Wait Just a Darn Minute!

Americans continued to petition for the annexation of Texas.  In 1829 President Andrew Jackson offered to buy Texas for $5 million.   When the Mexicans refused, American agents attempted repeatedly and clumsily to bribe them into reconsidering.  Mexico believed that Jackson had been behind the Fredonia Revolt and became quite agitated with Americans.  US newspapers seemed to be offering Texan lands for sale to which no title was held, further deteriorating the Mexican-American relations.

Mexican general Manuel de Mier y Teran was called upon to survey and report on the condition of Texas.  He was appalled by the extent of American influence and in his report to the Mexican government said "Either the government occupies Texas NOW, or it is lost forever!"  In just two years, the Mexicans had clamped down on Texas with new rules and regulations.

General Teran's recommendations were written into the Colonization Law of 1830 which forbid any foreigners living in countries adjacent to Mexico to settle in Texas.  New colonies of European and Mexican pioneers would be planted to offset the American influence.  Taxes and tariffs would be imposed and troops would be garrisoned in Texas to enforce the new law.

The plan backfired.  Few Europeans wanted to settle in Texas, and the ban of the Americans only kept the law-abiding pioneers away.  Squatters continued to drift across the border, and from 1830 to 1835, the population went from 20,000 to 30,000.

One aim of the new law that was successful was the military occupation.  The presence of Mexican troops on the Texans had the same effect as the British Redcoats had on the American revolutionaries!  Among those to come to Texas during this period were two men destined to play key roles in the coming revolution...

Next time...Steps toward Revolution
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Today in Pioneer History:  On September 8,  1810, the sailing ship Tonquin leaves New York with 33 employees of Jacob Astor’s new Pacific Fur Company on board.