American Log Cabin Symbolized Threat to Mexican Autocracy

Architect Richard Thornton is a member of an alliance of Creek, Choctaw and Seminole scholars, who over the past seven years have been intensely studying the heritage of the Muskogean peoples. Much of their activities have involved re-examination of the archives of the early Spanish, English and French exploration of the Southeastern United States. We have asked Richard to provide AccessGenealogy with some of his work.  As we add to these articles we will also be providing a question and answer section for the reader to ask questions of Richard.

Between 1763 and 1766 at least 5,000 Creek, Alabama and Koasati Indians immigrated from what is now Georgia and Alabama, to Louisiana and Texas, because Great Britain had awarded their lands to branches of the Creeks and Cherokees, who had been allies of Great Britain. These Native Americans shared little in common with the disarmed, submissive Indians of Central Mexico. They had egalitarian traditions, were larger physically than the Spanish, and were expert marksmen with firearms. Most of these Indians lived in log houses and were master farmers. After the creation of the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1830 brought over 100,000 more Native American to near the Texas border, Mexican autocrats became increasingly paranoid that Indios Norteamericanos would enter Mexico, train its Indians how to fight, and then instigate a bloody revolution against the white minority.

After becoming wary of the loyalties of French-speaking residents of Louisiana, in 1788 Spain openly invited Anglo-American settlers to immigrant into Louisiana, while forbidding settlement in Tejas. The program was ended after a few years because it became apparent that Anglo-American settlers still viewed themselves as Americans and refused to adopt Spanish customs. They lived in American style log cabins and continued to speak English as their primary language.

Anglo-Americans began illegally drifting into the edges of Tejas as soon as Louisiana became part of the United States in 1803. Shortly after Mexico achieved independence in 1821, much larger numbers of Anglo-Americans began entering Tejas, either legally or illegally. Between 1821 and 1835 13,500 families from the United States or Europe received land grants in Tejas. Those who entered Tejas legally, at least nominally became Roman Catholics and swore allegiance to Mexico. By the end of the immigration period, Latin Americans had become a small minority in Tejas.

Mexican government officials, almost entirely derived from its Castilian elite, became increasingly threatened by the appearance of log cabins and American style villages over the landscape of Texas. Eastern Texas, of course, has a natural environment identical to that of the Southeastern United States. Log and wooden architecture was far more practical and appropriate to that region, than the adobe (dirt) houses of arid regions of Mexico. However, from the perspective of Castilians, log cabins were associated with the heretic peoples of Sweden and Finland. As mentioned in early articles, the Spanish were paranoid about any ethnic group that was not exactly like them . . . and had a long tradition of persecuting such peoples.

And then there were those Irish priests!

Families receiving land grants in Texas were required to either be or become Roman Catholic. Several English-speaking priests from Ireland were imported to minister to the needs of these new “conversos.” Of course, there was no scientific survey done at the time by sociologists, but from appearances, the Irish priests were effective pastors and generally liked by their parishioners.

There was a problem, though. The Gaelic Church has always been somewhat different than the Roman Church. It is much more egalitarian. Irish clergy tend to view themselves as part of the community, rather than representatives of the aristocracy. On top of this trait, was the long subjugation of Ireland by the English. Irish priests would have been not inclined to be submissive the rigid, class-based hierarchy of the Mexican Catholic bureaucracy. Thus, the Irish priests strongly identified with the desires of their parishioners toward personal liberty and economic opportunities.

Government officials from Mexico City toured Texas and saw Catholic chapels that looked no different than Protestant chapels in the Southeastern United States. The Counter-Reformation had thoroughly integrated architectural details with liturgy among southern European communicants. A Mexican official who inspected a Catholic church that looked like a Methodist church would immediately suspect that heresy was taking place, or was eminent.

Mexico achieved its independence from Spain exactly 300 years after Hernando Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire. Throughout those 300 years New Spain had been dominated by a Castilian elite, who used a variety of means to maintain political and economic control of the nation. Independence to the elite meant that they would no longer have to share Mexico’s wealth with the elite of Spain. However, to the downtrodden Indian and mestizo peons, independence meant a chance for economic opportunity and political equality. The appearance of 14,000+ log cabins on the Texas landscape was a terrible threat to the status quo.

Federalists rebel throughout Mexico against authoritarian betrayal

The early history of an independent Mexico seems to be almost a carbon copy of current events in Latin America. In 1828 Vincente Guerrero and Antonio Santa Ana staged a coup against a legitimately elected conservative president and made Guerrero president again. In December of 1829 Mexican elitists staged a coup against Guerrero, executed him, and gained control of the Mexican Congress. It passed a law on April 6, 1830 which voided incomplete land contracts in Tejas. Only colonies with more than 100 families could continue to offer tracts to Anglo-Americans. Another section of the act established tariffs on items imported from the United States. The Mexican Congress continued to refuse separation of Coahuila and Tejas into separate states, because Tejas lacked the minimum 80,000 population as required by the Constitution of 1824. This Congress also banned the formation of militias throughout the nation, even though the regular Mexican army had proved to be ineffective in preventing Indian attacks in Tejas.

In 1832, General Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón took command of the federalist forces. The first skirmishes in Tejas against the new authoritarian central government occurred that same year. Ironically, the rebels publicly stated that they were federalists in support of General Santa Anna. Battles between the army of the illegitimate central government and federalists were soon occurring in many parts of Mexico. A compromise was reached which ultimately made Santa Anna, President, and democratic reformer, Valentin Farias, vice president. However, Farias governed the country while Santa Anna went back to his hacienda.

The reforms of Farias on behest of the peons soon angered the Catholic Church hierarchy and many of the aristocratic families. Santa Ana took control of the government and forced the reformers to seek asylum in the United States. He abolished the Constitution of 1824 and made himself dictator. Quickly the states of Coahuila Y Tejas, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Yucatan, Chiapas, Jalisco, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas rebelled against the dictatorship. Three new nations were declared from these rebelling states. However, only the Republic of Yucatan and the Republic of Texas were able to sufficiently defeat loyalist Mexican armies to create a modicum of independence.

Between 1832 and 1835 Latin American and Anglo-American settlers in Tejas had held several conventions, which increasingly called for independence. A major cause of the unrest was the enforcement of Spanish legal traditions by central government officials. Americans were accustomed to English Common Law, whose protections of civil rights dating back to the Magna Carta. Mexican officials could arrest, jail or even execute persons without formal charges being made or even a court trial. The fact that the Anglo-Americans in Tejas owned firearms and knew how to use them, gave "Texian" militias a distinct advantage over rebels in other states. Many of the other rebels only had bows and arrows.

The Maya-mestizo army in Yucatan decisively defeated all Mexican armies sent its way. However, in January of 1836 an army led personally by Santa Ana had crushed rebellions in all of the northern states except the northern half of Coahula Y Tejas; which called itself the Republic of Texas. Santa Ana was now marching in heavy snow northward to teach these Norteamericano traitors, heretics and pirates a terminal lesson. Throughout his military career, Santa Ana had always ordered the mass-execution of insurgents. Even less mercy could be expected for people, he viewed as foreigners.

One column headed toward Goliad, where a rebel army had seized the Presidio de la Bahia. The larger column, under Santa Ana, headed for San Antonio de Bexar. There a small band of rebels occupied the old mission, now known as the Alamo. The Texas War for Independence was about to reach its bloody climax.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Notes About this Material

Source: Richard Thornton, an alliance of Muskogean scholars, professors and professionals. Copyright Richard Thornton, Blairsville, GA, 2010. Used here with permission. 

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