where slavery was rare, but in principle it
could have had a large impact on the
Anglo-American southerners who had
settled in Texas with their slaves.
However, under protest from Anglo
slaveowners, application of the law to
Texas was suspended. Although initially
the number of slaves in Texas only
increased slowly, in time the land under-
went a transformation. The invention of
the cotton gin in 1793 had made short
staple, upland cotton production eco-
nomically viable, turning east Texas into
ideal cotton country. With the suspension
of antislavery laws, the production of cot-
ton began to increase. In just six years,
between 1827 and 1833, the number of
cotton bales produced in Texas doubled.
Following Texan independence and its
subsequent admission into the United
States, cotton output—and the slave pop-
ulation of Texas—began to skyrocket. In
1860, just prior to the start of the U.S.
Civil War, the number of cotton bales
produced in Texas reached 60,000.
In 1830 Mexico enacted legislation
that was even more direct in its attempts
to control the Anglo menace. The new
law closed the border to further Anglo-
American immigration into Texas, prohib-
ited the slave trade, encouraged Mexicansand Europeans to settle in Texas, and
imposed customs duties on imports from
the United States. Troops were sent and
new forts built to reinforce Mexican
authority. Anglo-Americans in Texas
responded with outrage, some launching
military attacks on customs houses and
army posts. Many Texans resorted to
smuggling to avoid duties. The influx of
Anglo immigrants, though illegal, contin-
ued to be at least as heavy as before.
In 1833 a convention of Texans sent
Stephen Austin to Mexico City to argue
for rescinding the laws and making Texas
a Mexican state with its own U.S.-style
constitution. In the turmoil of Mexican
politics, Austin could not get an answer
from the chaos-ridden Mexican govern-
ment, so after 11 weeks he sent a letter to
the city council of San Antonio, back in
Texas, advising that Texas form its own
state government without the central
government’s support. “The fate of Texas
depends upon itself and not upon this
government,” he wrote. “The country is
lost if its inhabitants do not take matters
into their own hands.”
Austin’s letter had an unintended
effect, for the majority of San Antonio city
council members were Mexicans. Alarmed
by the fiery tone of the letter, they84 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
The Growth of Cotton Production in Texas, 1810–1860
Cotton production in Texas increased dramatically with the arrival of Anglo settlers from
the United States. After Mexico agreed to exempt Anglos from Mexico’s ban of slavery,
cotton production began to climb. As available statistics show in the graph above, after
Texas gained independence from Mexico (in 1836) and gained admission into the United
States (in 1845), production skyrocketed.James Monroe (Library of Congress)John Quincy Adams (Library of
Congress)