Chasity Keulemans

What Caused The Texas Revolution?

I have always been interested in history, but my education in Texas history has been insufficient in many ways.  This became truly evident a few months ago, when my dog dug up a cannon ball in my back yard.  I did not know what it was at first, and I wanted to find out exactly what it was, so I took it to the Brazoria County Museum near my house to have them authenticate it.  The museum docent told me that it was a two pound cannon ball from the Texas Revolution and sold me a book called The History of Brazoria County.  I found out that Brazoria County is where Texas began.  All of a sudden, Texas history became real to me, and I somehow felt attached to it.  I should, it apparently marched through my back yard.  I started reading the book and I have been so excited by the stories and details that I never heard before.  Through a closer view at the “Texas Declaration of Independence;” I was drawn to discuss what led up to it. These are things I am learning in my new book. The History of Brazoria County uses original documents such as newspaper articles, Letters, and journals from that period to piece together a narrative history that helps answer the big question:  What caused the Texas Revolution?    

The Texas Revolution was not caused by one thing, but by many things.  One of which was the political issues facing Mexico at the time.  Mexico was a very new nation and one born of poverty because Spain had taken the lion’s share of the country’s valuables.  There were disagreements as to how the country should be governed.  Santa Anna, the president, wanted a strong central government while others wanted a federalist system with representatives.  The result of having a central government was that Mexico was too large to govern effectively with the residents in those further most regions resenting an absent, yet taxing government. . Until 1835 these groups fought one another for control. In October, 1835 the centralists and Santa Anna won out with the enactment of "Siete Leyes". This move did away with the federalist Constitution of 1824, abolished all state legislatures including that of Coahuila y Tejas, and replaced states with "departments" headed up by governors and appointed councils selected by and serving at the pleasure of Santa Anna, who was by all accounts tyrannical.  Previous to the revolt in Tejas, he had uprisings in south eastern Mexico and ordered for the town to be massacred…every man, woman, and child and then had the town burned to the ground.    The Texians felt confidant if they were to break away from Mexico, the United State would be more than willing to bring them into the union. 

Another situation of concern was Mexico’s outlook on slavery.  Mexico declared slavery illegal.  However, they knew that slavery was a form of labor that many people relied upon in Tejas.  Since only one in four people owned at least one slave in Tejas, Mexico presented the Texians an option of weaning themselves off of slavery and finding an alternative labor force over a ten year period.  As you can imagine, only the very wealthy plantation owners owned many slaves; which was only four percent of the population of Tejas at that time.  The wealthy land owners really pushed for revolution when their ten year deadline was approaching. The wealthy land owners helped persuade other Texians to join them in the Texas Revolution.

One such stance that was used was one of religion.  The Texians had agreed to become practicing Roman Catholics as the church was the officially recognized religion for all of the Republic of Mexico. Even if most Texans had made the promise in good faith fully intending to convert, they found it difficult after arriving in Texas.  Most Texians had come from the Deep South and followed protestant religious beliefs.  Relations between such fundamentalist Protestant groups and Roman Catholicism were strained to say the very least.  Each thought the others were infidels. Therefore, many Anglos continued to practice their Protestant faiths long after they settled in Texas. Even those who did convert found it difficult to practice their adopted faith given the scarcity of Catholic churches and priests in Texas. There are accounts of circuit priests coming to towns to marry large groups of people who had already been married under a different religion, or a ceremony called, “jump the broom.”  The couple would jump over a broom to declare they were married, and then waited for a priest or minister to marry them.  Many times, the couple would already have children because many times it would be three or more years before they saw a priest.  In the eyes of the law, their marriage was not legal until they were married in a Catholic Church.   The military played a very active role in the Hispanic culture.  Far more active than the Texians had been use to or were willing to accept. The military in Mexican Texas, for instance, was used on occasion to collect both taxes and the tithe to the church. This was foreign to the new Texians who had migrated from the United States.  Texians were not pleased with the status quo under Santa Anna.  They wanted to be represented by one of their own, and they were being represented by someone five hundred miles away while they were forced to pay tariff duties and taxes.

When the settlers were originally admitted to Mexican Texas, they were permitted to bring their black slaves from the Deep South with them. Indeed, had Mexican Texas been closed to slavery from the beginning, far fewer Southerners would have emigrated either because they could not bring their expensive property and manpower source with them or because of their political/racial views. Over the years, Mexico took repeated steps to limit or abolish slavery in Texas. Each step prompted a vulgar reaction from Anglos followed by a Mexican retreat in which the threatening change was repealed. Given the amount of capital many settlers had invested in black slaves, Mexico's impulsive actions with respect to slavery were at the very least threatening. There were those by 1836 who felt an independent Republic of Texas in which slavery was firmly and for all time recognized and respected was preferable to Mexico with an uncertain future for slavery. Two and one half decades later Texans still felt so strongly about black slavery and attached to it for both economic and social reasons that they would secede from the United States and wage a civil war rather than see the institution imperiled. The reaction in many sections of Mexico, including Texas, was military resistance to the creation of what many citizens saw as an all-powerful government in the hands of a tyrannical Santa Anna. In Texas, war was originally waged in an attempt to restore the Constitution of 1824 and federalism. Only later would it become a war of independence.

The Texas Revolution has several causes.  Three of the causes that are later outlined in the Texas declaration of Independence are Religion, Governmental Differences, and Slavery.  The Mexican Government tried to force Catholicism on the Texans and although many of them truly intended to become Catholic, they found it difficult considering there were few churches established.  The Government was more tyrannical than what the Texians wanted or what they were used to.  The extra push that the Texans needed to go to war was the fact that the Mexican Government continually threatened to abolish slavery in Texas.  This influenced the men with power and money.  There were other incidents that fanned the fire of revolution in which Santa Anna reacted harshly which pushed the Texians further and further away from wanting to be a part of Mexico.  As large numbers of settlers were settling in Texas, they wanted to keep their religion, their culture and did not want to be stripped of their beliefs.  To sum it up, by researching this topic, I found that the biggest reason for the Texas Revolution was  very basic culture differences and a poor government who did not govern well.

Bibliography

Creighton, James A.. A narrative history of Brazoria County. Bicentennial ed. Angleton, Tex.: Brazoria County Historical Commission, 1975. Print.

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