Podcast: Play in new window | Download

In this episode I talk about the Law of 1830,  the Anahuac Disturbances of 1832, and the Battle of Velasco. The law was based on the fourteen recommendations in the Mier y Teran Report encouraging the colonization of Texas by Mexicans and Europeans, promoting military occupation, and stimulating coastal trade. José Manuel Rafael Simeón de Mier y Terán, Mexican general, was born in Mexico City on February 18, 1789. He visited Texas twice: first, as leader of a boundary-commission expedition to Nacogdoches in 1827–29; and second, as commandant general of the Eastern Interior Provinces in 1831.

In 1827 President Guadalupe Victoria named him to lead a scientific and boundary expedition into Texas to observe the natural resources and the Indians, to discover the number and attitudes of the Americans living there, and to determine the United States-Mexico boundary between the Sabine and the Red rivers. The Comisión de Límites (Boundary Commission), traveled throughout Texas from 1827 until 1829 at which time, they returned to Mexico and reported to the President. So far so good.

However, in his report on the commission, Mier y Terán recommended that strong measures be taken to stop the United States from acquiring Texas. He suggested additional garrisons surrounding the settlements, closer trade ties with Mexico, and the encouragement of more Mexican and European settlers. By European settlers, he was suggesting Spanish citizens and not English or French.

His suggestions were incorporated into the Law of April 6, 1830, which also called for the prohibition of slavery (which as I mentioned in the previous chapter, didn’t happen) and closed the borders of Texas to Americans.

The law also authorized a loan to cover the cost of transporting colonists to Texas, opened the coastal trade to foreigners for four years, and provided for a federal commissioner of colonization to make sure empresario contracts agreed with the colonization law. It prohibited the transport of slaves into Mexico. President Anastasio Bustamante implemented it on April 6, 1830. Many historians believe the law provided the same type of stimulus to the Texas Revolution that the Stamp Act gave to the American Revolution….For more information on he Law of 1830,  the Anahuac Disturbances of 1832, and the Battle of Velasco and the affect they had, read the complete transcript of this episode

For the complete transcript go HERE

You can purchase any of my audiobooks from The Google Play Store

For more information about Texas History, Visit the Texas State Historical Association