The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928 Page: 200
390 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hfistorical Quarterly
records were kept in a slovenly and haphazard fashion.29 As we
shall see, in the Spanish period was not the beginning of the
principal part of the problem the Texans had to deal with, but
since there were extensive Spanish grants about old settlements
like San Antonio and Nacogdoches an invalidating policy as
broad as Potter's resolution suggests would have involved some
titles nearly a hundred years old. However, it is not likely that
he was aiming at these titles; and it is certain that he was
not attacking any titles involved in the empresario grants, as his
resolution specifically excepted these. It is evident that the prin-
cipal issue involved was the validity of certain grants of com-
paratively recent date made by the state government of Coahuila
and Texas.
Under the state law of March 24, 1825, the government of
Coahuila and Texas could sell to Mexicans eleven league grants of
land at a price that represented the equivalent of a small fee. It
does not appear that the Mexicans took advantage of this provision
to any great extent until certain Anglo-Americans discovered that
it was easy to have such grants transferred to themselves. Hence,
from about 1830 on numbers of Texans like the noted James
Bowie came back to Texas after a journey to the capital, carrying
in their pockets a dozen or so of these eleven league grants which
Mexicans had bought and assigned to them for a consideration
which was likely but little greater than the trifle the Mexicans had
been obliged to pay.30 Texas had immense stretches of public land,
and this practice did not attract much attention, except that oc-
casionally a "squatter" would complain when he was crowded out
through the location of these claims of the speculators. It should
be noted that the Potter resolution would have declared these claims
null and void and that it was so worded as to include them spe-
cifically in its invalidating scope.
The year 1834 saw land speculation in Texas and Coahuila de-
velop to an unprecedented degree. It appears that the state
government saw in the land an opportunity to secure funds for
defense and for maintaining a government that was ever im-
pecunious. Adventurous Americans saw in it a chance to make
2DIennedy, William, Texas (London, 1841), I, 308 ff.
"Barkcr, E. C., "Land Speculation as a Cause of the Texas Revolu-
tion," QUARTERLY OF THE TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION, X,
76-78.200
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 31, July 1927 - April, 1928, periodical, 1928; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101088/m1/218/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.