Without independence, the deeds they possessed and traded would be valueless. Investors, speculators, and settlers sought independence and annexation, which was necessary to protect the institution of slavery and the investments that had been made in it. The Anglo-American colonists’ commitment to slavery was a source of continuous conflict with Mexico. Mexico’s many efforts to eliminate or limit race-based slavery were thwarted and blunted (usually with the connivance and material aid of the Tejano elite, who also favored slavery), or simply ignored. Efforts were made to ensure that people of African descent would be enslaved for eternity, with essentially no hope of ever winning their freedom. Additionally, enslaved people and their children could be leased, or sold like livestock. Cruel physical and psychological coercion compelled enslaved people to labor much harder and longer than any free person would work. Cotton was booming, and race-based slavery was the quickest way to create enormous personal wealth on this rich Mexican soil. Circumstances and unavoidable necessity compels it.” Of course that had been Austin’s intention from the start. In a famous letter dated May 30, 1833, Austin declared: “Texas must be a slave country. It was illegal to harbor escaped slaves a white man who discovered an enslaved person away from home without a pass was obligated to whip that person, etc. Austin’s settlements were predicated on slavery, and his colonists were governed by regulations that safeguarded the institution, based on laws in U.S. Austin, the “father of Texas,” had constructed an imitation slave state within the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas, and the goal became to make it a real slave state.Īustin awarded colonists an extra 50 acres (quickly increased to 80 acres) for each enslaved person they brought with them. ![]() Torget calls the Republic of Texas a “dress-rehearsal” for the Confederate States of America. Acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 inches, collection of the artist. 1946), Olvidate del Alamo (Forget the Alamo) #1, 2001. history, and even the Alamo church itself was utilized as a slave market. The Civil War was the bloodiest war in U.S. Discord over the means by which Texas was annexed and conflict over whether to permit slavery in the other territories seized from Mexico led to the American Civil War. seized Mexican land all the way to the Pacific. to provoke the Mexican-American War in 1846. After the war of independence (1835-36), which created the slavery-based Republic of Texas, Texas was annexed to the United States in December of 1845 as a slave state without fixed borders, a stratagem that made it easier for the U.S. He declared in 1836 that slave traders and land speculators sought to wrest Texas from Mexico “in order to re-establish the SYSTEM OF SLAVERY to open a vast and profitable SLAVE-MARKET therein and, ultimately, to annex it to the United States.” Lundy also foresaw that annexation would lead to succession: “…in fighting for the union of Texas with the United States… they will be fighting for that which, at no distant period, will inevitably DISSOLVE THE UNION… will ere long cut asunder the federal tie which they have long held with ungracious and unfraternal fingers, and confederate a new and distinct slaveholding republic, in opposition to the whole free republic of the North.” Lundy also warned of enormous bloodshed: “…blood will flow in torrents, and the land will be drenched with their crimson gore!” No outsider had a better grasp of what was at stake in the revolt than the Quaker abolitionist Benjamin F. This op-ed examines Alamo symbolism and Texas independence from the perspective of people of color. The Alamo is commonly referred to as the “cradle of Texas liberty,” a phrase that erases and disregards the experiences of people of color. To read this article in Spanish, please go here. ![]() ![]() Para leer este artículo en español, por favor vaya aquí. Acrylic on cotton rag paper, 54 x 36 inches, collection of the artist, photograph by Ruben C. 1966), The Confederate States of La Muerte (Death), 2018.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |