Wanderlust World Wanderlust World As American immigration to Mexican Texas surged, the Mexican government enacted measures to assert control—each perceived as a threat by the Anglo colonists ("Texians"). Key actions:
Banned further immigration from the U.S. (while allowing Europeans). Aimed to stem Anglo demographic dominance. Existing settlers saw it as a betrayal of earlier colonization contracts (empresario grants).
Imposed high duties on imports from the United States, forcing Texians to buy expensive Mexican goods or smuggle. Undercut the cotton-export economy tied to New Orleans markets.
Garrisons established at Anahuac, Velasco, Nacogdoches, San Antonio. Soldiers enforced customs, collected taxes, and monitored colonists. Incidents like the Anahuac Disturbances (1832, 1835) sparked armed confrontations.
Mexico's 1824 Constitution required Catholicism as the state religion. Officials began pressuring Protestant settlers to convert or at least pay tithes to the Catholic Church—violating their accustomed religious freedom.
New laws limited the size of land grants and required settlers to occupy and improve land within strict timelines. Threatened speculators and large-scale planters who held vast claims.
These measures—combined with Santa Anna's centralist coup (1834), abolition of the 1824 Constitution, and dissolution of state legislatures—convinced many Texians that their rights as Mexican citizens were being erased. The Texas Revolution (1835–1836) was the direct outcome.