Texas ‘independence’ had roots in right to enslave

One of the reasons of the war for Texas Independence was the Mexican law prohibiting slavery.

Many Texas citizens held slaves though human bondage was officially outlawed by the Mexican government. For a number of years, the Mexicans did nothing to stop slavery in Texas, but the growth of the practice finally led them to act after 1830 and give Texas slave owners just a few years to end the practice.

“Independence” for many of those who lived in Texas at the time was the ability to enslave others.

Mexico took no action before war broke out and Texas slavery was never seriously threatened. After Texas won the war, it quickly wrote a constitution that guaranteed a white person’s right to enslave his fellow man.

But that wasn’t enough for Texas. The new nation faced the problem of an influx of runaway slaves from the Southern United States. These new Black people were owned by no one and came to Texas where they legally could not be taken back.

The answer — and it came relatively quickly through the Texas Congress, which passed a law in 1840 saying that no free Blacks would be allowed to remain here. The law gave free Black persons two years — until the first day of 1842 — to vacate the state or be subject to arrest and enslavement.

Mirabeau B. Lamar, himself a slave holder and supporter of the institution, was president at the time. The law required the sheriffs and constables of every Texas county to identify free Black persons and encourage them with diligence to leave the state.

It isn’t clear how many, if any, Black people, were actually arrested because of the law but, as with most states in the U.S. South, Texas was determined not to allow free Blacks to live within its borders.

Now, on to this week’s stories.

A BLACK MAN NAMED THORNTON managed to escape bondage from slave holder Thomas O. Drane in Logan County, Kentucky on Sept. 27, 1830 and Drane was willing to pay handsomely to get him recaptured.