Proceedings of the Senate and Documents Relative to Texas, from which the Injunction of Secrecy Has Been Removed Page: 106 of 119
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[ 341 ] 1 06
in behalf of that sacred instrument under which he had- been born and
educated. - ,
Up to the year 1830, the people of Texas had taken but little concern
in the series of political convulsions which -had so closely followed one
another in the interior of Mexico. So long as they were left unmolested:
in the enjoyment of their own rights, their natural disposition for peace
restrained them from participating in the internal commotions of the other
States. But their rapidly growing strength, and steady adherence to republican
principles, began now to attract the notice and excite the jealousy
of the Supreme Government. This was plainly evinced by the passage
of the arbitrary law of the 6th of.April; 1830, by which the further
introduction or immigration of American settlers into Texas was expressly
and totally prohibited for.the future. Military posts were established over
the province; the civil authorities were trampled under foot, and the people
of Texas, for a time, were subjected to the capricious tyranny of unrestrained
military misrdle,
In 1832, Bustamente had established himself upon the ruins of the
Federal Constitution. The colonists now flew to arms. On the 26th of
June, with greatly inferior numbers, they besieged and took the fort at
Velasco. They then attacked the garrison at Anahuac, and reduced that
also. This achievement was shortly followed by the reduction of the garrison
at Nacogdoches, and, in December of the same year, upon the suspension
of hostilities between Generals Santa A-nna and Bustamente, the
colonists found themselves once more in the quiet enjoyment of the rights
guarantied to them by the Constitution and the laws under which they consented
to become Mexican citizens.
1833. Texas, now conscious of her integral strength, and anxious to be
erected into a separate State, in conformity with the decree of the 7th,of
May, 1824, which had promised and secured to her a separate Constitution,
so, soon as she was in possession of the necessary elements of self-government,
assembled a general convention at San Felipe, for the purpose of
draughting an instrument suited to the wants and peculiar character and
habits of her people. Accordingly, in the spring of the same year, Stephen
F. Austin was commissioned to present the Constitution agreed upon, with a
petition for the fulfilment of the said decree of the 7th of May. The respectful
petition of the people of Texas,was treated with disdain, and their
commissioner incarcerated in a dungeon.
1835. Affairs were now verging to an important crisis. General Antonio
Lopez de Santa Anna had openly declared in favor of centralism, which,
however.specious in its pretences, was really based upon the downfall of
tfie State Governments, and the consolidation of all power, civil and military,
in the hands of a single individual. Many of the States had recourse
to arms in support of their sovereignty, and Santa Anna took the field
against them. The blood-stained march of the,usurper was invariably attended
with the most triumphant success. One by one, the States toppled
and fell. The Legislature of Coahuila and Texas was dissolved at the
point of the bayonet. The noble State of Zacatecas, battling to the last for
her liberties, and weltering in the life-blood of her butchered citizens, was
forced to yield to the relentless terms of the dictator. Mexican liberty fled,
and found her only place of refuge among the Anglo-Americans of Texas.
Corresponding committees of safety and vigilance were now formed in
.all the municipalities of the province. With a single voice, they declared
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United States. Congress. Senate. Proceedings of the Senate and Documents Relative to Texas, from which the Injunction of Secrecy Has Been Removed, book, 1844; [Washington]. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2363/m1/106/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .