Conventions of 1832 and 1833
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| Conventions of 1832 and 1833 | |
|---|---|
| Name | Conventions of 1832 and 1833 |
| Caption | Delegates at the conventions (contemporaneous engravings) |
| Date | 1832–1833 |
| Place | San Felipe de Austin, Coahuila y Tejas, Mexico |
| Participants | Stephen F. Austin, William H. Wharton, James B. Miller, William B. Travis, Erasmo Seguín |
| Outcome | Series of petitions to President Antonio López de Santa Anna and the Mexican Congress, expansion of Anglo-American political organization in Texas Revolution |
Conventions of 1832 and 1833 were two gatherings of settlers in Coahuila y Tejas and Mexican Texas that produced petitions and resolutions demanding legal reforms, immigration policy changes, and administrative autonomy. Held at San Felipe de Austin in October 1832 and April 1833, the meetings brought together empresarios, settlers, and local officials to coordinate responses to actions by Anastasio Bustamante's and later Valentín Gómez Farías's administrations. The conventions articulated grievances that connected to broader conflicts involving Santa Anna, Santa Anna's federalist rise, and subsequent events leading toward the Texas Revolution.
Background and Causes
Frontier tensions in Coahuila y Tejas arose amid disputes over policies of the First Mexican Republic, including enforcement of the Law of April 6, 1830, which curtailed United States immigration and suppressed slaveholding expansion favored by many Anglo-American colonists. Economic dislocations from the Panic of 1837 had not yet occurred, but earlier trade frictions with Monterrey, Saltillo, and port restrictions at Veracruz affected settlers. Influential empresarios such as Stephen F. Austin, Green DeWitt, and Martin De León navigated conflicting obligations to the Mexican Constitution of 1824, local ayuntamiento authorities, and Military Districts overseen from Saltillo. Incidents including arrests of Anglo leaders, disputes over land titles issued by Coahuila y Tejas authorities, and tensions with Comanche and Karankawa interactions contributed. The conventions built on petitions previously submitted to Santa Anna, Miguel Barragán's presidency, and appeals to federalist figures like Lorenzo de Zavala.
Delegates, Organization, and Proceedings
Delegates assembled at San Felipe de Austin under leadership figures such as William H. Wharton, William B. Travis, and Stephen F. Austin; other notable attendees included Erasmo Seguín, Joseph Baker, Andrew Robinson, and Samuel May Williams. Committees organized by districts—Brazoria Municipality, Nacogdoches, Matagorda, and Victoria Municipality—drafted petitions and elected delegates to take messages to Saltillo and Monterrey. The conventions modeled parliamentary procedure influenced by practices in United States state legislatures like Tennessee General Assembly and Alabama Legislature, while corresponding with federalist leaders such as José María Iglesias and Valentín Gómez Farías. Proceedings included roll calls, oath-taking, and drafting of remonstrances invoking provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1824 and referencing precedents set by earlier municipal juntas in New Spain and Spanish colonial protests.
Decisions, Resolutions, and Petitions
The conventions passed resolutions requesting repeal or modification of the Law of April 6, 1830; petitions sought authorization for continued Anglo-American immigration, land title confirmations from empresario contracts with Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt, and creation of a separate state from Coahuila y Tejas. Delegates also asked for exemption from customs enforcement by officials in Anahuac and removal of garrisons commanded by officers loyal to Brigadier General Manuel de Mier y Terán. Petitions sent to Saltillo and the Mexican Congress demanded restitution for seized property, amnesty for arrested settlers, and establishment of local municipal institutions patterned after Tejano town councils like those in San Antonio de Béxar. Delegates nominated representatives to present their case to Santa Anna and federal deputies including José Antonio Saucedo and Juan Nepomuceno Almonte.
Immediate Aftermath and Political Impact
Responses in Mexico City mixed; some federalist deputies sympathetic to delegates included Lorenzo de Zavala and José María Tornel, while centralist ministers resisted. Santa Anna, then seen by many Texians as a federalist reformer, initially received petitions and signaled openness to change, influencing figures such as Stephen F. Austin to travel to Mexico City in 1833 to press the conventions' requests. However, delays, bureaucratic resistance in the Mexican Congress, and local enforcement actions—exemplified by incidents at Anahuac and arrests by customs officer Juan Bradburn—heightened distrust among settlers. The conventions accelerated political mobilization that fed into subsequent confrontations at Gonzales and the siege of Béxar, contributing to the chain of events culminating in the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Legal and Constitutional Significance
Petitions grounded arguments in the Mexican Constitution of 1824, invoking rights tied to federalism and statehood; proponents cited precedents from Spanish colonial cabildos and cases adjudicated under the Siete Partidas tradition. Debates about municipal authority, state formation, and immigrant naturalization engaged legal thinkers and actors such as Stephen F. Austin and Lorenzo de Zavala, intersecting with controversies over slavery under Mexican statutes and exemptions granted in empresario contracts. Mexican legal institutions, including the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico), faced petitions that tested limits of legislative competence and executive discretion under Santa Anna's shifting political posture.
Legacy and Historiographical Debates
Historians argue the conventions served as both a pragmatic attempt at legal redress and an early step toward separatism; scholars reference works by T. R. Fehrenbach, William C. Davis, Eugene C. Barker, and Dixon M. Miles in assessing motives. Debates center on whether delegates intended full independence or sought accommodation within the Mexican federation; interpretations vary from portrayals in Anglo-American nationalist narratives to revisionist emphasis on Tejano participation exemplified by figures like Ernesto Seguín and José Francisco Ruiz. Modern scholarship engages archives in Áustin (Austin) papers, Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico City), and county records from Bexar County and Brazoria County to reassess claims about land policy, racial dynamics involving African Americans and Tejanos, and the conventions' role in the lead-up to armed conflict. The events remain central in studies of Texas Revolution origins and Mexican federalism during the early nineteenth century.