1850 ANSON JONES. History of Texas Owned by Last President of Texas + Handwritten Marginalia!

An absolutely fascinating and an important piece of Texas history; President Anson Jones personally owned and twice signed history of Texas with marginalia on the geography and constitutional history of the Republic. 

Anson Jones [1798-1858] is one of the most significant figures in the history of Texas. Known as the "Architect of Annexation," he also served as the 4th and final President of the Republic of Texas and was the first to formally urge Texans to officially declare independence from Mexico. 

Initially trained to practice medicine, he moved from Massachusetts to Brazil and then to Louisiana. It wasn't until 1832 when he moved to Brazoria, Texas that he found his place. By 1835, he was a prominent community figure and began using his voice to speak out for Texan independence. At The Consultation, he presented to Texas patriots a resolution to declare formal independence. Eventually, his call for independence won the day and the Texas Revolution began.

During the war, he served as a judge and surgeon to the Texas Army. However, he was averse to personal promotion, and so refused the nomination to lead the new republic as its first President and insisted on only receiving the rank of private during his time of service in the army. 

After the war, Jones expected to return to his practice at Brazoria, but Texas President Sam Houston instead appointed him Minister to the United States. The United States, in the late 1830s, was hesitant to annex Texas for fear of provoking a war with Mexico. Jones and others felt that Texas gaining recognition from European states was important, and began to set up trade relations with them, to make annexation of Texas more attractive to the United States, or failing that, to give Texas the strength to remain independent.

Jones was recalled to Texas by new president Mirabeau Lamar in 1839. Back at home, he found himself elected to a partial term in the Senate, where he quickly became a critic of Lamar's administration. He retired from the Senate in 1841, declining the opportunity to serve as Vice President in favor of returning to his medical practice.

Jones served as Secretary of State until 1844. During his term, the main goal of Texas foreign policy was to get either an offer of annexation from the United States, or a recognition of Texas independence from Mexico, or preferably, both at the same time. Anson Jones, against his own aversion to self-promotion, served as the fourth and final President of the Republic of Texas in order to lead the final stages of annexation to the United States.

Jones hoped that the new Texas state legislature would send him to the United States Senate. He was not chosen, and as time went on, he became increasingly bitter about this slight. Although Jones prospered as a planter and eventually amassed an enormous estate, he was never able to get past the fact that Sam Houston and Thomas Jefferson Rusk were chosen over him to represent Texas in Washington, DC.

After the suicide of Ruskin 1857, Jones became convinced that the legislature would finally send him to the Senate, but he received no votes.