Situation in Texas

Despite requirements that immigrants take an oath of loyalty to the Mexican nation and accept Roman Catholicism, circumstances prevented the integration of the new settlers into the Mexican population. For the most part the Anglo and Mexican populations were geographically segregated. Except for an isolated group at Nacogdoches, the Mexican population was concentrated along the San Antonio River valley from San Antonio to Goliad, and in the vicinity of Victoria. By the early 1830s there were approximately 20,000 Anglo-Americans and only about 4,500 Mexican-Texans. English continued to be the common language among the foreign settlers, who continued to use their own legal forms in the general absence of Mexican officials. Economic activity within the Anglo-American areas gravitated toward New Orleans. American-style slavery quickly took hold in the 1820s and proved impossible to eliminate. In the absence of an effective Catholic Church presence outside San Antonio and Goliad, Protestantism remained at least the formal religion of many settlers.

Official response to the situation in Texas wavered between efforts to stop the immigration flow and enacting reforms to keep the settler population satisfied. Among the authorities who recognized the threat posed by uncontrolled immigration from the United States to Mexican Texas was General Manuel Mier y Téran. As head of the Mexican commission that marked the Texas-Louisiana border in 1828, and later as commandant general of the northeastern region of the country, he witnessed the Americanizing process at work in eastern Texas and warned Mexico City that Texas would soon be lost if governmental authority was not established quickly and effectively. Under the direction of the Conservative Anastasio Bustamante and his secretary of state, Lucas Alamán, the national government finally responded with the Law of April 6, 1830, which attempted to strike at the heart of the problem. The legislation outlawed any further introduction of slaves and canceled all impresario contracts not in execution, curtailing legal immigration. The law also called for the establishment of seven military posts, ostensibly for frontier defense, and a program of settlement based on Mexican nationals. At the same time the national government made itself responsible for approval of settlement along the coastal and border strip and established customs posts following expiration of a seven-year tax exemption granted to Texas. In 1832 the Coahuila y Texas State Legislature increased tensions by limiting to 10 years all indentured service contracts (a ploy through which slaves from the United States continued to be introduced into Texas after the state's official closure of the slave trade in 1827).