Mexican Texas
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Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially, Mexican Texas operated similarly to Spanish Texas. Ratification of the 1824 Constitution of Mexico created a federal structure, and the province of Tejas was joined with the province of Coahuila to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas.
In 1821, approximately 3,500 settlers lived in the whole of Tejas, concentrated mostly in
The first
Mexico officials became concerned about attitudes among the Anglo-Americans in Tejas; for instance, their insistence on bringing slaves into the territory. The legislature passed the
The first violent incident occurred on June 26, 1832, at the Battle of Velasco. On March 2, 1836, Texians declared their independence from Mexico. The Texas Revolution ended on April 21, 1836, when Santa Anna was taken prisoner by Texians following the Battle of San Jacinto. Although Texas declared its independence as the Republic of Texas, Mexico refused to recognize Texas as a new country.
Mexican independence
In 1821,
Initially, there was disagreement over whether Mexico should be a
Because it was sparsely populated,
The 1824 constitution dismantled the mission system, requiring missions more than ten years old to be converted into parishes, while newer missions would be given until 1842 to become secularized.[11] Most of the missions had been secularized before the 1820s, and only Missions Refugio, Espiritu Santo and Rosario were not currently secularized. By 1830, these missions had been converted into parishes, and most of the mission Natives moved to other settlements in Texas.[12] As the missions were secularized, the mission lands were distributed amongst the Natives, who would later be taxed on the profits.[11]
The new Mexican government was bankrupt and had little money to devote to the military. Settlers were empowered to create their own militias to help control hostile Native American tribes. Texas faced raids from both the Apache and Comanche tribes, and with little military support the few settlers in the region needed help. In the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the Indian raids, the government liberalized its immigration policies for the region for the first time, and settlers from the United States were permitted in the colonies for the first time.[13]
Immigration
In the late 18th century, Spain had stopped allocating new parcels of land in
As soon as the national colonization law was passed, approval for settlement contracts for Texas was the responsibility of the state government in Saltillo. They were soon besieged by foreign speculators wanting to bring colonists into the state.[19] Coahuila y Tejas implemented the federal law in 1825.[20] At this time, about 3500 people lived in Texas, mostly congregated at San Antonio and La Bahia.[1] Under the new law, people who did not already possess property in Texas could claim one square league (4438 acres) of irrigable land, with an additional league available to those who owned cattle. Soldiers were given first choice of land, followed by citizens and immigrants. Empresarios and individuals with large families were exempt from the limit. Those who had owned land under Spanish control were allowed to retain their property as long as they had not fought on the side of the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence. Immigrants were subject to the same policies as Mexican citizens, and Native Americans who migrated to Texas after Mexican independence and were not indigenous to the area would be treated as immigrants.[21]
Approximately 3420 land grant applications were submitted by immigrants and naturalized citizens, many of them
There was no shortage of people willing to come to Texas. The United States was still struggling with the aftermath of the Panic of 1819, and soaring land prices within the United States made the Mexican land policy seem very generous.[19] In 1827 Austin received a second grant allowing him to settle 100 families along the Old San Antonio Road to Nacogdoches, near what is now Bastrop. The location was chosen at the behest of the Tejanos, who hoped that colonists in that area could help defend against Comanche raids.[18] Austin was later granted permission to resettle 800 other families in Texas. Twenty-three other empresarios also brought immigrants to Texas.[22] Of these, only one of the empresarios, Martín De León settled citizens from within Mexico; the others came primarily from the United States.[18][25] Many of the Anglo settlers owned slaves.[26] All colonists were expected to become naturalized Mexican citizens, and they were also supposed to follow the state religion. In Austin's colony, the local priest formally converted new arrivals but then allowed them to worship as they pleased.[27]
Austin was granted the rank of lieutenant colonel of the militia, and he was given absolute authority over all justice, excluding the sentencing for capital crimes.[28] To maintain order within his colony, he issued the first Anglo-American law code in Texas. His Instructions and Regulations for the Alcades was issued January 22, 1824. It comprised a penal code and codes of criminal and civil procedure. The instructions authorized the creation of sheriff and constable offices and established a rudimentary court system. It relied on English common law concepts for defining criminal behavior and also established punishments for vices that Austin deemed disruptive,[29] such as gambling, profane swearing, and public drunkenness.[30]
Under the terms of the colonization contracts, the empresarios were responsible for providing security within their lands. In 1823 Austin created a company of men who would patrol his colony and protect the colonists from Native attacks and to defuse internal issues. The initial company, known as Ranger Company, comprised 10 volunteers who served terms of 3–6 months and were paid in land. The men were not uniformed and were not subject to military law or regulation. They were the precursors to the
Comanches were a threat to some of the colonies. Green Dewitt began his colony west of Austin's in December 1825.[27] In July 1826 his headquarters, Gonzales, was burned to the ground in a Comanche attack. All but one colonist escaped to San Felipe. They returned to rebuild their colony the following year. For protection, the political chief of the region granted the community a small cannon.[32]
Land speculators flooded into Texas. Colonization laws limited Anglos to only one league of land, but Mexican nationals were in many cases eligible for up to 11 leagues. Anglo speculators would often convince a Mexican national to claim his 11 leagues and then sell the land to the speculator through a power of attorney.[33]
Rising tensions
In 1825, Mexican authorities became concerned with the actions of empresario
After hearing reports of other racial issues, the Mexican government asked General
Although many Mexicans wanted to abolish slavery, fears of an economic crisis if all of the slaves were simultaneously freed led to a gradual emancipation policy.[11] In 1823, Mexico forbade the sale or purchase of slaves and required that the children of slaves be freed when they reached fourteen.[26] Any slave introduced into Mexico by purchase or trade would also be freed.[11] By 1825, however, a census of Austin's Colony showed 1,347 Anglo-Americans and 443 people of African descent, including a very small number of free African Americans.[34] Two years later the legislature of Coahuila y Tejas outlawed the introduction of additional slaves into the state and granted freedom at birth to all children born to a slave.[26] The new laws also stated that any slave brought into Texas should be freed within six months.[35]
In 1829, slavery was officially outlawed in Mexico.
Exportation in the slave-owning areas of the state surpassed that of the non-slave-owning areas. A survey of Texas in 1834 found that the department of Bexar, which was mostly made up of Tejanos, had exported no goods. The Brazos department, including Austin's colonies and those of Green DeWitt, had exported 600,000 pesos worth of goods, including 5,000 bales of cotton.[43] The department of Texas, which included the eastern settlements, expected to export 2,000 bales of cotton and 5,000 head of cattle.[44]
Bustamante implemented other measures to make immigration less desirable for Anglo-Americans. He rescinded the property tax law, which had exempted immigrants from paying taxes for ten years. He further increased tariffs on goods entering Mexico from the United States, causing their prices to rise.[37] The 1830s laws also brought settlement contracts under federal rather than state control.[45] Colonies that did not have at least 150 inhabitants would be canceled. Among the affected colonies were the Nashville Company run by Sterling C. Robertson and the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company, run by David G. Burnet, Lorenzo de Zavala and Joseph Vehlein.[40] Finally, he prohibited further immigration to Texas from the United States, although Anglos would still be welcome in other parts of Mexico.[37] The ban and other measures did not stop U.S. citizens from migrating illegally to Texas by the thousands. By 1834, it was estimated that over 30,000 Anglos lived in Texas,[46] compared to only 7,800 Mexicans.[12]
Anglos often viewed the Mexicans as foreigners and intruders.
"'No faith can be placed in the Anglo-American colonists because they are continually demonstrating that they absolutely refuse to be subordinate, unless they find it convenient to what they want anyway, all of which I believe will be very detrimental to us for them to be our neighbors if we do not in time, clip the wings of their audacity by stationing a strong detachment in each new settlement which will enforce the laws and jurisdiction of a Mexican magistrate which should be placed in each of them, since under their own colonists as judges, they do nothing more than practice their own laws which they have practiced since they were born, forgetting the ones they have sworn to obey, these being the laws of our Supreme Government.'"[47]
International issues
Many Americans thought the United States had been cheated out of Texas. American land speculators believed they could make fortunes in the vast region of Texas, and American politicians believed Texas could help maintain a balance of power between free and slave states. In 1827, American president
In July 1829, Mexican authorities had other concerns, as General
Precursor to revolt
Mier y Teran's 1828 report had recommended new garrisons in Texas which could oversee the Anglo colonists and encourage Mexicans to resettle in the area. The new garrisons were to be partly staffed by convicts.[50] The first was established along Galveston Bay in 1831 at the site of present-day Anahuac. It became the first port in Texas to collect customs. A second custom port, Velasco, was established at the mouth of the Brazos River, while a third garrison established Fort Teran on the Neches River below Nacogdoches to combat smuggling and illegal immigration.[51]
Mier y Teran further ordered the garrison at Bexar to abandon their fort and create a new presidio.[51] Fort Tenoxtitlán was established in 1830 on the west bank of the Brazos River, 100 miles (161 km) above San Felipe. Shortly after the fort was completed, 50 immigrants from Tennessee arrived in the area under empresario Sterling C. Robertson. The settlers had arrived illegally, as Robertson's contract had been invalidated by Guerrero's 1830 laws. The garrison commander chose not to expel them, instead sending to Mexico for advice. Three months later he received instructions to expel the settlers immediately. He chose not to do so, allowing the Robertson's Colony to be saved.[52] The fort closed in 1832. After having received no replacements or supplies, the commander finally ordered all of the soldiers to return to San Antonio.[53]
Anahuac was placed under the control of Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn. Bradburn enforced the 1830 laws strictly, angering many colonists. He forbade the state commissioner from granting property titles to squatters and insisted on enforcing the law freeing any slave who set foot in Mexican territory.[54] He and his men also confiscated settlers goods for their own personal wealth. This angered many of the Anglos, believing that their rights under the Mexican Constitution of 1824 were being violated. In 1832, local men organized a militia, supposedly to protect the settlement from Indian attacks, although all Indians in the area were peaceful.[55] Mexican law forbade residents from creating militias, so Bradburn arrested the ringleader, Patrick C. Jack.[56] Citizens were very angry. In Brazoria, residents held a town meeting to decide what to do. William H. Wharton complained that there was little support within Austin's colony to oppose Bradburn with military force; he and other advocates of armed conflict felt that their opposition from other settlers was as deep as that of the Mexican soldiers in the area.[57] Bradburn eventually agreed to release Jack, and tensions cooled for a brief period.[55]
In May 1832, Bradburn received a letter, ostensibly from a friend, warning that 100 armed men were stationed 40 miles (64 km) away, intent on reclaiming runaway slaves held by Bradburn.[58] When Bradburn realized that the letter was a hoax, he arrested William Barret Travis for questioning.[59] He intended to send Travis to Matamoros for a military trial on charges of attempted insurrection, with the goal being separation from Mexico. Conviction on this charge would certainly lead to Travis's execution.[60] The settlers were outraged that the arrest did not require a warrant, a statement of charges, or trial by jury. Most were unfamiliar with Mexican law and assumed that the United States Bill of Rights still applied to them.[61] Settlers attacked the Anahuac garrison to free Travis in an event that became known as the
Additional settlers had gathered in Brazoria to transport several cannon to aid the group in Anahuac. Colonel
Several days later, Colonel Jose de las Piedras arrived from Nacogdoches to assist Bradburn. He removed Bradburn from his command, and the settlers dispersed.[63]
In 1832,
On December 19, 1832, the Bexar Remonstrance was issued to the Mexican Congress. It legally proclaimed the grievances that the population of Texas had suffered under the centralist style Mexican government.[65] It addressed such issues as improper protection against Indian attacks and poor pay for militia, insufficient local and legislative representation, forbidding of immigration from the United States, lack of schools and funding for education, and various violations of the repudiated republican style Constitution of 1824.[66]
Santa Anna was elected the president of Mexico on January 19, 1833. A resulting second convention was held that year in April. This one, attended by recent arrivals such as Sam Houston, appointed a commission to draft a constitution for a new Mexican state of Texas and selected delegates to represent Texas before the federal government. Austin was chosen to deliver the proposed constitution to Santa Anna's government in Mexico City. Although Austin pointed out that Texas had been given permission to form a separate state and had now grown to 46,500 inhabitants, the political chief of Bexar warned the government that the Anglos might be proposing separate statehood as part of a plan to join with the United States.[67] Austin was arrested on November 21, 1833, on suspicion of treason.[68] Austin was imprisoned for about a year. Santa Anna decided to do away with the Mexican Constitution of 1824 and became a monarch. At this point, Austin switched from promoting peace to supporting separation from Mexico.
The Mexican government attempted to address some of the Texans' concerns. Article 11 was repealed on November 21, 1833, allowing American immigrants to again flow into Texas.
In March 1833, the capital of the state was transferred from Saltillo to
By the end of the year, however, Santa Anna began to exhibit
Texas Revolution
In an effort to secure his freedom, in January 1835 Austin had published his Exposition to the Public Regarding the Affairs of Texas. In this document, he explained that Texas wanted to be a separate state, not an independent nation. He discussed the grievances against the Texas justice system and justified the conventions of 1832 and 1833 as "'an exercise of the right to petition that belongs to every free people'".[69] He was finally released from prison and had returned to Texas, by August.[69] He changed his mind in prison about the future of Texas and issued a call to arms, announcing that Texas should be "'forever free of any Mexican control'".[74]
After the Mexican Congress elected Antonio López de Santa Anna as President of Mexico in 1833, he appointed Valentín Gómez Farías as his vice president and turned over much of the governing of Mexico to him. However, the Vice President began implementing reforms, particularly impacting the Mexican Army and the Catholic Church. These reforms angered the powerful centrist forces, who urged Santa Anna to abandon his semi-retirement. Santa Anna agreed and led the reaction against liberalization, forcing Gómez Farías and his Federalist supporters, including Mexican General José Antonio Mexía, to flee into exile in the United States.[75] Some went to New Orleans, where they planned to resist the Centralist government.
Although the United States government remained officially neutral in the Mexican struggle between Santa Anna's Centralists and Gomez Farias' Federalists, there was much political sympathy favoring the separation of Texas from Mexico. A number of men, known as "filibusters", were attracted to militia-type organizations such as the New Orleans Greys, preparing to go fight for Texas independence. General Mexia soon found financing in New Orleans and began raising an expedition to attack the important Mexican port of Tampico. He persuaded influential people in New Orleans that seizing the port would aid the Texian cause. However, the "Tampico Expedition" that he began on November 6, 1835, failed.[76]
In 1835 Juan Seguin, Plácido Benavides, Manuel Leal, and Salvador Flores began raising companies of volunteers from the San Antonio and Victoria areas to support the federalist cause.[77] By the end of the year over 100 Tejanos had joined the Federal Army of Texas to defend the Constitution of 1824 against the centralists.[78] The political chief of the Nacogdoches region told the militias to take arms against the Mexican troops in July 1835 and asked the rest of the citizens to form a volunteer army. "Texas committees" in cities such as New Orleans and New York City mustered volunteers and began sending an army and money to assist the Texas colonists in their fight. Austin commanded the militias, while Sam Houston was placed in charge of the volunteers.[74] The first violent incident occurred on October 2 at the Battle of Gonzales.[74]
The Consultation met in November to discuss the reasons for the revolt. The Consultation denounced centralism and organized a provisional state government based "'on the principles of the 1824 Constitution'".[74] The following month, San Antonio surrendered to the Anglos, giving the rebels a great deal of military equipment. Some Texans traveled to the United States seeking aid. Although they were denied a loan, they managed to heavily advertise the availability of land in Texas, ensuring that more volunteers would come to fight.[79]
Texas formally
The war ended with the
See also
References
- ^ a b Edmondson (2000), p. 75.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 161.
- ^ a b c Edmondson (2000), p. 71.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 82.
- ^ a b c d Manchaca (2001), p. 162.
- ^ a b Edmonson (2000), p. 72.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 51.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 52.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 85.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 83.
- ^ a b c d Manchaca (2001), p. 163.
- ^ a b Manchaca (2001), p. 172.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 164.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 194.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 48.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 187.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 50.
- ^ a b c de la Teja (1997), p. 88.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 53.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 195.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 196.
- ^ a b Manchaca (2001), p. 198.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 63.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 70.
- ^ a b c Manchaca (2001), p. 199.
- ^ a b c d Barr (1996), p. 14.
- ^ a b Edmondson (2000), p. 73.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 54.
- ^ Horton (1999), p. 8.
- ^ Horton (1999), p. 9.
- ^ Horton (1999), pp. 95–96.
- ^ a b Edmondson (2000), p. 74.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 90.
- ^ Williams (1997), p. 6.
- ^ Manchaca (2001), p. 165.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 80.
- ^ a b c Manchaca (2001), p. 200.
- ^ Barr (1996), p. 15.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 57.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 63.
- ^ Barr (1996), p. 16.
- ^ Barr (1996), p. 17.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 91.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 92.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 62.
- ^ a b c Manchaca (2001), p. 201.
- ^ de la Teja (1997), p. 89.
- ^ a b Edmondson (2000), p. 78.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 79.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 134.
- ^ a b Edmondson (2000), p. 135.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 136.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 137.
- ^ a b c Vazquez (1997), p. 65.
- ^ a b Henson (1982), p. 90.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 151.
- ^ Ward (1960), p. 215.
- ^ Edmondson (2000), p. 145.
- ^ Henson (1982), p. 97.
- ^ Davis (2006), p. 83.
- ^ Henson (1982), p. 96.
- ^ Henson (1982), pp. 107–8.
- ^ Nofi (1992), p. 23.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 66.
- ^ de la Teja (2010), p. 151.
- ^ Lozano (1985), p. 1.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 67.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 68.
- ^ a b c Vazquez (1997), p. 69.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 70.
- ^ a b Barr (1990), p. 2.
- ^ a b Vazquez (1997), p. 71.
- ^ Hardin (1994), p. 6.
- ^ a b c d Vazquez (1997), p. 72.
- ^ "Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online. Tampico Expedition. [1]
- ^ Miller, Edward L. (2004)
- ^ de la Teja (1991), p. 24.
- ^ a b de la Teja (1997), p. 94.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 73.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 74.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 75.
- ^ a b c Vazquez (1997), p. 76.
- ^ Vazquez (1997), p. 77.
Sources
- Anderson, Gary Clayton (1999). The Indian Southwest, 1580–1830: Ethnogenesis and Reinvention. Norman: ISBN 0-8061-3111-X.
- ISBN 0-8061-2878-X.
- Barr, Alwyn (1990). Texans in Revolt: the Battle for San Antonio, 1835. Austin: OCLC 20354408.
- Davis, William C. (2006). Lone Star Rising. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-58544-532-5. originally published 2004 by New York: Free Press
- del la Teja, Jesus (1991). A Revolution Remembered: The Memoirs and Selected Correspondence of Juan N. Seguin. Austin, TX: State House Press. ISBN 0-938349-68-6.
- de la Teja, Jesus F. (1997). "The Colonization and Independence of Texas: A Tejano Perspective". In Rodriguez O., Jaime E.; Vincent, Kathryn (eds.). Myths, Misdeeds, and Misunderstandings: The Roots of Conflict in U.S.–Mexican Relations. ISBN 0-8420-2662-2.
- del la Teja, Jesus (2010). Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas (Elma Dill Russell Spencer Series in the West and Southwest). US: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-1-60344-166-7.
- Edmondson, J.R. (2000). The Alamo Story-From History to Current Conflicts. ISBN 1-55622-678-0.
- OCLC 29704011.
- Henson, Margaret Swett (1982). Juan Davis Bradburn: A Reappraisal of the Mexican Commander of Anahuac. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0-89096-135-3.
- Horton, David M.; Turner, Ryan Kellus (1999). Lone Star Justice: A Comprehensive Overview of the Texas Criminal Justice System. ISBN 1-57168-226-0.
- Lozano, Ruben Rendon (1985). Viva Texas: The Story of the Tejanos, the Mexican-born Patriots of the Texas Revolution. ISBN 0-943260-02-7.
- Menchaca, Martha (2001). Recovering History, Constructing Race: The Indian, Black, and White Roots of Mexican Americans. The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and Latino Art and Culture. Austin: ISBN 0-292-75253-9.
- Miller, Edward L. (2004). New Orleans and the Texas Revolution. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 1-58544-358-1.
- ISBN 0-938289-10-1.
- ISBN 0-8420-2662-2.
- Ward, Forrest E. (October 1960). "Pre-Revolutionary Activity in Brazoria County". Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 64 (2).
- ISBN 978-0-8263-0603-6.
- Williams, David A. (1997). Bricks Without Straw: A Comprehensive History of African Americans in Texas. ISBN 1-57168-041-1.
Further reading
- Hardin, Stephen L. (1994). Texian Iliad – A Military History of the Texas Revolution. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292730861.
- Hitsman, J. Mackay. "The Texas War of 1835–1836." History Today (Feb 1960) 10#2 pp 116–123.
- Lack, Paul D. (1992). The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History 1835–1836. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 0-89096-497-1.
- Martinez de Vara, Art (2020). Tejano Patriot: The Revolutionary Life of Jose Francisco Ruiz, 1783–1840. ISBN 978-1625110589.
- Tijerina, Andrés (1994). Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821–1836. Centennial Series of the Association of Former Students. College Station: Texas A&M University. ISBN 978-0-89096-606-8.