The Texas Historian, Volume 58, Number 4, May 1998 Page: 2
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moving in, became more and more
harsh like slavery in the Deep South-
ern states.
An ex-slave, Sallie Wroe, was born
a slave on Mike Burdette's plantation
near Austin and told the story of her
life as a slave. She recalled that her
parents worked endlessly and were
mistreated many times. This eventu-
ally led to her father's escaping to
Mexico. Frederick Law Olmsted was a
Northern journalist who documented
the journey he took through Texas so
that Northerners could get an idea of
what Texas was like. On one of his
accounts he recorded:
The day before we had
seen a young black girl of 12
or 14 years sitting on a pile
of logs before a house we
passed, in a driving sleet,
having for her only a short
garment of chemise. It is
impossible to say whether
such shiftlessness was the
fault of the master or of the
girl. Probably of both and a
part of the peculiar southern
and southwestern system of
"get along" till it comes better.
This is how a slave's life was gener-
ally regarded-poor, uneducated, and
onerous. However, the House of Rep-
resentatives in Texas, which prima-
rily contained white delegates,
thought to the contrary. They con-
cluded that, "Our slaves are the
happiest . . . of human beings on
whom the sun shines." Even
though the slave owners said that
their "property" was happy work-
ing for them, most slaves were very
unhappy with being "owned" as if
they were property.
The quality of Hispanic life in Texas
is another important factor in under-
standing the discord among the three
races. In some ways the lives of His-
panics in Texas were almost as unfor-
tunate as the lives of slaves. Many
white people thought very little of
the Hispanics even though they had
first claimed the land for Mexico:
Anglos depicted Mexicans
as reprobates [corrupted
people], transient peons, or
individuals with no perma-
nent interests or attachments
to Texas soil and institutions.
Citizens of the town of
Seguin referred to them in
resolutions as "a vagrantA former Texas slave. Photo courtesy
The Center for American History,
University of Texas at Austin, Prints
and Photographs Collection,
CN06700.
class, a lazy, thievish, horde
of lazaron [lazaros, beggars]
who in many instances are
fugitives from justice in
Mexico, highway robbers,
horses and cattle thieves, and
idle vagabonds, who prowl
about our western country
with little visible occupation
or pursuit.
Hispanics greatly resented being
called horse and cattle thieves, vaga-
bonds, etc., and this only made rela-
tions with the Anglo settlers worse.
Life was harsh for the Hispanics in
Texas. "They lived like chickens-the
men and girls all sleep together in the
same room.... They are very kind, but
so poor," one man recalled.
The Mexican anti-slavery attitude
helped create the cooperation between
the Mexicans and the slaves. Not only
was the Battle of the Alamo fought to
separate Texas from Mexico, but, ac-
cording to Rosalie Schwartz, it was
fought because of the slavery issue.
She quotes Santa Anna, an opportu-
nistic revolutionary and the dictator
of Mexico:
There is a considerable num-
ber of slaves in Texas also, who
have been introduced by theirmasters under cover of certain
questionable contracts, but
who according to our laws
should be free. Shall we permit
those wretches to moan in
chains any longer in a country
whose kind laws protect liberty
of a man without distinction of
caste or color?
The Mexican government even based
part of its refusal to recognize Texas'
independence on the slavery question.
Jose Maria Morelos, one of the earliest
leaders of the Mexican independence
movement, wrote a document which
revealed his commitment to racial
equality: "Slavery is forbidden forever,
as well as distinction of caste, leaving
all equal; and only vice and virtue will
distinguish one American from
another." However, what seemed to
be unimportant to the slavery problem
in the rest of the South had a great
impact onTexashistory. "TheMexicans
certainly once owned all the land about
here [centralTexas]... and no Mexican
had received any pay for it." Most
Hispanic families were expelled from
central Texas counties, losing all titles
to the land they had previously owned.
Therefore, the grim life of the
slaves, the Mexican culture, and the
anti-slavery history of the Mexicans
all contributed to the flight of slaves
to Mexico from the 1840s through
the 1860s. The problem of runaway
slaves was widely known at the time.
OneTexan observed: "If he's got across
the river, he'd get to the Mexicans in
two days, and there he'd be safe. The
Mexicans'd take care of him." It was
evident that he, like many other slave
owners, thought that all Mexicans
would take care of runaway slaves and
would always help them escape. Some
people thought that it was absurd for
the slaves to flee to Mexico. As one
Anglo said, "It seems strange that
they should attempt to make their
way to Mexico, being entirely ignorant
of the geography of the country."
This is why the Mexicans became an
important factor in the success of the
southern Underground Railroad.
However, not all slaves were happy
with their new life in Mexico. There
were some accounts of slaves returning
from Mexico and complaining of
worse conditions. There was a case
where a slave was sent down to Mexico
to see what it was like, but he returned
because "the Mexicans are much worse
masters than the Americans." He also
came in contact with "several2 / TEXAS HISTORIAN
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Texas State Historical Association. The Texas Historian, Volume 58, Number 4, May 1998, periodical, May 1998; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth391416/m1/4/?q=tex-fron: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.