The Mexican-born settlers

The Mexican-born settlers in Tejas were soon vastly outnumbered by people born in the United States. To address this situation, President Anastasio Bustamante implemented several measures on April 6, 1830. Chief among these was a prohibition against further immigration to Tejas from the United States, although American citizens would be allowed to settle in other parts of Mexico. Furthermore, the property tax law, intended to exempt immigrants from paying taxes for ten years, was rescinded, and tariffs were increased on goods shipped from the United States. Bustamante also ordered all Tejas settlers to comply with the federal prohibition against slavery or face military intervention.[6] These measures did not have the intended effect. Settlers simply circumvented or ignored the laws. By 1834, it was estimated that over 30,000 Anglos (short for anglophones, people whose first language is English) lived in Coahuila y Tejas,[7] compared to only 7,800 Mexican-born citizens.[8] By 1836, there were approximately 5,000 slaves in Tejas.[9]


Sam Houston
Texians were becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Mexican government. Many of the Mexican soldiers garrisoned in Tejas were convicted criminals who were given the choice of prison or serving in the army in Tejas. Many Texians were also unhappy with the location of their state capital, which moved periodically between Saltillo and Monclova, both of which were in southern Coahuila, some 500 miles (800 km) away; they wanted Tejas to be a separate state from Coahuila (but not independent from Mexico) and to have its own capital.[citation needed]
Some American immigrants and Mexican citizens were accustomed to the rights they had in the U.S. that they did not have in Mexico. For example, Mexico did not protect Freedom of Religion, instead requiring colonists to pledge their acceptance of Roman Catholicism; Mexican Law required a tithe paid to the Catholic Church[citation needed]. In the Mexican interior, violence began to erupt between those who supported federalism and those who wanted a centralized government.