Coahuila y Tejas

Formation

In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence severed the control that Spain had exercised on its North American territories, and the new country of Mexico was formed from much of the lands that had comprised New Spain.^[6] In the early days of the country, there was much disagreement over whether Mexico should be a federal republic or a constitutional monarchy.^[7] In 1824, a new constitution restructured the country as a federal republic with nineteen states and four territories.^[8] One of the new states was Coahuila y Tejas, which combined the sparsely populated Spanish provinces of Texas and Coahuila.^[8][9] The poorest state in the Mexican federation,^[10] Coahuila y Tejas covered the boundaries of Spanish Texas but did not include the area around El Paso, which belonged to the state of Chihuahua and the area of Laredo, Texas, which became part of Tamaulipas.^[8]

Erasmo Seguin, Texas's representative to Congress during the constitutional deliberations, originally advocated for Texas to become a federal territory. He knew that Texas's small population and insufficient resources made the region ill-prepared to be an independent state, and that the federal government had an obligation to assist territories. Because Coahuila was more populous than Texas, he feared that in a combined state Coahuila would wield greater power in decision making. The representative from Coahuila, Miguel Ramos Arizpe, was likewise concerned that his region was ill-equipped to become an independent state. Ramos Arizpe was unwilling to join with other nearby states, as Coahuila compared unfavorably to those states in either population or economy and would thus be a weaker partner. To convince the Texans to join forces with Coahuila, Ramos Arizpe wrote to the ayuntamiento in Bexar to warn the political leaders that a territory would lose its ownership of public lands to the federal government. State governments retained ownership of public land. This was enough to persuade the Texans to drop their opposition to the merger.^[11]

Immigration and slavery

The federal government had little money to spare for the military, so settlers were empowered to create their own militias to help control hostile native tribes. The border region of Texas faced frequent raids by Apache and Comanche tribes. In the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the raids, the government liberalized its immigration policies, and settlers from the United States were permitted to move to Mexico.^[12]

States were responsible for implementing the General Colonization Law. Officials in Saltillo, the capital of Coahuila y Tejas, were soon besieged by foreign land speculators who wanted to claim land in Texas.^[13] The state passed its own colonization law in 1825.^[14] Approximately 3,420 land grant applications were submitted by immigrants and naturalized citizens, many of them Anglo-Americans.^[15] Only one of the twenty-four empresarios, Martín De León settled citizens from within Mexico; the others came primarily from the United States.^[16][17]

From the time Mexico became independent from Spain, there was public support for abolishing slavery. Fears of an economic crisis if all of the slaves were simultaneously freed led to a gradual emancipation policy.^[18] In 1823, Mexico forbade the sale or purchase of slaves, and required that the children of slaves be freed when they reached fourteen.^[19] Any slave introduced into Mexico by purchase or trade would also be freed.^[18] Many of the colonists in Texas, however, had already owned slaves and brought them to the new territory when they immigrated from the United States.^[19]

In 1827, the legislature of Coahuila y Tejas banned the admission of additional slaves into the state and granted freedom at birth to all children born to a slave.^[19] The new laws also stated that any slave brought into Texas should be freed within six months.^[20] Two years later, slavery was officially prohibited in Mexico.^[19] American settlers in Texas began to discuss revolt. The governor of Coahuila y Tejas, Jose Maria Viesca, wrote to the president to explain the importance of slavery to the east Texas economy, and the importance of the Texas economy to the development of the state. Texas was temporarily exempted from the slavery prohibition rule.^[21] By 1830, the state was ordered to comply in full with the emancipation law. Many colonists converted their slaves to indentured servants with 99-year terms, a practice which the state also banned in 1832.^[22]

Tensions

As the number of Americans living in Texas blossomed, Mexican authorities became apprehensive that the United States might wish to annex the area, possibly using force.^[23][24] On April 6, 1830, the Mexican government passed a series of laws restricting immigration from the United States into Texas. The laws also cancelled all unfilled empresario contracts and called for the first enforcement of customs duties.^[23] Implementation of the new laws angered colonists in Texas, and in June 1832 a group of armed settlers marched on the military base at Anahuac, and deposed the commander, Juan Davis Bradburn. A second group forced the surrender of another Mexican military commander at the Battle of Velasco.^[25][26] The small rebellion coincided with a revolt led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna against the centralist policies of Mexican president Anastasio Bustamante. Texans aligned themselves with Santa Anna's federalist policies.^[27]

Settlers in Texas continued to press for changes in Mexican law.^[28] In 1833, they requested separate statehood, going so far as to draft a proposed state constitution.^[28]

In March 1833, the capital of the state was transferred from Saltillo to Monclova, which was closer to Tejas.^[29] Shortly thereafter, civil war erupted as the federal government moved away from federalism and towards a more centralized government. As fighting erupted, residents in Saltillo declared that Monclova had been illegally made the state capital and selected a new governor. Texans in Saltillo recommended establishing a provisional government in Bexar during the unrest to strengthen the autonomy of Texas. Juan Seguin, political chief of Bexar, called for a town meeting to create a government but was forced to postpone it when Mexican troops advanced in the direction of Texas.^[30]

Disestablishment

In 1835, President Santa Anna revoked the Constitution of 1824 and began consolidating his power. In various parts of the country federalists revolted, and in May 1835 Santa Anna brutally crushed a revolt in Zacatecas.^[31] The federalists, including Agustín Viesca, the governor of Coahuila y Tejas, were afraid that Santa Anna would march against Coahuila after subduing the rebels in Zacatecas, so they disbanded the state legislature on May 21, 1835, and authorized the governor to set up an office in a different part of the state. Viesca was arrested as he traveled to San Antonio. When Viesca escaped and reached Texas, no one recognized him as governor.^[30] In October 1835, Santa Anna abolished all state governments, replacing them with administrative divisions from Mexico City.^[32] Settlers in Texas revolted the same month, and, at the conclusion of the Texas Revolution in April 1836, Texas had become self-established as the independent Republic of Texas.

Defense

The federal government recognized that border states required a different military model than other states. In 1826, Coahuila y Tejas and the nearby states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León were placed under a single military commandant general, who was stationed near Laredo.^[37] According to the regulations, each of the garrisons in Texas (at the Alamo Mission in Bexar and at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad) should have 107 soldiers, not including officers.^[37] By 1832 there were a combined 70 soldiers with guns (with an additional 70 who had no weapons).^[38] The federal government occasionally established other garrisons within Texas, but when the immediate threat was considered to be gone the garrisons were usually disbanded.^[39] The bulk of the rest of the army remained in Mexico City, in large part so its leaders could curry political favor.^[40]

The government had little money, and troops were often unpaid, with ammunition, guns, and food in short supply. In many cases townspeople were forced to provide food and other supplies to the soldiers.^[41] Few men volunteered for military service in the frontier, so many garrisons were composed of convicts or others forcibly recruited.^[42]

In 1828, Coahuila y Tejas passed legislation authorizing an official state militia. Texas had at least three militia units – at Bexar, Goliad, and in Stephen F. Austin's colony along the Brazos River.^[43]