The Development of Friction, I820-I835
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of Vicente Guerrero was issued without warning on September 15, 1829, abolishing slavery throughout the Republic except in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. 31 What prompted the action is not clear. The claim of General Jose Maria Tornel-advanced years later-that he had sug- gested the idea as a means of discouraging American immigration is to be taken with a grain of salt. 39 If proof were needed of the sympathetic understanding by Mexican officials-state and national--of the basic interests of the colonists, the action of Political Chief Ramon Musquiz in this instance and of General Teran, now commander general of the Interior Provinces, furnishes eloquent testimony. An epidemic had just swept through the colonies, during which Austin's brother died. Austin himself was seriously ill. Before he or any of the other settlers knew about the decree, much less raised a protest, Musquiz, upon receipt of the decree on October 16, without waiting to consult with Austin, called a meeting of friends in San Antonio and on his own responsibility and initiative decided to suspend its publication pending an appeal to the President to exempt Texas from its operation. "He drew up and forwarded to the Governor a petition for exemp- tion that Austin himself could not have strengthened, arguing the in- dispensable economic necessity of slavery for the development of Texas, and the injustice to the first settlers of liberating slaves brought in under the guarantee of the law. The Governor transmitted the petition to the President, reinforced by his own endorsement, and received a reply, dated December 2, 1829, saying that the President had been pleased to grant the petition and to declare 'that no change must be made as respects the slaves that legally exist in that part of the state.' "'° The order was promptly published in San Antonio on Christmas Eve, and in San Felipe on December 29, 1829, to the great relief of the colonists. In spite of the efforts of Musquiz to keep the matter secret until he could hear from the President in regard to the petition for exemp- 31/ bid., II, I 5 I. 39 Tornel, in his Breve Reseiia Historica, p. 85, published in t 852, when "I told you so" was fashionable, claimed to have foreseen the loss of Texas and attempted to avoid the catastrophe. '°Barker, Aferico and Tera.s, 18.11-1835, 78-79. Teran appears to have written to Guerrero about the same time to · plead for the exemption of Texas from the application of the Emancipation Decree and he seems to have received a reply granting the request before the order of December 2, 1829, was sent to the Governor.
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