisions, Section 2). The 1st Congress approved a Joint Resolution on December 13, 1836 defining the duties of the heads of departments of the government. However, the duties of this cabinet (composed of the Secretaries of State, War, Navy, and Treasury, and the Attorney General) were expressed in extremely vague terms, i.e.: to conform to and execute the instructions of the president, whether general or particular; and to give respectively and collectively, such needful aid and counsel whenever required so to do by the chief magistrate of the republic, as may be requisite to a firm, wholesome and harmonious administration of the government. Much of our knowledge of what the Secretary of State did during the Republic period derives from the existing records themselves. Although never so stated in law, obviously a major function of the Secretary of State under the Republic of Texas was diplomatic, a function unique to Texas' history as an independent nation.

During the next nine years of the Republic's existence, Congressional acts added little in the way of explicit duties: to receive from the chief justices of the county courts a description of their county boundaries, and such other information and observations relative to the same, as they may conceive conducive to the convenience of their citizens (December 17, 1836); to furnish Texan consuls with instruction for the proper regulation of foreign trade (December 18, 1837); to contract for the printing of the laws and journals of the Republic of Texas, and to arrange for their distribution (December 18, 1837 and later dates); to contract for the translation and compilation of Republic laws into Spanish ( the Castilian language ) (December 18, 1837 and January 12, 1842); to become the depository for a Library purchased for the Republic of Texas (January 24, 1839); to create a Patent Office, as a bureau of the office of Secretary of State, and to grant patent rights for any new and useful art, machine, instrument or composition of matter, liberal arts, sciences or literature, books, maps or charts, or any new and useful improvement of the same . . . invented or discovered (January 28, 1839); to draw from the war department funds appropriated to run a boundary line between the Republic of Texas and the United States (November 26, 1840); to assume the duties of the Postmaster General, appointing and supervising a clerk for a bureau called the General Post Office, and to receive from the former Postmaster General all records of the abolished Post Office Department (January 18, 1841); to issue writs of election to fill certain vacancies in counties (December 7, 1841).

Except for its diplomatic duties, most of the functions of the Secretary of State under the Republic were apparently continued during the period of early statehood following annexation. An act of the 1st Legislature (approved May 9, 1846) to define the duties of Secretary of State included the following: to maintain a register of all official acts of the governor, and to provide the same to the legislature when required (this duty had also been spelled out by the first state Constitution, 1845); to keep a complete register of all officers appointed and elected in the state; to commission all such appointed and elected officers when not otherwise provided for by law; to record depositions and affirmations required by law to be made by resident aliens wanting to hold real estate in Texas; to arrange and preserve all books, maps, parchments, records, documents, deeds, conveyances, and other papers belonging to the State, that have been or may be properly deposited there, and sealed with the state seal (which copies shall be considered admissible as evidence in the state's courts of law); to attend every legislative session to receive bills which have became laws, and to bind and maintain such bills and enrolled joint resolutions in the office of the Secretary of State; to deliver a certified copy of these laws (with indices and marginal notes) to the public printer, and to edit and correct them after printing; to distribute the printed laws and journals to a list of state, local, and federal officials specified; and to furnish forms to county election officials for election returns, and to receive certified election returns from these officials for members of the legislature (this last duty included in an act regulating elections, approved May 11, 1846).

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State. An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives. And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress would be deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State, and declared to be Archives of said office.

(Sources include: the Secretary of State Republic of Texas records appraisal report (December 1998); and the enabling legislation (1836-1887).)

From the guide to the General correspondence of the Department of State, Republic of Texas, 1822-1859, undated, bulk 1835-1846, (Texas State Archives)

According to Article V of the Texas Constitution of 1836, every person who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of trust or profit shall before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath to support the Constitution of the Republic, and also an oath of office. As offices were created, the enabling legislation usually specified the oath and bond required.

No one governmental office has had the responsibility for filing all bonds and oaths. Depending on the office and varying over time, bonds and oaths could be filed on different governmental levels (municipal, district, county, state), and in different offices. Not infrequently, the bond would be filed in one office and the oath in another. The Comptroller's office at some point maintained certificates of bonds, and possibly even oaths. However, state law has required many if not most state officers to file bonds and oaths with the Secretary of State (as early as 1846). Furthermore, numerous entries in a published Catalogue of Books, Documents, Papers, Etc., in Office of Secretary of State, March, 1870 are bonds and oaths (e.g., of state officers, of district attorneys, of district judges, of department clerks, of managers and trustees of asylums, etc.)

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution. On May 9, 1846, the 1st Legislature approved an act to define the duties of Secretary of State, which among other things required the Secretary of State to arrange and preserve all books, maps, parchments, records, documents, deeds, conveyances, and other papers belonging to the State, that have been or may be properly deposited there.

From the guide to the Secretary of State bonds and oaths, 1837-1844, 1846-1920, (Texas State Archives)

By a law approved June 12, 1837, the Congress of the Republic of Texas authorized the President to appoint a commissioner to act with a commissioner to be appointed by the United States to survey the eastern boundary of Texas. On October 4, 1838, the Congress ratified a Convention between the two nations providing for such a survey. Supplementary acts dated November 23, 1839; January 18, 1840; November 23 and 26, 1840; and February 4, 1841, authorized appropriations and additional personnel for the Texas representation on the boundary commission. Memucan Hunt was the first Texas Commissioner appointed; he served from 1839 until 1840, when he was dismissed from the post. He was succeeded by George W. Smyth, who served until June 1841, when the work of the Commission was completed.

By an act approved November 26, 1840, the Secretary of State was required to draw from the War Department funds appropriated to run a boundary line between the Republic of Texas and the United States.

Following annexation further boundary work was needed to define the Panhandle. On February 11, 1854, the Texas legislature agreed to cooperate with a United States Commission in running and marking the boundary line between the State of Texas and the territories of the United States, from the point where it leaves Red River to the point where it intersects the Rio Grande. Field work was done in the Panhandle in 1859 and 1860. The Civil War stopped work and the question of the boundary, expecially Greer County, was not settled until a Supreme Court ruling of March 16, 1896.

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution. On May 9, 1846, the 1st Legislature approved an act to define the duties of Secretary of State, which among other things required the Secretary of State to arrange and preserve all books, maps, parchments, records, documents, deeds, conveyances, and other papers belonging to the State, that have been or may be properly deposited there.

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State. An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives. And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress would be deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State, and declared to be Archives of said office.

(Sources include: the Secretary of State Republic of Texas records appraisal report (December 1998); the survey report by Carolyn Majewski (January 1982); and the enabling legislation (1836-1887).)

From the guide to the Secretary of State boundary records, 1837-1843, 1858-1860, 1873-1877, 1882, 1885-1887, 1911, undated, (Texas State Archives)

The Texas Constitution of 1845 required the Secretary of State to keep a fair register of all official acts and proceedings of the Governor and to provide these to the legislature when required. This duty (and others) were reiterated in the act to define the duties of Secretary of State, approved May 9, 1846. This authority was reconfirmed by the Constitutions of 1866 (Article V, Section 17), 1869 (Article IV, Section 17) and 1876 (Article IV, Section 21), and subsequent amendments.

The Secretary of State is a constitutional officer of the executive branch of state government, appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate for a term concurrent with the governor's (a two-year term at first, a four-year term since 1974). The office was first created by the Constitution of the Republic of Texas in 1836 (Article VI, Section 10), and has been continued by each succeeding Constitution.

The only duty of the Secretary of State specified by the Constitution of 1836 was to receive returns of all elections for officers who are to be commissioned by the President (General Provisions, Section 2). The 1st Congress approved a Joint Resolution on December 13, 1836 defining the duties of the heads of departments of the government. However, the duties of this cabinet (composed of the Secretaries of State, War, Navy, and Treasury, and the Attorney General) were expressed in extremely vague terms, i.e.: to conform to and execute the instructions of the president, whether general or particular; and to give respectively and collectively, such needful aid and counsel whenever required so to do by the chief magistrate of the republic, as may be requisite to a firm, wholesome and harmonious administration of the government. Much of our knowledge of what the Secretary of State did during the Republic period derives from the existing records themselves. Although never so stated in law, obviously a major function of the Secretary of State under the Republic of Texas was diplomatic, a function unique to Texas' history as an independent nation.

During the next nine years of the Republic's existence, Congressional acts added little in the way of explicit duties: to receive from the chief justices of the county courts a description of their county boundaries, and such other information and observations relative to the same, as they may conceive conducive to the convenience of their citizens (December 17, 1836); to furnish Texan consuls with instruction for the proper regulation of foreign trade (December 18, 1837); to contract for the printing of the laws and journals of the Republic of Texas, and to arrange for their distribution (December 18, 1837 and later dates); to contract for the translation and compilation of Republic laws into Spanish ( the Castilian language ) (December 18, 1837 and January 12, 1842); to become the depository for a Library purchased for the Republic of Texas (January 24, 1839); to create a Patent Office, as a bureau of the office of Secretary of State, and to grant patent rights for any new and useful art, machine, instrument or composition of matter, liberal arts, sciences or literature, books, maps or charts, or any new and useful improvement of the same . . . invented or discovered (January 28, 1839); to draw from the war department funds appropriated to run a boundary line between the Republic of Texas and the United States (November 26, 1840); to assume the duties of the Postmaster General, appointing and supervising a clerk for a bureau called the General Post Office, and to receive from the former Postmaster General all records of the abolished Post Office Department (January 18, 1841); to issue writs of election to fill certain vacancies in counties (December 7, 1841).

Except for its diplomatic duties, most of the functions of the Secretary of State under the Republic were apparently continued during the period of early statehood following annexation. An act of the 1st Legislature (approved May 9, 1846) to define the duties of Secretary of State included the following: to maintain a register of all official acts of the governor, and to provide the same to the legislature when required (this duty had also been spelled out by the first state Constitution, 1845); to keep a complete register of all officers appointed and elected in the state; to commission all such appointed and elected officers when not otherwise provided for by law; to record depositions and affirmations required by law to be made by resident aliens wanting to hold real estate in Texas; to arrange and preserve all books, maps, parchments, records, documents, deeds, conveyances, and other papers belonging to the State, that have been or may be properly deposited there, and sealed with the state seal (which copies shall be considered admissible as evidence in the state's courts of law); to attend every legislative session to receive bills which have became laws, and to bind and maintain such bills and enrolled joint resolutions in the office of the Secretary of State; to deliver a certified copy of these laws (with indices and marginal notes) to the public printer, and to edit and correct them after printing; to distribute the printed laws and journals to a list of state, local, and federal officials specified; and to furnish forms to county election officials for election returns, and to receive certified election returns from these officials for members of the legislature (this last duty included in an act regulating elections, approved May 11, 1846).

An act of February 11, 1854 created a Board of Commissioners composed of the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Attorney General, to superintend the arranging and filing of the archives of the late Republic of Texas and of the State Legislature, and also the recording of the Journals of the said Congress and State Legislature ... to be deposited in the General Land-office of the State. An act of December 14, 1863 made the Secretary of State the custodian of the records of the Senate and House of Representatives. And an act of March 25, 1887 provided that the entire archives of the late Republic of Texas, ... together with the records, books, and journals of said Congress would be deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State, and declared to be Archives of said office.

From the guide to the Secretary of State executive record books, 1835-1917, (Texas State Archives)

The Constitution of 1845 established the state office, which replaced a similar office under the Republic of Texas. The Constitution of 1876 officially renamed the position and established it as the office of secretary of state. The office’s major duties include attesting the governor’s signature; affixing the state seal to proclamations, commissions, and other documents; and acting as chief election officer. Some early secretaries of state include Allison Mayfield, T.H. Bowman, J.D. Templeton, and A.J. Searcy.

Source:

Smith, Dick, and Laurie E. Jasinski. “Secretary of State.” Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed February 28, 2011. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mbs01

From the guide to the Secretary of State (Texas) Miscellany, 1835-1896, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)