The collection features series of printed proclamations put forth by governors and key administrators of the Federal District during the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). The majority of the collection consists of broadsides which would have been posted and read out loud to the illiterate urban masses. In addition, a number of pamphlets and larger broadsides reveal the federal government's preoccupation over the scarcity of war funds, civilian participation in the National Guard and indemnity payments to the United States. Also included in the collection is a four-item series on Maximilian's brief reign during the Imperial Regency (1864-1867).

Generally speaking, the Mexican-American War, also known as the North American Intervention, falls within the years of the Early Republic (1824-1855), typically characterized as one of the most politically unstable periods in Mexican history. Only twenty-five years removed from its War of Independence (1821), the young Mexican nation had already lost a significant portion of its northern territories to an independent Texas in 1836. The defeat exposed Mexico's military and political fragility, a fact further evidenced by the ten weak, ephemeral presidencies during the three-year war with the United States (1846-1848). Throughout these years of instability, Antonio López de Santa Anna emerged as the most important figure in the Mexican political terrain. Santa Anna held the office of the executive during eleven non-consecutive terms, frequently abandoning the presidential seat to double as military commander. At a time when Mexico was the second largest country in the world, Santa Anna is infamously remembered for his role in the Battle of the Alamo and for having "lost" half the national territory to the United States in exchange for another presidential term. His December 1846 election, alongside vice-president Valentín Gómez Farías, is documented in the collection of proclamations.

1 oversized box.

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