The Texas Revolution Was NOT About Slavery!

 

1836. When Texas declared independence from Mexico after Mexico outlawed slavery, the early government was so devoted to slavery and to white supremacy that they wrote it down, explicitly and at length, in the constitution of the new republic. pic.twitter.com/edhF9uzBBn

— Dr. Alex Wild (@Myrmecos) July 11, 2021

Except when it was.

SEC. 9. All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude, provide the said slave shall be the bona fide property of the person so holding said slave as aforesaid. Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from the United States of America from bringing their slaves into the Republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall Congress have power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slave-holder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave or slaves, without the consent of Congress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the Republic. No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part, shall be permitted to reside permanently in the Republic, without the consent of Congress, and the importation or admission of Africans or negroes into this Republic, excepting from the United States of America, is forever prohibited, and declared to be piracy.

"Congress," by the way, refers to the Texas legislative body, not the one in D.C.

SEC. 10. All persons, (Africans, the descendants of Africans, and Indians excepted,) who were residing in Texas on the day of the Declaration of Independence, shall be considered citizens of the Republic, and entitled to all the privileges of such. All citizens now living in Texas, who have not received their portion of land, in like manner as colonists, shall be entitled to their land in the following proportion and manner: Every head of a family shall be entitled to one league and labor of land, and every single man of the age of seventeen and upwards, shall be entitled to the third part of one league of land. All citizens who may have, previously to the adoption of this Constitution, received their league of land as heads of families, and their quarter of a league of land as single persons, shall receive such additional quantity as will make the quantity of land received by them equal to one league and "labor" and one-third of a league, unless by bargain, sale, or exchange, they have transferred, or may henceforth transfer their right to said land, or a portion thereof, to some other citizen of the Republic; and in such case the person to whom such right shall have been transferred, shall be entitled to the same, as fully and amply as the person making the transfer might or could have been. No alien shall hold land in Texas, except by titles emanating directly from the Government of this Republic. But if any citizen of this Republic should die intestate or otherwise, his children or heirs shall inherit his estate, and aliens shall have a reasonable time to take possession of and dispose of the same, in a manner hereafter to be pointed out by law. Orphan children, whose parents were entitled to land under the colonization law of Mexico, and who now reside in the Republic, shall be entitled to all the rights of which their parents were possessed at the time of their death. The citizens of the Republic shall not be compelled to reside on the land, but shall have their lines plainly marked.

Settlers in Texas had gone to great lengths to hide their slaves as slaves, ususally using contracts of indenture to claim the slaves were indentured servants in order to skirt Mexican law.  The minute they could, they made sure that would never be necessary again.

These provisions continued into the Constitution of 1845:

ARTICLE VIII.

Slaves.

SEC. 1. The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners, nor without paying their owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this State from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any of the United States, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this State: Provided, That such slave be the bona fide property of such emigrants: Provided, also, That laws shall be passed to inhibit the introduction into this State of slaves who have committed high crimes in other States or Territories. They shall have the right to pass laws to permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors, and preventing them from becoming a public charge. They shall have full power to pass laws which will oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity; to provide for their necessary food and clothing; to abstain from all injuries to them, extending to life or limb; and, in case of their neglect or refusal to comply with the directions of such laws, to have such slave or slaves taken from such owner and sold for the benefit of such owner or owners. They may pass laws to prevent slaves from being brought into this State as merchandise only.

SEC. 2. In the prosecution of slaves for crimes of a higher grade than petit larceny, the legislature shall have no power to deprive them of an impartial trial by a petit jury.

SEC. 3. Any person who shall maliciously dismember, or deprive a slave of life, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed upon a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection by such slave.

Much of that language continued in the Constitution of 1861, with this interesting addition:

["SEC. 6. The Legislature shall have power to pass laws which will oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity."]

1866 brought the change of "slave" to "freedmen":

ARTICLE VIII.

FREEDMEN.

SECTION 1. African slavery, as it heretofore existed, having been terminated within this State, by the Government of the United States, by force of arms, and its re-establishment being prohibited, by the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, it is declared that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in this State; and Africans and their descendants, shall be protected in their rights of person and property by appropriate legislation; they shall have the right to contract and be contracted with; to sue and be sued; to acquire, hold and transmit property; and all criminal prosecutions against them, shall be conducted in the same manner as prosecutions, for like offences, against the white race, and they shall be subject to like penalties.

SEC. 2. Africans and their descendants shall not be prohibited, on account of their color or race, from testifying orally, as witnesses, in any case, civil or criminal, involving the right of, injury to, or crime against any of them in person or property, under the same rules of evidence that may be applicable to the white race; the credibility of their testimony to be determined by the court or jury hearing the same; and the Legislature shall have power to authorize them to testify as witnesses in all other cases, under such regulations as may be prescribed, as to facts hereafter occurring. 

The Constitution of 1869 dropped all references to slavery, including instead an article on "immigration." 

The Constitution of 1876 is the current constitution of the state of Texas.  It has no specific articles referencing either slavery or immigration.  But after independence from Mexico Texas had 6 constitutions.  3 of them specifically referenced slavery; the fourth made it clear the removal of such provisions was due to the recent unpleasantness between the states.  It couldn't reappear after that, so it quietly faded away in the fifth and sixth iterations.

Which makes it pretty clear slavery was a central concern of the governed and their government from independence until, roughly, Juneteenth.  It also makes it clear that, had it not been for the 13th and 14th Amendments, the article on Freedmen in the 1866 constitution probably would not have been written, much less passed.  Everyone talks about the "Bill of Rights" or the 1st or 2nd Amendments; it's clear to me the most consequential amendments were the 13th and 14th.  And the 15th is never going to get its day, because we simply aren't going to let the "radical" politics of the late 19th century hold that much sway over us.  We abolished slavery, didn't we?  What more do they want?

We certainly can't interrupt the Heroic Anglo Narrative of Texas with anything like the simple truth now, can we?

Former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, said he has doubts about several claims the authors make. The Texas General Land Office that he once ran has jurisdiction over the Alamo site in San Antonio.

But instead of supporting the event's cancelation, Patterson said he was looking forward to the authors facing tough questions about their sourcing and accuracy. 

"It would have been better if they had been asked hard, specific questions and been forced to answer them. And in that case, they should have been allowed to be at the Bullock," Patterson said.

I really wish Jerry Patterson had gotten that chance.  I'll wager he can't even tell you how many post-independence Constitutions Texas has; much less their content.