Anahuac Disturbances - Background

Background

After Mexico gained independence from Spain, it legalized immigration from the United States. Empresarios were granted contracts to settle immigrants from the United States and Europe in Mexican Texas. As the number of Americans living in Texas increased, Mexican authorities began to fear the United States would want to annex Texas. On April 6, 1830 the Mexican government passed a series of laws restricting immigration from the United States into Texas. The laws also canceled all unfilled empresario contracts and established customs houses in Texas to enforce the collection of customs duties. Mexican military officer Juan Davis Bradburn, formerly an American citizen, was appointed commander of a new customs and garrison post on Galveston Bay. In October 1830 Bradburn established a post atop a 30 feet (9.1 m) bluff at the entrance to the Trinity River. The post became known as Anahuac.

Bradburn was unpopular from the beginning of his tenure. He opposed the efforts of the state land commissioner to grant titles to settlers who lived near Anahuac. The Mexican Constitution of 1824 prohibited immigrants from settling within 26 miles (42 km) of the coast, and most of these settlers lived too close to the coast. Although the commissioner was finally able to grant the titles, settlers were angry with Bradburn.

In January 1832, Bradburn received a letter listing 10 men in his jurisdiction who wanted to separate Texas from Mexico. From that point on, "Bradburn became increasingly obsessed about the Anglo-Americans and their intentions, believing that every event was part of a conspiracy to detach Texas." In June 1832, two of Bradburn's soldiers attacked a female settler. Angry settlers tarred and feathered a neighbor who failed to aid her. They demanded that Bradburn turn over the soldiers for a similar punishment. After Bradburn refused, local men organized a militia, supposedly to protect the settlement from the Indians. Mexican law forbade residents from creating militias, so Bradburn arrested the ringleader Patrick Jack. After Bradburn received death threats, he released Jack.