Hard-headed Texans
April 6, 2011 (Wednesday)
When the park, “Six Flags Over Texas,” was established in Arlington, many people learned for the first time that Texas had existed under the flags of six governments. Today, April 6, is the anniversary of a law passed by the Mexican government in 1830 that banned any more immigration from the United States to Texas, which had passed from Spanish to Mexican control. Enormous incentives were made available to Mexican citizens who would move to Texas. The law also placed restrictions upon non-Mexicans already living in Texas. It did not, however, stop U.S. citizens from migrating to Texas by the thousands, and by 1834, Texas was populated by 30,000 Anglos and only 7800 Mexican citizens.
The law of April 6, 1830 seemed only to incite the Texans to dig in and ignore Mexican control. Anglos often viewed the Mexicans as foreigners and intruders, and the feeling was often mutual. A Mexican official warned the Mexican military leaders in Texas:
“‘No faith can be placed in the Anglo-American colonists because they are continually demonstrating that they absolutely refuse to be subordinate, unless they find it convenient to what they want anyway, all of which I believe will be very detrimental to us for them to be our neighbors if we do not in time, clip the wings of their audacity by stationing a strong detachment in each new settlement which will enforce the laws and jurisdiction of a Mexican magistrate which should be placed in each of them, since under their own colonists as judges, they do nothing more than practice their own laws which they have practiced since they were born, forgetting the ones they have sworn to obey, these being the laws of our Supreme Government.'” (Quotation from Wikipedia).
From their beginning, Texans have been a stubborn lot.
We haven’t changed much.
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