The original of the Acta which marked Bogota’s first open breach with Spanish rule was destroyed by fire in 1900. Fortunately it had been copied and printed in Bogotá, in 1848, 1872, and 1894. From these three published versions and from other samples of the handwriting of the cabildo escribano, Eugenio Martín Melendro, and of the signers, Dr. Fernando Restrepo Uribe, Executive Secretary of the Instituto Colombiano de Cultura Hispánica, has reconstructed what he carefully states to be a false-facsimile of the now-lost original.
As perfect as any such effort can be, this facsimile is on a well-imitated version of the pea-soup green papel sellado of the times, the purported inky text is faded brown, there are blots and rubrics of the scrivener and the signatures of the patriot non-conformists.
Fifty velvet-bound copies of the Acta were distributed to the President of Colombia, the diplomatic corps in Bogotá, and to the heads of delegations at the III Congreso Hispanoamericano de Historia (Cartagena, November 9-17, 1961). Four hundred and fifty more, bound in paper, were printed.
This latest version of the Acta is accompanied by a supplemental pamphlet of editorial explanation by Dr. Restrepo Uribe.
Thus has the stirring action of the Bogotá patriots of July 20, 1810, been ingeniously and handsomely commemorated.
