Chapter 6 section 5
His prison cell was 16 feet long by 13 feet wide. The solid stone walls around him were 3 feet thick. The only light came through a small skylight in the high ceiling there were no windows. On cloudy days, he did not have enough light to read. Guards delivered his food through a narrow slot in the door: He could not communicate with the outside world. This is the cell of Stephen F. Austin. Loyal Mexican. Leading empresario. Voice of calm among settlers. Austin s guiding principles had always been peace, quietness, patience and submission to the laws and no revolutions. Now, Austin was in prison. As he sat in his lonely cell he began to question the principles that had guided him for so long
Austin s task after the Convention of 1833 was to present the work to the Mexican government. Austin hoped to convince the new Federalist government to make Texas a separate Mexican state. Austin arrived in Mexico City in July 1833. He found a confusing scene. Santa Anna, the new president, had not assumed his position because of poor health. Valentin Gómez Farías, the vice president, acted as president in his place. Santa Anna was not even in the capital.
Austin met with Farías to present the requests For weeks, the Mexican government took no action on the requests. Austin s patience gave way. He bluntly warned Farías that Mexico s failure to act on the proposals could lead Texans to take action....the meeting ended in anger.
Frustrated after this meeting, Austin sent a letter to San Antonio. In his letter he suggested that the ayuntamiento begin work to set up a state government for Texas without waiting for approval from the national government.
Austin finally met with Santa Anna in November. Santa Anna welcomed most of Austin s suggestions. He agreed to end the ban on immigration to Texas. Santa Anna did refuse to support separate statehood for Texas
On his way back to Texas, Austin stopped in Saltillo. In Satillo, Mexican leaders there arrested him because they had learned of the angry letter he had written to San Antoionio in October
Most Texans agreed to remain calm after Austin s arrest because they did not want to do anything to stir up trouble with Mexico. That would endanger Austin s safety. Federalist Acts of 1834: The rulers of Mexico and Coahuila y Tejas helped things stay calm in Texas by ending the ban on new settlers from the United States, they increased the number of local courts, and land agents had their contracts extended.
the Federalists had powerful enemies The new rules reduced the Catholic Church s role in government. The Mexican armed forces faced the same problem. Santa Anna sided with both the Catholic Church and the armed forces to increase his own power First he seized the government from Farías. Then he abolished the constitution of 1824. He dissolved each Mexican state legislature. He then placed the states under the rule of the army.
To increase his own power, Santa Anna had changed sides and created a Centralist Mexico. Santa Anna also placed his brother-in-law, General Cós, in charge of Anahuac. Cos planned on breaking up the state government in Texas and decided to send more troops to Texas to prevent any rebellions.
William Travis decided to capture Anahuac because he was mad that Cós was sending in more troops. Travis actions troubled many Texans because they weren t ready to fight Mexico. In many towns, settlers met to speak out against the attack. They also sent messages to Cós promising to remain loyal. Cós called for the arrests of many leading Texans, including Travis. If captured, these prisoners would face trial in a military court and possibly execution.
Even for settlers who favored peace, Cos s demands went too far. The Texans vowed to never hand over their friends and neighbors to a military court. Cos did not capture anyone.
Matters came to a head during the summer of 1835. Tensions between Texas settlers and Mexican leaders worsened. The settlers began to organize. Settlers created the committees of safety and correspondence to help share news quickly among the colonies.
In August, committees spread word of a meeting the Consultation. It was supposed to take place on October 15, 1835, at Washington-onthe-Brazos. It ended up occurring in San Felipe on November 3, 1835. Here representatives from many Texas towns would decide the state s future. The fate of Texas war or peace? Could they make peace by staying loyal to Mexico? If the answer was no, they would have to prepare for war.
Before the Consultation began Stephen F. Austin was released from prison in Mexico City. He had been in jail for almost a year and under guard for six months. Austin returned to Texas in September 1835.
Austin had lost all hope when Santa Anna changed from a Federalist reformer to a Centralist dictator. His message to his fellow Texans was loud and clear: War is our only resource. There is no other remedy. We must defend our rights, ourselves, and our country by force of arms. Now, the choice facing the Consultation of October 15 was clear Texas would go to war.