WI Mexico Permitted Slavery re Texan Territory

Somewhat less known re the Texans' MO to throw off what it perceived as the Mexican yoke was the fact that Mexico outlawed slavery as Spain had done centuries earlier. This not only motivated quite a few slaves to flee their Texan slaveholders for freedom within established Mexican settlements but also infuriated the Texans who felt their freedom was somehow being threatened almost if not as much as it did re Mexico being a Catholic nation.

WI- Mexico actually had permitted slavery within the Texan territories? Would this have somehow prevented the groundswell for Texan independence from happening sooner or even altogether?
 
the uproar over slavery was more sound than substance... the Texans pretty much ignored it anyway. Mexico had a law that allowed 99-year indentured servant contracts, and most of the slaves in TX were brought in under this fiction... and other Texans just flat out ignored the ban on slavery and openly had slaves on their land. I can't find the exact numbers (buried in one my books somewhere), but the number of slaves in TX at the time of the revolution was pretty small, their numbers skyrocketed after the war. Santa Anna made a lot of noise about freeing slaves when he moved into TX, but from what I've read, he freed only one directly, and a lot of others indirectly when the Texans fled their homes.
But to answer your question... the issue of slavery likely wouldn't have made much difference. The Texans were outraged over SA's other ideas; ending their special tax and customs status, ending further immigration from the USA, and possibly merging TX with Couahuila for representation in the Mexican government. The Texans were also miffed at the idea of SA becoming a dictator, Stephen Austin being jailed, and the Mexican garrison in San Antonio. Also, it can't be denied that a lot of the later immigrants into TX had the idea of pulling their land out of Mexico and making it part of the USA. Most of all, Santa Anna just handled the whole affair badly...
 
Huh? Spain had not outlawed slavery "centuries earlier."
depends how you look at it. Officially the crown had the policy of not enslaving Christians, as it was a sin. in practice this was (almost) totally ignored by those on the ground, except of course when it came in handy for arresting people who were inconvenient for other reasons ie occupying offices someone else wanted.
 
depends how you look at it. Officially the crown had the policy of not enslaving Christians, as it was a sin. in practice this was (almost) totally ignored by those on the ground, except of course when it came in handy for arresting people who were inconvenient for other reasons ie occupying offices someone else wanted.

Millions of slaves were imported to Latin America. I'm not sure how you can claim slavery was not legal.
 
Millions of slaves were imported to Latin America. I'm not sure how you can claim slavery was not legal.

Christian slaves were technically illegal, non Christian were legal. The later were mostly legally imported while the others were smuggled into the colonies.
 
Christian slaves were technically illegal, non Christian were legal. The later were mostly legally imported while the others were smuggled into the colonies.

So claiming slavery was illegal is a false statement, and at best you can say "slavery of Christians was technically illegal but in practice allowed."
 
So claiming slavery was illegal is a false statement, and at best you can say "slavery of Christians was technically illegal but in practice allowed."

Agredd haha. A large portion of slaves brought to the US an Spanish Louisiane only right before and after the Revolution were because Spanish ships carried these slaves and various pirates, most famously Jean Laffite and Dominque Youx, raided these ships and brought these slaves to US ports as 'discovered goods'.
 
But to answer your question... the issue of slavery likely wouldn't have made much difference. The Texans were outraged over SA's other ideas; ending their special tax and customs status, ending further immigration from the USA, and possibly merging TX with Couahuila for representation in the Mexican government.

What is it with Americans and tax-hating? :p
 
What is it with Americans and tax-hating? :p
:p Seriously though, I always thought there were a lot of parallels between the Texan Revolution and the ARW... a distant government that didn't pay much attention to the Americans for a long time and then tried to crack down all at once, both wars started by government troops demanding that the Americans turn over some arms and powder, taxes and customs being increased/enforced, etc....
 
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