The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997 Page: 190
551 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
by Stephen Austin, and the paralyzing effect of the failure of states like
Coahuila y Texas to agree on standard weights and measures.'
On December 26, 1825, Rafael Gonzales wrote his second annual re-
port for Lucas Alamin, published in Mexico City as Nota estadistica ... del
estado de Coahuila y Tejas ... 1826.8 Briefer than his first report, the sec-
ond has been known to scholars and merits comparison with the first.9
Jos6 Rafael Gonzales did not serve as governor long enough to write a
third report. He resigned on May 5, 1826, his last months in office char-
acterized by a public outcry against his government's attempt to supress
freedom of speech and to assume dictatorial power. The ensuing crisis,
in the words of one historian, "threatened to dissolve the state."'0 In dis-
tant Texas, however, American immigrants had found him an ally. The
controversial state colonization law of March 14, 1825, had won legisla-
tive approval during Gonzales's governorship. Stephen Austin's brother,
James, who met the former governor in Saltillo in the autumn of 1826,
reported to Stephen that Gonzales was among Austin's many "warm
friends" in Saltillo. "It will be fortunate for the Colony if he can be re-
elected and what little aid the colony can render him should be done
with pleasure."" In Texas, the town of Gonzales in Gonzales County is
said to be named for him; it was not unusual to christen a town in honor
of a presiding executive.1
We present here a transcription and an English translation of the only
known copy of Jose Rafael Gonzales's report of December 6, 1824, a
document that appears to have gone unnoticed by scholars in either
Spanish or English. Written in the impeccable hand of a scribe and
bearing the signature and rubric of Rafael Gonzales (he apparently went
Memoria del aio de 1825 in Aguayo Spencer (ed.), Obras de D. Lucas Alamdn, I, 142, 158, 154-
Alamin followed Gonzales's language either word for word or closely paraphrased it, but he or
his scribe misread the name of the secularized mission of San Bernardo and reported it as San
Fernando (p. 158).
8 Nota estadistica remitida por el gobierno supremo del estado de Coahuila y Tejas a la Cdmara de
senadores del soberano congreso general con arreglo al articulo x61 ndmero 8 de la constztuci6n federal de
los Estados-Unidos Mexicanos el aoo de 1826 (Mexico City: Imprenta del Aguila, 1826).
9 Citations to other annual reports prepared under the Constitution of 1824 can be found in
Thomas W. Streeter, Bibliography of Texas, 1795-1845, Second Edition Revised and Enlarged by
Archibald Hanna with a Guide to the Microfilm Collection (Woodbridge, Conn.: Research Publi-
cations, 1983), entries 717, 776, 788, and 797.
10 Alessio Robles, Coahuila y Texas, I, 207-21o. The date of May 5 comes from Streeter, Bibliog-
raphy of Texas, entry 709, who notes that Alessio Robles (I, 194), gives an erroneous date of
March 15, 1826.
" San Carlos, Oct. 31, 1826, in Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers, Vols. II and III of An-
nual Report of the American Historical Association ... 1z99 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing
Office, 1924), II, pt. 2, p. 1484. The Austin Papers contains several exchanges between Stephen
Austin and Gov. Gonzales.
12 Walter Prescott Webb, H. Bailey Carroll, and Eldon Stephen Branda (eds.), The Handbook of
Texas (3 vols.; Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1952, 1976), I, 70o6. Rafael Gonzales re-
sumed his military career. He died in 1857.October
190o
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 100, July 1996 - April, 1997, periodical, 1997; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101218/m1/240/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.