What was the Government System in Mexico when Texas proclaimed its Independence?

The system of government in Mexico when Texas proclaimed its independence was known as Centralista Republic, being organized Under a unitary state regime (with a single center of political power that extended throughout the State).

The continuing dispute between conservatives and liberals, political chaos and many disagreements with some liberal government reforms prompted actions for conservatives to dissolve the federal system.

Although the Centralist Republic was formally established in 1836, a year earlier the federal constitution of 1824 had already been annulled. This system operated for approximately 11 years, more specifically from 1836 to 1846.

The seven constitutional laws: previous step to the problem of the Mexican government and Texas

On December 30, 1836, decrees were decreed Seven Constitutional Laws Which legitimized the new government, which had already proclaimed its Constitutional Bases on October 23 of the previous year.

These laws were:

1. This law speaks of the rights and duties of citizens. Where the duty of professing the religion of the country, in this case the Catholic, stands out.
2. The Supreme Conservative Power is established, consisting of 5 elected members every two years. The Supreme Conservative Power could disqualify any of the other powers of the republic (Legislative, Executive or Judicial).
3. A Congress is formed by senators and deputies, who occupied the positions a period of 6 and 4 years respectively and were chosen by members of the government.
4. This law talks about the process where the executive power was elected. The Supreme Court, the Senate and the Ministerial Board nominated 9 candidates (3 for each institution) and the deputies elected the President and Vice-President among them.

This law also creates 4 ministries: Interior, Foreign Affairs, Treasury and War.

5. With the same process of previous election establishes this law to choose the Supreme Court of Justice, this should not be confused with the Supreme Conservative Power.
6. The federal states are replaced by departments. The governors of these departments were elected by the president.
7. This law was a security measure that prohibited a return to the previous system for a period of six years. In addition, although Congress was given the capacity to solve constitutional problems or reforms, they could not be practiced after six years after the new Constitution had been enacted.

Arrival of Anglo-Saxon settlers to Texas

It was precisely the establishment of the centralist regime that provoked the revolution that would give way to Texas independence. Texan English speakers were affected by the agreements they had with Mexico due to the fall of the Federal Republic.

To understand a little better the motives that led to the revolution and independence of Texas, we must go back to the colonial era, before Mexico became Will free from Spain.

Due to the great economic problems that the United States had at that moment, a banker named Moses Austin arrived in 1819 in the territory of Missouri to develop a project that would manage to attract the Americans to that region. Thus, Austin requests to Spain permissions to allow him to settle American settlers in those territories.

At the end of 1820, Austin received the Spanish concession and later died, so his son Stephen Austin is in charge of initiating the colonization process.

Beginning of the Texas-Mexico Conflict

In 1921 and after a long dispute of eleven years, Mexico managed to become independent of Spain. That same year the Americans began arriving by sea and land to the Texan territory, nevertheless the agreements were not recognized by the new Mexican government.

Stephen Austin traveled to Mexico City and after several years of negotiation managed to get the agreements accepted.

In order for these new agreements to be possible, Austin had to give way to certain points (settlers had to convert to Catholicism, get Mexican nationality, and rename their Spanish equivalent), and in return each settler received 16 square kilometers.

Over time, the population in the territory grew and the United States became interested in the state. In 1927 he offered one million dollars for Texas and then increased to five millions, but on both occasions Mexico rejected them.

Although Mexico rejected US offers, more and more immigrants came in, not all of them legal, so the government banned new colonies or more people. In addition, all of this was added to new taxes.

If everything is added that there were resquests due to the prohibition of slavery or that there was no freedom of worship, the settlers began to profess real distrust and discomfort towards the Mexican government.

In 1835, in the state of Zacatecas began a rebellion against the centralist government that ended up being repressed and leaving many civilians massacred as a result. This resulted in more uprisings against the government and Stephen Austin was jailed on suspicion of inciting one.

The province of Texas was already outraged that in addition to what happened in Zacatecas and the imprisonment of Austin, who for lack of evidence ended up being released, a settler was killed by a Mexican soldier.

Finally, since relations between the government under the then-President Antonio López de Santa Anna and the Texan province were not the best, the latter decided to stand up in arms to proclaim their independence.

Texas Victory and Independence

From left to right: Antonio López de Santa Anna, Stephen Austin, Samuel Houston, proper names of the Texas Independence

The Texan rebellion was commanded by General Samuel Houston. Although the Texans gained very few battles, several of them were important and they took several important places like San Antonio or the Bay of the Holy Spirit that later were recovered by Santa Anna.

General Houston had a part of his troops go to do some work in Goliad and Alamo.

This caused that Santa Anna took advantage of the numerical disadvantage in which the army was and defeated both troops. However, he ended up being defeated in San Jacinto by General Houston and the part of the army that had stayed with him.

Being a prisoner of war, Santa Anna is finally forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco (named after the place where it was signed) where, in exchange for his release, Texas independence was recognized.

References

1. Barker, E.C. (1910). Stephen F. Austin and the independence of Texas. . In E. C. Barker, The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, (pp. 13 (4), 257-284).
2. Brack, G. M. (1975). Mexico views manifest destiny, 1821-1846: an essay on the origins of the Mexican War. University of New Mexico Press.
3. Costeloe, M.P. (2002). The Central Republic in Mexico, 1835-1846: 'Men of Good' in the Age of Santa Anna. Cambridge University Press.
4. De la Peña, J. E. (2010). With Santa Anna in Texas: A personal narrative of the revolution. Texas A & M University Press.
5. Green, S.C. (1987). He Mexican Republic: the first decade, 1823-1832. . University of Pittsburgh Pre.
6. Schroeder, J.H. (1985). Annexation of Independence: The Texas Issue in American Politics. In J. H. Schroeder, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly (pp. 89 (2), 137-164).
7. Winston, J.E. (1912). Kentucky and the Independence of Texas. In J. E. Winston, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly (pp. 16 (1), 27-62).