The Lone Star Republic -Don Gray, reporting from Bexar, Texas, January 3, 1836 STEPEHEN F. AUSTIN WAS IMPRISONED BY MEXICO JUST TWO YEARS AGO THIS DATE Two years ago this date, the Mexican government imprisoned Texas colonizer Stephen Austin in Mexico City. No charges were made against him, no court would accept jurisdiction of his case, and he remained a prisoner, shifting from prison to prison, until December 1834. At that time, Austin was freed on bond from prison and was allowed to live within the Federal District of Mexico City. He was later freed by a general amnesty law in July 1835 and at the end of August returned to Texas by way of New Orleans. For the citizens of Texas, this move served to escalate tensions that are now continuing to still lead to rebellion and war. In 1833, a group of colonial leaders met to draft a constitution that would create a new Anglo-dominated Mexican state of Texas by splitting away from the Mexican-dominated Coahuila region that Tejas shares statehood with. The Anglo colonists hoped that by decreasing the influence of native Mexicans, whose culture and loyalties were more closely wedded to Mexico City, they could argue more effectively for American-style reforms in Texas while still being a part of Mexico. Once the colonists hammered out a new constitution, the colonial leaders directed Stephen F. Austin to travel to Mexico City to present it to the government along with a list of other demands. Austin conceded to the will of the people, but President Santa Anna refused to grant Texas separate status from Coahuila and threw Austin in prison on January 3, 1834 on suspicion of “inciting insurrection” (after government officials confiscated and read some personal letters that Austin had penned and planned to mail to friends in Texas). When he was finally completely released from his arrest in August 1835, Austin returned home to Texas to find that the Anglo-American colonists were on the brink of rebellion. They were now demanding a Republic of Texas that would break entirely from the Mexican nation and become a separate nation, a much more radical step than simply becoming a separate state within Mexico. Reluctantly, Austin abandoned his hope that the Anglo Texans could somehow remain a part of Mexico, and he began to prepare for war. In months following his release from Mexican prison, Austin led the Texan rebels in the Siege of Bexar which ended with a Texan victory just a few weeks ago in San Antonio. -Don Gray
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:00:00 +0000
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