Practical Lessons From History, For Today
Practical Lessons From History, For Today
Ill conceived and poorly implemented immigration policy led directly to Mexico’s loss of Texas early in its life as a nation. Independence from Spain was won in 1821, and a Republic was formed with the constitution of 1824. The war for independence left Mexico in bad shape economically and politically. The populace of around six million was concentrated in central Mexico, where the mining industry and agricultural production had been devastated by the war.
From its very beginning the Republic of Mexico was torn by political factions, including the military and the church. But virtually all recognized the need to populate Mexico’s northern territories to keep them Mexican and protect against foreign (North American) encroachment.
Such was not generally feasible using Mexican nationals; the wellto- do would not choose to move to a frontier environment, and the government had no money to pay for relocating others (or for territorial security and infrastructure). So Mexico turned to immigration of foreigners, most notably, North Americans!
Colonization laws authorized and established conditions for immigration, facilitating the populating of Texas with North Americans. Key provisions accepted all immigrants who would swear allegiance to Mexico, profess the Roman Catholic religion, and agree to not bring slaves into Mexico. In return, each immigrant family received up to 5,165 acres of land for only a small fraction of what such land would cost in the United States. Payment terms were generous, and immigrants were exempted from taxes for ten years.
Citizenship did not require knowing the Spanish language or understanding Mexican history and culture. There was no practical need for
The pragmatic Anglos easily agreed to conditions for Mexican citizenship, while subverting them in practice. They quietly practiced their own (Protestant) religion, most immigrant colonies formulated their own legal practices, and prohibitions against slavery were subverted.
Trouble followed soon after significant numbers of Anglos began entering Texas, beginning with the short-lived Fredonia Rebellion in 1826. By 1830 Anglos in Texas outnumbered native Mexicans by about three-to-one, and by more than four-to-one by 1834.
Mexico’s 1824 Constitution combined sparsely-populated Texas with Coahuila, whose population of 196,000 included few colonists or Anglos. Administration of the state and final adjudications of its laws was centered in Saltillo, more than 500 miles from centers of Anglo population in Texas. Texans adapted by creating extra-legal procedures, they lobbied for more influence over the laws that affected them and they lobbied to separate from Coahuila and become a unique Mexican state. In this last effort they were never successful. Texans harbored a growing list of grievances against the Mexican authorities in Saltillo and Mexico City.
Mexican politicians came to realize they had serious problems with Texas and moved to gain firmer control. In 1829, President Guerrero ordered the emancipation of slaves throughout Mexico, a decree clearly directed against Texas. In 1830, Mexico banned all future immigration into Mexico from bordering countries, moved to encourage Mexican immigration into Texas, began strengthening Mexican garrisons in Texas and established a new coastal trade to strengthen economic ties between Texas and the rest of Mexico.
The law fueled ill will between Anglo and Mexican colonists, and it added to tension between the federal government in Mexico City and the State government in Saltillo as the latter began to lose control over its territory; it was banned from issuing land titles to squatters, for instance. And the law failed to attract Mexican colonists.
Open hostilities broke out in 1832 when the commander of Anahuac (Galveston) jailed William B. Travis for threatening to organize an attack from Louisiana to capture two fugitive slaves. Anglo colonists revolted,
A rebellion against their government by Mexican army officers broke out in central Mexico. When rebel Mexican soldiers landed in Texas in June, some Texans signed a petition in support of that rebellion (which was successful by the end of 1832).
In October 1832, Anglo Texans drafted petitions asking for free trade, that the prohibition against immigration from the United States be rescinded, that land titles be granted to squatters, and that Texas be separated from Coahuila. In late 1833 the new Mexican Congress agreed to allow renewed immigration from the United States, which was followed by a flood of new immigrants; by 1835 the Anglo population of Texas was around thirty thousand, and Anglo Texans outnumbered native Mexicans nearly ten to one.
On October 6, 1835, Mexico replaced the 1824 Constitution with a centrist system that ended any vestige of states’ rights. Texan influence on the laws that governed them was reduced to virtually none.
More fighting broke out. Texans won battles on October 10 near Goliad and in December at the Mexican garrison at San Antonio de Bejar. During the winter of 1835-1836 Santa Anna marched north, and the Alamo fell.