Convention of 1836
The Convention of 1836 was the meeting of elected delegates in
The Convention was called to order on March 1, and the following day adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, written by George Childress. Delegates elected an interim government, led by President David G. Burnet and developed a Texas Constitution, which they based primarily on the Constitution of the United States. On March 6 they received a missive from the Texan soldiers besieged at the Alamo, and delegate and commander-in-chief Sam Houston narrowly persuaded the men to continue their work on the constitution rather than rush to aid the soldiers. After the Alamo fell, Santa Anna's army marched towards Washington-on-the-Brazos, prompting the new government to flee.
Background
The
On December 10, the Council passed a resolution calling for a new convention of delegates, to convene on March 1, 1836.
Over the next few months, the provisional government of Texas essentially collapsed. By February, most Consultation members had returned home or to the army.[5]
By the end of 1835, no Mexican troops remained in Texas.
Delegates
Elections were scheduled for February 1, 1836. There was much disagreement throughout Texas as to whether voting rights should extend to
The Consultation reorganized the voting districts.
The soldiers who had flocked to the army were determined to vote, regardless of how long they had actually been in Texas or whether they intended to stay. In at least one instance, in Matagorda, soldiers who had been discharged from service voted in the election while they were en route to the United States.[10] There was no consistency in how the votes of active volunteers were handled. In Goliad, soldiers held their own election for two delegates. In nearby San Patricio, locals refused to allow the soldiers to vote; their results were later overturned by the Convention.[10] Soldiers turned away in Refugio simply held their own election.[10]
In the Nacogdoches district, soldiers under Sidney Sherman threatened violence after they were turned away from the polling place. Sherman vowed that he "had come to Texas to fight for it and has as soon commence in the town of Nacogdoches as elsewhere."[12] Anxious to avoid an armed fight, election judges asked the public to vote on whether the troops should be allowed to vote. The soldiers lost by 30 votes, yet refused to back down, insisting that the voting had been rigged.[12] Finally, one of the candidates, Thomas Jefferson Rusk, talked the judges into allowing the soldiers to vote. In the final results in Nacogdoches, Rusk and one other pro-independence candidate, Robert Potter, were named delegates, along with pro-federalist candidates John S. Roberts and Charles S. Taylor.[13]
A similar melee was avoided in
This convention differed from the previous Texas councils of 1832, 1833, and the Consultation. Many of the delegates to the 1836 convention were young men who had only recently arrived in Texas, although many of them had participated in one of the battles in 1835. Most of the delegates were members of the War Party and were adamant that Texas must declare its independence from Mexico.[14]
A total of 59 delegates were elected to the Convention, 5 more than were supposed to attend. This was largely due to the extra elections soldiers had conducted.
The average age of the Convention delegates was 37.4, over a year younger than those elected to the Consultation. They had lived in Texas an average of 4 years, a relatively low length of time considering that this included two men -
The army's influence was obvious. Forty percent of the delegates (24 men) had served in the army in October–December 1835. Four other delegates were directly related to men serving in the army. These numbers meant the army bloc was just shy of a majority of delegates, ensuring that the army's needs would actually be addressed this time.[15]
Proceedings
Forty-one delegates arrived in
The delegates assigned George Childress to lead a committee of five to draft a Declaration of Independence. Childress, the nephew of empresario Sterling C. Robertson, had been elected to the Convention three weeks after his arrival in Texas. The committee submitted its draft within a mere 24 hours, leading historians to speculate that Childress had written much of it before his arrival at the Convention.[20] The declaration was approved on March 2 with no debate. Based primarily on the writings of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, the declaration proclaimed that the Mexican government "ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived"[21] and complained about "arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny".[22] The declaration officially established the Republic of Texas.
Shortly after adopting the declaration of independence, the delegates began to work on a new
In a departure from the traditional Texas justice system, the Constitution called for
The largest debates centered around land policy, as delegates struggled to balance the competing claims of natives, settlers, army volunteers, and colonizers.[24] Every single proposal for a new land policy was sent back to committee or defeated, until the last day.[26] The new policy benefited settlers and army volunteers, ensuring they would get the land promised when they emigrated. All surveys completed before November 1835 were validated, and any issued since – when the land offices were supposed to be closed – were vacated. All further surveys were banned until the new Congress could establish a land office. Additionally, three controversial land grants were overturned.[27]
On the morning of March 6, the Convention received a letter, dated March 3, from Alamo commander
Concerned that the existing army was not large enough, on March 12 the Convention issued a conscription law.[31] All able-bodied white and Tejano men between ages 17 and 50 were subject to military service. Local authorities would assign two-thirds of the men in their district to fight at any one time. Those who refused to serve would lose their citizenship and half of their property. Tejanos would not serve alongside the Anglos, but would instead have a separate corps.[32]
After finishing their constitution, the delegates organized an ad-interim government which would serve until the following October. As president they chose David G. Burnet, who had not been elected to the Convention. Burnet had planned to join the fighting at the Alamo and had stopped at the Convention to recruit others. However, he became so "inspired by their deliberations" that he remained as a visitor. Speaking privately with many of the delegates, Burnet professed that he would be willing to serve as president of a new republic, even if that made him a target of Santa Anna.[33] Among the names most commonly circulated for the presidency were empresario Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, and
One of Burnet's first acts as president was to transfer the capital of the new state from Washington-on-the-Brazos to
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 98.
- ^ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 100.
- ^ a b Lack (1992), p. 76.
- ^ Lack (1992), p.75.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 73.
- ^ Barr (1990), p. 56.
- ^ Hardin (1994), p. 98.
- ^ Lord (1961), p. 73.
- ^ Todish et al. (1998), p. 40.
- ^ a b c d e f Lack (1992), p. 77.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lack (1992), p. 83.
- ^ a b c Lack (1992), p. 79.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 81.
- ^ a b Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 142.
- ^ a b Lack (1992), p. 85.
- ^ "A Guide to the Lorenzo De Zavala Papers, 1818-1936". lib.utexas.edu. Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 88.
- ^ Association, Texas State Historical. "Convention of 1836". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2024-02-02.
- ^ a b c Davis (1982), p. 38.
- ^ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 144.
- ^ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 145.
- ^ Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 146.
- ^ a b Roberts and Olson (2001), p. 147.
- ^ a b c Lack (1992), p. 90.
- ^ Lack (1992), pp. 89–90.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 91.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 92.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 375.
- ^ Todish et al. (1998), p. 67.
- ^ Todish et al. (1998), p. 68.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 93.
- ^ Lack (1992), p. 94.
- ^ Davis (1982), p. 37.
- ^ Davis (1982), p. 39.
References
- ISBN 0-8061-2878-X.
- Davis, Joe Tom (1982). Legendary Texians. Vol. 1. ISBN 0-89015-336-1.
- Edmondson, J.R. (2000). The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts. ISBN 1-55622-678-0.
- ISBN 0-292-73086-1.
- Lack, Paul D. (1992). The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History 1835–1836. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-89096-497-1.
- ISBN 0-8032-7902-7.
- Roberts, Randy; Olson, James S. (2001). A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory. The Free Press. ISBN 0-684-83544-4.
- Todish, Timothy J.; Todish, Terry; Spring, Ted (1998). Alamo Sourcebook, 1836: A Comprehensive Guide to the Battle of the Alamo and the Texas Revolution. Austin, TX: Eakin Press. ISBN 978-1-57168-152-2.