Convention of 1832
Encyclopedia
The Convention of 1832 was the first political gathering of colonists in Mexican Texas
. Delegates sought reforms from the Mexican government and hoped to quell the widespread belief that settlers in Texas wished to secede from Mexico. The convention was the first of a series of unsuccessful attempts at political negotiation that eventually led to the Texas Revolution
.
Under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico
, Texas was denied independent statehood and merged into the new state Coahuila y Tejas
. After growing suspicious that the United States government would attempt to seize Texas by force, in 1830 Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante
signed a series of highly unpopular laws restricting immigration and calling for customs duty enforcement. Tensions erupted in June 1832, when Texas residents systematically expelled all Mexican troops from eastern Texas.
The lack of military oversight emboldened the colonists to increase their political activity. On October 1, 1832, 55 political delegates met at San Felipe de Austin
to petition for changes in the governance of Texas. Notably absent was any representation from San Antonio de Béxar
, where many of the native Mexican settlers (Tejano
s) lived. The delegates elected Stephen F. Austin
, a highly respected immigrant, as president of the convention.
Delegates passed a series of resolutions requesting, among other things, a repeal of the immigration restrictions, a three-year exclusion from custom duties enforcement, permission to form an armed militia
and independent statehood. They also voted themselves the power to call future conventions. Before the petition could be delivered to Mexico City, the political chief of Texas, Ramón Músquiz
, ruled that the convention was illegal and annulled the resolutions. In a compromise, the ayuntamiento
(city council) of San Antonio de Béxar drafted a new petition with similar language to the convention resolutions and submitted it through proper legal channels. Músquiz forwarded the new document to the Mexican Congress.
won their independence and banded together to create a new country, Mexico. The Constitution of 1824 established Mexico as a federalist
republic comprising multiple states. Sparsely populated former Spanish provinces were denied independent statehood and instead merged with neighboring areas. The former Spanish Texas
, which marked Mexico's eastern border with the United States, was combined with Coahuila
to form the new state Coahuila y Tejas
. To assist in governing the large area, the state was subdivided into several departments; all of Texas was included in the Department of Béxar. With the formation of a new state government, the Texas provincial governing committee was forced to disband, and the capital was moved from San Antonio de Béxar to Saltillo
. Many Tejano
s—native Mexican citizens who lived in Texas—were reluctant to give up their self-rule.
The bankrupt federal government was unable to provide much military assistance to the settlers in Texas, who faced frequent raids by native tribes. In the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the raids, in 1824 the government appointed empresario
s to settle families from the United States and Europe in Texas. 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. 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.
The new laws angered both Tejanos and recent immigrants (Texian
s). Stephen F. Austin
, a well-respected empresario who had brought the first group of American settlers to Texas, warned Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante
that the laws seemed designed to destroy the colonies. Texas's two delegates to the state legislature, both Tejanos, were so vocal in their opposition that one of them was expelled from the legislature. Austin was elected to fill his seat, and in December 1830 he left for Saltillo.
Implementation of the laws led to much tension within Texas. Much to the displeasure of the colonists, a new military post was established in Anahuac
to begin collecting customs duties. The commander of the post, Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn
, often clashed with the locals over his strict interpretation of Mexican law. In June 1832, colonists armed themselves and marched on Anahuac. As a result of these Anahuac Disturbances
, Bradburn was forced to resign.
The small Texian rebellion coincided with a revolt led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna
against Bustamante's centralist
government. The chaos in the Mexican interior and the Texian success at Anahuac emboldened other Texas settlers to take arms against garrisons throughout eastern Texas. Within weeks, settlers expelled all Mexican soldiers from eastern Texas. Free from military oversight, the settlers began to increase their political activity.
, were defeated. Tejanos did not have a large presence at the convention, largely due to the boycott by the Béxar and Victoria municipalities. Convention organizers invited several prominent Tejanos from these towns to attend, but all declined.
On October 1, 1832, 55 delegates met in San Felipe de Austin; attendance may have been diminished due to the short notice. The gathering marked the first time residents from each of the colonies had convened to discuss common goals.
The convention was called to order by John Austin
, one of the alcaldes of San Felipe de Austin. In his remarks, John Austin laid out four key points that the convention needed to address: the "misrepresentations" made by "enemies of Texas" that the settlers desired independence from Mexico, an appeal of the restrictions on immigration from the United States, a method to grant land titles to residents in certain areas of the province, and reduction of tariffs on many imported items. The first order of business was the election of officers. Stephen F. Austin and William H. Wharton
, a known hothead, were nominated to lead the convention; Austin won, 31–15. Frank W. Johnson
, who had led the armed resistance at the Anahuac Disturbances, was elected secretary. In his acceptance speech, Austin praised the delegates for exerting their constitutional rights to petition the government.
Over the next six days, the delegates adopted a series of resolutions requesting changes in the governance of Texas. Historian Eugene Campbell Barker suggests that the discussions would likely not have concluded so swiftly unless the delegates had done "considerable preparation before the meeting". Several of the resolutions were designed to stimulate the local economy. Delegates requested that customs duty enforcement be delayed until 1835 and that citizens be granted a method to remove corrupt customs officers. Resolutions encouraged that land titles be issued more quickly and that public lands be sold to raise money for bilingual schools. Delegates from Nacogdoches asked that the government take a firmer hand in preventing new settlers from encroaching on lands that had previously been promised to native tribes. After explaining that law-abiding potential citizens were being excluded from Texas while disreputable squatters continued to stream illegally in, the delegates asked for the repeal of the prohibition on immigration from the United States. Furthermore, they requested permission to raise a militia, ostensibly for protection from marauding native tribes. The most controversial resolution asked that Texas become an independent state, separate from Coahuila. The separation request was added by a vote of 36–12. The motion included as justification the fact that Coahuila and Texas were very dissimilar in climate and economy and mentioned that Texas's limited representation in the state legislature made it very difficult to enact laws that specifically addressed the needs of its citizens. Delegates insisted that independent statehood was not a pretext for secession from Mexico.
After approving the list of resolutions, delegates created a seven-member central committee to convene future meetings.The central committee was composed of Johnson, James B. Miller, Stephen F. Austin, Lewis Veeder, Robert Peebles, Wylie Martin, and William Pettis. (Gammel (1898), p. 496.) The central committee would be based in San Felipe "for the purpose of circulating information of events of importance to the interest of the people". In addition, each municipality was asked to create a committee of correspondence and safety. The sub-committees would keep in close contact with the central committee because "united our strength and resources are more than adequate to our defense in any possible event. Disunited, we may become an easy prey, even to a handful of cowardly invaders."
The convention adjourned on October 6 after unanimously electing Wharton to deliver the resolutions to the state legislature in Saltillo and to the Mexican Congress
in Mexico City. Just before the group dispersed, Rafael Manchola
, the alcalde
(mayor) of Goliad
, arrived. He was the only delegate from Goliad and the only Tejano to appear at the convention. Manchola volunteered to accompany Wharton at his own expense—he and other delegates thought the expedition might have more success if a Tejano was also involved. Days later, Austin wrote that "we have just had a convention of all Texas, native Mexicans and foreign settlers—all united as one man".
, the political chief, or head, of the Department of Béxar, ruled that the convention was illegal. This type of activism was traditionally forbidden in Texas.Neither Spain nor Mexico had allowed this type of activism. The law directed that citizens should protest to their local ayuntamiento
(similar to a city council), which would forward their concerns to the political chief. The political chief could then escalate the concerns to the state or federal government. Because the colonists had not followed this process, Músquiz annulled their resolutions. The ayuntamientos at San Felipe, Nacogdoches, Gonzales and Liberty half-heartedly apologized for their participation, and Wharton's mission was cancelled.
The lack of Tejano representation and the San Antonio de Béxar residents' refusal to participate fostered a perception that only newcomers to Texas were dissatisfied. Austin agreed to meet with the political leaders in San Antonio de Béxar to persuade them to support the resolutions. These Tejano leaders, including Erasmo Seguin
, largely agreed with the result of the convention but opposed the methods by which the resolutions had been proposed. The Tejano leaders urged patience; Bustamante was still president and would not look favorably on a petition from Texas settlers who had sided with his rival, Santa Anna.
Austin and the Tejano leaders agreed to a compromise. Because San Antonio de Béxar was the seat of the Department of Béxar, its ayuntamiento drafted a petition containing similar language to the convention resolutions. The petition was endorsed by the ayuntamientos at Goliad, San Felipe, and Nacogdoches and then given to Músquiz, who forwarded it to the Mexican Congress in early 1833. Although Músquiz had publicly supported the petition, he secretly included a note to the Coahuila y Tejas governor warning that this might be a precursor to secession.
The political leaders also agreed to Austin's stipulation that if the federal government refused to address the petition within several months, Texas residents would form their own state government, essentially declaring independence from Coahuila, if not from Mexico. The central committee elected by the convention was too impatient to wait long. In late December, the committee called for a March election for delegates to the Convention of 1833
. The second convention reiterated some of the previous concerns and took additional steps to declare Texas an independent state, further concerning Mexican authories, who feared this was a step towards Texas joining the United States.
The Mexican government attempted to address some of the concerns identified by the conventions of 1832 and 1833. In November 1833, part of the Laws of April 6, 1830 were repealed, allowing Americans to immigrate legally to Texas. Several months later, Texas was granted increased representation in the Coahuila y Tejas legislature. Several American legal concepts, such as trial by jury
, were introduced to Texas, and English was authorized as a second language. Unimpressed with these compromises, some Texas residents continued to campaign for independent statehood. Rising tensions eventually led to the Texas Revolution
, which began in October 1835.
Mexican Texas
Mexican Texas is the name given by Texas history scholars to the period between 1821 and 1836, when Texas was an integral part of Mexico. The period began with Mexico's victory over Spain in its war of independence in 1821. For the first several years of its existence, Mexican Texas operated very...
. Delegates sought reforms from the Mexican government and hoped to quell the widespread belief that settlers in Texas wished to secede from Mexico. The convention was the first of a series of unsuccessful attempts at political negotiation that eventually led to the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
.
Under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico
1824 Constitution of Mexico
The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 was enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new constitution, the republic took the name of United Mexican States, and was defined as a representative federal republic, with...
, Texas was denied independent statehood and merged into the new state Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.It had two capitals: first Saltillo, and then Monclova...
. After growing suspicious that the United States government would attempt to seize Texas by force, in 1830 Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante
Anastasio Bustamante
Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera was president of Mexico three times, from 1830 to 1832, from 1837 to 1839 and from 1839 to 1841. He was a Conservative. He first came to power by leading a coup against president Vicente Guerrero...
signed a series of highly unpopular laws restricting immigration and calling for customs duty enforcement. Tensions erupted in June 1832, when Texas residents systematically expelled all Mexican troops from eastern Texas.
The lack of military oversight emboldened the colonists to increase their political activity. On October 1, 1832, 55 political delegates met at San Felipe de Austin
San Felipe, Texas
San Felipe, also known as San Felipe de Austin, is a town in Austin County, Texas, United States. The town was the social, economic, and political center of the early Stephen F. Austin colony. The population was 868 at the 2000 census.-History:...
to petition for changes in the governance of Texas. Notably absent was any representation from San Antonio de Béxar
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
, where many of the native Mexican settlers (Tejano
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
s) lived. The delegates elected Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
, a highly respected immigrant, as president of the convention.
Delegates passed a series of resolutions requesting, among other things, a repeal of the immigration restrictions, a three-year exclusion from custom duties enforcement, permission to form an armed militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
and independent statehood. They also voted themselves the power to call future conventions. Before the petition could be delivered to Mexico City, the political chief of Texas, Ramón Músquiz
Ramón Músquiz
- Biography :Don Muzquiz Ramón González was born in 1797 in San Antonio, Texas, in an environment where he lived with presidio soldiers and settlers, both Spanish and Mexicans and Anglos, mostly of northern Texas. Coming from a Basque family, his life was spent in the company of missionary friars...
, ruled that the convention was illegal and annulled the resolutions. In a compromise, the ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America. Historically Ayuntamiento was often preceded by the word excelentísimo , when referring to...
(city council) of San Antonio de Béxar drafted a new petition with similar language to the convention resolutions and submitted it through proper legal channels. Músquiz forwarded the new document to the Mexican Congress.
Background
In 1821, several of Spain's former colonies in the New WorldNew World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
won their independence and banded together to create a new country, Mexico. The Constitution of 1824 established Mexico as a federalist
Federalism
Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
republic comprising multiple states. Sparsely populated former Spanish provinces were denied independent statehood and instead merged with neighboring areas. The former Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas
Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. Although Spain claimed ownership of the territory, which comprised part of modern-day Texas, including the land north of the Medina and Nueces Rivers, the Spanish did not attempt to colonize the area until after...
, which marked Mexico's eastern border with the United States, was combined with Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
to form the new state Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas
Coahuila y Tejas was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution.It had two capitals: first Saltillo, and then Monclova...
. To assist in governing the large area, the state was subdivided into several departments; all of Texas was included in the Department of Béxar. With the formation of a new state government, the Texas provincial governing committee was forced to disband, and the capital was moved from San Antonio de Béxar to Saltillo
Saltillo
Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....
. Many Tejano
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
s—native Mexican citizens who lived in Texas—were reluctant to give up their self-rule.
The bankrupt federal government was unable to provide much military assistance to the settlers in Texas, who faced frequent raids by native tribes. In the hopes that an influx of settlers could control the raids, in 1824 the government appointed empresario
Empresario
An empresario was a person who, in the early years of the settlement of Texas, had been granted the right to settle on Mexican land in exchange for recruiting and taking responsibility for new settlers. The word is Spanish for entrepreneur.- Background :...
s to settle families from the United States and Europe in Texas. 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. 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.
The new laws angered both Tejanos and recent immigrants (Texian
Texian
Texian is an archaic, mostly defunct 19th century demonym which defined a settler of current-day Texas, one of the southern states of the United States of America which borders the country of Mexico...
s). Stephen F. Austin
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...
, a well-respected empresario who had brought the first group of American settlers to Texas, warned Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante
Anastasio Bustamante
Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera was president of Mexico three times, from 1830 to 1832, from 1837 to 1839 and from 1839 to 1841. He was a Conservative. He first came to power by leading a coup against president Vicente Guerrero...
that the laws seemed designed to destroy the colonies. Texas's two delegates to the state legislature, both Tejanos, were so vocal in their opposition that one of them was expelled from the legislature. Austin was elected to fill his seat, and in December 1830 he left for Saltillo.
Implementation of the laws led to much tension within Texas. Much to the displeasure of the colonists, a new military post was established in Anahuac
Anahuac, Texas
Anahuac is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population of the city was 2,210 at the 2000 census. Anahuac is the seat of Chambers County and is situated in East Texas.- History :...
to begin collecting customs duties. The commander of the post, Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn
Juan Davis Bradburn
Juan Davis Bradburn , born John Davis Bradburn, was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Disturbances....
, often clashed with the locals over his strict interpretation of Mexican law. In June 1832, colonists armed themselves and marched on Anahuac. As a result of these Anahuac Disturbances
Anahuac Disturbances
The Anahuac Disturbances were uprisings of settlers in and around Anahuac, Texas in 1832 and 1835 which helped to precipitate the Texas Revolution. This eventually led to the territory's secession from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas...
, Bradburn was forced to resign.
The small Texian rebellion coincided with a revolt led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
against Bustamante's centralist
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
government. The chaos in the Mexican interior and the Texian success at Anahuac emboldened other Texas settlers to take arms against garrisons throughout eastern Texas. Within weeks, settlers expelled all Mexican soldiers from eastern Texas. Free from military oversight, the settlers began to increase their political activity.
Meeting
Buoyed by their success, Texians organized a political convention to persuade Mexican authorities to weaken the Laws of April 6, 1830. On August 22, the ayuntamiento at San Felipe de Austin (the capital of Austin's colony) called for each district to elect five delegates. Although Austin attempted to dissuade the instigators, elections were held before his return from Saltillo. Sixteen communities chose delegates. The two municipalities with the largest Tejano population, San Antonio de Béxar and Victoria, refused to participate. The majority of the elected delegates were known as relatively even-tempered. Many known agitators, such as James Bowie and William B. TravisWilliam B. Travis
William Barret Travis was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army...
, were defeated. Tejanos did not have a large presence at the convention, largely due to the boycott by the Béxar and Victoria municipalities. Convention organizers invited several prominent Tejanos from these towns to attend, but all declined.
The convention was called to order by John Austin
John Austin (soldier)
John Austin was a Texian settler, one of Stephen Austin's Old Three Hundred, and the Texian commander at the Battle of Velasco during the Anahuac Disturbances before Texas Revolution....
, one of the alcaldes of San Felipe de Austin. In his remarks, John Austin laid out four key points that the convention needed to address: the "misrepresentations" made by "enemies of Texas" that the settlers desired independence from Mexico, an appeal of the restrictions on immigration from the United States, a method to grant land titles to residents in certain areas of the province, and reduction of tariffs on many imported items. The first order of business was the election of officers. Stephen F. Austin and William H. Wharton
William H. Wharton
William Harris Wharton was an early colonist, political leader and orator in Texas.Wharton was born in Virginia and was raised by an uncle following the deaths of his parents. He graduated from the University of Nashville and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1826...
, a known hothead, were nominated to lead the convention; Austin won, 31–15. Frank W. Johnson
Frank W. Johnson
Francis White "Frank" Johnson was a co-commander of the Texian Army from December 1835 through February 1836, during the Texas Revolution. Johnson arrived in Texas in 1826 and worked as a surveyor for several empresarios, including Stephen F. Austin. One of his first activities was to plot the...
, who had led the armed resistance at the Anahuac Disturbances, was elected secretary. In his acceptance speech, Austin praised the delegates for exerting their constitutional rights to petition the government.
Over the next six days, the delegates adopted a series of resolutions requesting changes in the governance of Texas. Historian Eugene Campbell Barker suggests that the discussions would likely not have concluded so swiftly unless the delegates had done "considerable preparation before the meeting". Several of the resolutions were designed to stimulate the local economy. Delegates requested that customs duty enforcement be delayed until 1835 and that citizens be granted a method to remove corrupt customs officers. Resolutions encouraged that land titles be issued more quickly and that public lands be sold to raise money for bilingual schools. Delegates from Nacogdoches asked that the government take a firmer hand in preventing new settlers from encroaching on lands that had previously been promised to native tribes. After explaining that law-abiding potential citizens were being excluded from Texas while disreputable squatters continued to stream illegally in, the delegates asked for the repeal of the prohibition on immigration from the United States. Furthermore, they requested permission to raise a militia, ostensibly for protection from marauding native tribes. The most controversial resolution asked that Texas become an independent state, separate from Coahuila. The separation request was added by a vote of 36–12. The motion included as justification the fact that Coahuila and Texas were very dissimilar in climate and economy and mentioned that Texas's limited representation in the state legislature made it very difficult to enact laws that specifically addressed the needs of its citizens. Delegates insisted that independent statehood was not a pretext for secession from Mexico.
After approving the list of resolutions, delegates created a seven-member central committee to convene future meetings.The central committee was composed of Johnson, James B. Miller, Stephen F. Austin, Lewis Veeder, Robert Peebles, Wylie Martin, and William Pettis. (Gammel (1898), p. 496.) The central committee would be based in San Felipe "for the purpose of circulating information of events of importance to the interest of the people". In addition, each municipality was asked to create a committee of correspondence and safety. The sub-committees would keep in close contact with the central committee because "united our strength and resources are more than adequate to our defense in any possible event. Disunited, we may become an easy prey, even to a handful of cowardly invaders."
The convention adjourned on October 6 after unanimously electing Wharton to deliver the resolutions to the state legislature in Saltillo and to the Mexican Congress
Congress of Mexico
The Congress of the Union is the legislative branch of the Mexican government...
in Mexico City. Just before the group dispersed, Rafael Manchola
Rafael Manchola
Rafael Antonio Manchola was a politician and military officer in Mexican Texas. He twice served as commandant of Presidio La Bahía. He served two terms in the legislature of the state of Coahuila y Tejas. At his behest, the community which had grown outside the fort was renamed Goliad and...
, the alcalde
Alcalde
Alcalde , or Alcalde ordinario, is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An alcalde was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian cabildo and judge of first instance of a town...
(mayor) of Goliad
Goliad, Texas
Goliad is a city in Goliad County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 1975 at the 2000 census. Founded on the San Antonio River, it is the county seat of Goliad County. It is part of the Victoria, Texas Metropolitan Statistical Area. Goliad is located on U.S. Highway 59, named also for...
, arrived. He was the only delegate from Goliad and the only Tejano to appear at the convention. Manchola volunteered to accompany Wharton at his own expense—he and other delegates thought the expedition might have more success if a Tejano was also involved. Days later, Austin wrote that "we have just had a convention of all Texas, native Mexicans and foreign settlers—all united as one man".
Results
Following the convention, much of the disquiet in Texas subsided. Austin believed the public was calmed simply by having the opportunity to air their grievances. Before the list of concerns could be presented to the state and federal governments, Ramón MúsquizRamón Músquiz
- Biography :Don Muzquiz Ramón González was born in 1797 in San Antonio, Texas, in an environment where he lived with presidio soldiers and settlers, both Spanish and Mexicans and Anglos, mostly of northern Texas. Coming from a Basque family, his life was spent in the company of missionary friars...
, the political chief, or head, of the Department of Béxar, ruled that the convention was illegal. This type of activism was traditionally forbidden in Texas.Neither Spain nor Mexico had allowed this type of activism. The law directed that citizens should protest to their local ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America. Historically Ayuntamiento was often preceded by the word excelentísimo , when referring to...
(similar to a city council), which would forward their concerns to the political chief. The political chief could then escalate the concerns to the state or federal government. Because the colonists had not followed this process, Músquiz annulled their resolutions. The ayuntamientos at San Felipe, Nacogdoches, Gonzales and Liberty half-heartedly apologized for their participation, and Wharton's mission was cancelled.
The lack of Tejano representation and the San Antonio de Béxar residents' refusal to participate fostered a perception that only newcomers to Texas were dissatisfied. Austin agreed to meet with the political leaders in San Antonio de Béxar to persuade them to support the resolutions. These Tejano leaders, including Erasmo Seguin
Erasmo Seguín
Juan Jose Maria Erasmo Seguin was a prominent citizen and politician in San Antonio de Bexar in the 19th century. From 1807 until 1835, Seguin served as postmaster of San Anotnio, TX. After Mexico achieved independence from Spain, Seguin was named the sole representative from Texas to the...
, largely agreed with the result of the convention but opposed the methods by which the resolutions had been proposed. The Tejano leaders urged patience; Bustamante was still president and would not look favorably on a petition from Texas settlers who had sided with his rival, Santa Anna.
Austin and the Tejano leaders agreed to a compromise. Because San Antonio de Béxar was the seat of the Department of Béxar, its ayuntamiento drafted a petition containing similar language to the convention resolutions. The petition was endorsed by the ayuntamientos at Goliad, San Felipe, and Nacogdoches and then given to Músquiz, who forwarded it to the Mexican Congress in early 1833. Although Músquiz had publicly supported the petition, he secretly included a note to the Coahuila y Tejas governor warning that this might be a precursor to secession.
The political leaders also agreed to Austin's stipulation that if the federal government refused to address the petition within several months, Texas residents would form their own state government, essentially declaring independence from Coahuila, if not from Mexico. The central committee elected by the convention was too impatient to wait long. In late December, the committee called for a March election for delegates to the Convention of 1833
Convention of 1833
The Convention of 1833 , a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas, was a successor to the Convention of 1832, whose requests had not been addressed by the Mexican government...
. The second convention reiterated some of the previous concerns and took additional steps to declare Texas an independent state, further concerning Mexican authories, who feared this was a step towards Texas joining the United States.
The Mexican government attempted to address some of the concerns identified by the conventions of 1832 and 1833. In November 1833, part of the Laws of April 6, 1830 were repealed, allowing Americans to immigrate legally to Texas. Several months later, Texas was granted increased representation in the Coahuila y Tejas legislature. Several American legal concepts, such as trial by jury
Trial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
, were introduced to Texas, and English was authorized as a second language. Unimpressed with these compromises, some Texas residents continued to campaign for independent statehood. Rising tensions eventually led to the Texas Revolution
Texas Revolution
The Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
, which began in October 1835.
Sources
originally published 1926 by Lamar & Barton originally published 2004 by New York: Free Press digital images courtesy of Denton, TX: University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas HistoryExternal links
- Proceedings of the convention, from . digital images courtesy of Denton, TX: University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History.