Santa Anna and the Events Leading to the Texas Revolution

[Hawk1981]

Lucas Alaman, a conservative politician writing about Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in his History of Mexico published in the 1840s, said “The history or Mexico since 1822 might accurately be called the history of Santa Anna’s revolutions….His name plays the major role in all the political events of the country and its destiny has become intertwined with his.”

General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

From the other side of the political spectrum, liberal Lorenzo de Zavala said of Santa Anna, “He is a man who has within him some force always driving to take action, but since he has no fixed principles nor any organized code of public behavior, through his lack of understanding he always moves to extremes and comes to contradict himself. He does not measure his actions or calculate the results.”

Following the Mexican War of Independence, Texas became part of Mexico. Under the Constitution of 1824, which defined the country as a federal republic, the provinces of Texas and Coahuila were combined to become the state of Coahuila y Tejas. Texas was granted only a single seat in the state legislature, which met in Saltillo, hundreds of miles away. After considerable grumbling by Tejanos (Mexican-born residents of Texas) outraged at the loss of their political autonomy, state officials agreed to make Texas a department of the new state, with a capital in San Antonio de Bexar.

With fewer than 3,500 residents, and only about 200 soldiers, Texas was extremely vulnerable to attacks from native tribes and American filibusters. Hoping that an influx of settlers could control the Indian raids, the bankrupt Mexican government liberalized immigration policies for the region. Mostly Protestant immigrants from the United States soon vastly outnumbered the Catholic Tejanos.

Mexican authorities became increasingly concerned about the stability of the region. The northeastern colonies teetered on the brink of revolt in 1829 after Mexico abolished slavery. In response, Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante implemented a series of laws in 1830 to prohibit further immigration to Texas from the United States, increased taxes, and reiterated the ban on slavery. Texas settlers simply circumvented or ignored the laws. By 1834, an estimated 30,000 Anglos lived in Coahuila y Tejas, compared to only 7,800 Mexican-born residents. By the end of 1835, almost 5,000 enslaved people lived in Texas, making up 13 percent of the non-Indian population.

In 1832, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led a revolt to overthrow President Bustamante. Settlers in East Texas used the rebellion as an excuse to take up arms. By that fall, all Mexican troops had been expelled and the settlers began organizing a convention to persuade Mexican authorities to weaken the 1830 laws. During the following year the Mexican government addressed some of the settler’s concerns, repealing some sections of the laws and granting the settlers further concessions, including increased representation in the state legislature. Stephen Austin, who had brought the first American settlers to Texas, wrote to a friend that “Every evil complained of has been remedied.”

Stephen Austin

Santa Anna was elected President in the spring of 1833. While he desired the title, he was not especially interested in governing. One of his biographers notes that governing “annoyed him and bored him, and perhaps frightened him.” Santa Anna and his vice president Valentin Gomez Farias alternated leadership of the executive branch due to the frequent absences of Santa Anna who was often retired to his Veracruz hacienda and was granted an extended leave of absence by the Mexican Congress.

While Vice President Farias was at the head of government, he implemented a series of liberal reform measures affecting the interests of both the army and the Catholic Church. Among the proposed laws was an expansion of the state militias, which relieved the national budget funding the army, disposal of Church property and finances, and abolition of tithing as a legal obligation. For conservatives, the reforms of Farias were radical and undermined their power.

Many historians consider Santa Anna’s actions in allowing Farias’s reforms as a test case. Santa Anna was watchful and waited to see what the reaction would be to a comprehensive attack on the special privileges of the army and the Catholic Church, as well as confiscation of church wealth.

Santa Anna determined to defend the interests of the Church and the army and returned to Mexico City in April of 1834, declaring himself impartial and ready to enforce the Constitution to preserve the rights of citizens. The following month he ordered the disarmament of the civic militia and called for repeal of the reforms. In June, Santa Anna dissolved Congress and announced his decision to form a new Catholic, centralist government. In 1835, he replaced the 1824 Constitution with a new document that made his regime a dictatorship backed by the military.

The governor of Coahuila y Tejas, Agustin Viesca, refused to dissolve the legislature, instead ordering that the session reconvene in Bexar, more distant from the influence of the Mexican army. Although prominent Tejano Juan Seguin raised a militia company to assist the governor, the Bexar city council ordered him not to interfere, and Viesca was arrested.

With the centralization of the government, dismissal of the state legislatures and militias, citizens in several states favoring the 1824 federal Constitution rebelled. Santa Anna moved to subdue rebellions in the states of Oaxaca and Zacatecas, killing over 2,000 noncombatants. Several Mexican states formed their own governments: the Republic of the Rio Grande, the Republic of Yucatan, and the Republic of Texas.

Map of Mexico in 1835 showing the states in rebellion

Fearing the moves to revolt, Mexican military commanders in Texas requested reinforcements. Mexico was not prepared for a large civil war, but continued unrest in Texas posed a significant danger to the power of Santa Anna and of Mexico. If the people of Coahuila also took up arms, Mexico faced losing a large portion of its territory. Without the northeastern province to act as a buffer, it was likely that United States influence would spread, and the other northern Mexican territories would be at risk of future American encroachment.

Not wishing to tangle with the United States, Santa Anna ordered troops to Texas before the United States could be convinced to become involved. Santa Anna’s brother-in-law General Martin Perfecto de Cos was ordered to lead 500 soldiers to Texas to quell the rebellion. In response, Stephen Austin called on all municipalities to raise militias to defend themselves.

 

[Hawk1981]

Public opinion in Texas was initially divided regarding independence. But resistance to the Mexican army was galvanized following the pillaging of the city Zacatecas, the Battle of the Alamo and the massacre of Texan prisoners at Goliad.

A contemporary editorial in the New York Post newspaper wrote that "had [Santa Anna] treated the vanquished with moderation and generosity, it would have been difficult if not impossible to awaken that general sympathy for the people of Texas which now impels so many adventurous and ardent spirits to throng to the aid of their brethren."

Between 425 and 442 Texian prisoners of war under the command of Colonel James Fannin were killed by the Mexican army at Goliad, Texas, by order of Santa Anna. The Fannin memorial marks the burial site of the remains of Fannin and his men at Goliad.

 

[Hawk1981]

Santa Anna's 1835 changes to the Constitution came to be known as Las Siete Leyes or the "Seven Laws." The changes fundamentally altered the organizational structure of Mexico, ending the first federal period and creating a unitary republic, the Central Republic. The laws were intended to centralize and strengthen the national government.

• The 15 articles of the first law granted citizenship to those who could read and had an annual income of 100 pesos, except for domestic workers, who did not have the right to vote.
• The second law allowed the President to close Congress and suppress the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Military officers were not allowed to assume this office.
• The 58 articles of the third law established a bicameral Congress of Deputies and Senators, elected by governmental organs. Deputies had four-year terms; Senators were elected for six years.
• The 34 articles of the fourth law specified that the Supreme Court, the Senate of Mexico, and the Meeting of Ministers each nominate three candidates, and the lower house of the legislature would select from those nine candidates the President and Vice-president.
• The fifth law had an 11-member Supreme Court elected in the same manner as the President and Vice-President.
• The 31 articles of the sixth Law replaced the federal republic's nominally-sovereign "states" with centralized "departments", fashioned after the French model, whose governors and legislators were designated by the President.
• The seventh law prohibited reverting to the pre-reform laws for six years.

The Siete Leyes were revised in 1843, making them more workable, but also placing power entirely in the hands of Santa Anna. In 1846, the 1824 Constitution was restored and the second federal period began.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna