After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821, it wanted to conquer the northern region of the dissolved viceroyalty of New Spain. During the Colony this region remained unpopulated by Mexicans, but was dominated by Apache and Comanche Indians.
In 1824, the Mexican government authorized its colonization and settlement and invited U.S. settler Moses Austin to settle along with some 300 native American families.
Initially the federal government tried with Mexicans, but they were unwilling to colonize this dangerous territory but Austin and other foreigners were attracted by the Mexican government's proposal. The settlers received a number of benefits to encourage them to stay in East Texas.
U.S. settlers and businessmen were exempted from paying certain taxes and duties for seven years under the Imperial Colonization Act passed in January 1923. In addition, the Mexican government allowed the establishment of slave settlers.
The only condition imposed by the Mexican government on the settlers was that they renounce their American citizenship and convert to Catholicism. In 1831, when slavery was abolished in Mexico, the Mexican government asked the settlers to free or abandon their slaves.
These requests were answered only by the first settlers, not by the slaveowners who settled later. Among the latter, a feeling of wanting to achieve self-government and increase slavery began to grow.
The rich plantation estates depended on slave labor. On the other hand, Texans wanted to increase trade with the United States.
Upon the death of American businessman Moses Austin in 1821, his son Stephen F. Austin (called "father of Texas") assumed his leadership and everything changed.
The great distance between Texas and Mexico City caused this territory to fall out of federal control. It was then that the Mexican government realized the great mistake it had made in allowing American immigration.
The settlers were attracted by the promise of obtaining large territories in this fertile region ideal for growing cotton. When they arrived in Texas, the settlers were happy with the Mexican government, but then a series of events helped to promote the independence of this territory.
In 1831, Mexico decided to abolish slavery, following the example of almost all western nations. Had this been accomplished in Texas, it would have meant a huge loss of unpaid labor for the wealthy Texan landowners. The expanding cotton economy depended exclusively on slaves for its sustenance.
On the other hand, slavery in the southern United States was tolerated by the government. Immigrant U.S. slaveowners had accumulated power in this territory; by the early 1830s, they outnumbered native Mexican-American Texans.
The Mexican government also abolished Anglo-American immigration through an edict issued on April 6, 1830. This provoked the indignation of the settlers with relatives in the United States.
At the same time, the Mexican government added difficulties to the trade between Texas and the United States. Heavy tariffs were imposed on foreign imported products.
Conflicts between the Texas settlers and the Mexican government occurred intermittently during these years. Among these impasses were those known as the Anahuac Disturbance (1832), which ended in the Battle of Velasco, won by Texas on June 26 of that year.
As a result, the Mexican garrisons in Texas were abandoned, except in San Antonio and Goliad.
In between these years, political conventions were held by Texas settlers to make various requests to the Mexican government.
The first request was to extend the tariff exemption that had been suspended, as well as the repeal of the Anglo-American anti-immigration law and the administrative separation of Texas from the province of Coahuila.
The Texans wanted to be an autonomous state and Stephen F. Austin was in charge of transmitting the Texas application to the federal government in Mexico City. The Mexican government repealed the immigration law but ignored the other two applications.
