The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907 Page: 93
ix, 354 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Land Speculation as a Cause of the Texas Revolution. 93
General Sam Houston, a member of it, proposed a resolution rec-
ommending that the consultation, when it met, should investigate
and declare null all extensive grants of land made by the legis-
leture under suspicious circumstances since 1833.1 The resolution
was adopted, and a thousand copies in handbill form were distrib-
uted through the country. It was probably needed to convince
many of the citizens that the war just beginning was not a "spec-
ulators' war," but it naturally drew a protest from the interested
persons. Thomas F. McKinney, especially, wrote that he thought
the consultation would not have adequate judicial authority to do
any such thing. There was nothing "crooked" about the grants,
anyway, he said; "If you will inform yourself as to the manner
and condition of those grants you will see it is nothing more or less
than a colonizing contract, differing from those heretofore made
because the empresarios have to pay a certain price for the priv-
ilege of selling the lands to settlers. . .. So far as I am in-
terested I have said and again say I am willing to yield up my
interest in that speculation if the least good to this community
can be done by it. I have eight leagues of land in addition in this
colony and the upper colony which I will cheerfully resign to the
country's cause at what I have paid for it, which is nearly nothing.
But to have a foot of land to which I conceive I have any claim
trespassed upon and wrested from me without my own consent is
what I oppose and protest against and will resist so far as I have
the means of resisting."8
Before the protest was received the council had already, on the
27th, passed a resolution closing the land offices and stopping all
surveying until the meeting of the consultation, and, despite Mc-
Kinney's view of the matter, the consultation "solemnly declared
null, void, and of no effect all grants, sales, and conveyances of
land, illegally and fraudulently made by the legislature of the
state of Coahuila and 'Texas, located or to be located within the
limits of Texas."4 This, too, of course, raised a storm of disap-
'THE QUARTERLY, VII 265, IX 287; Telegraph and Texas Register, Octo-
ber 26, 1835.
2Royall to Austin, October 16, 1835, Austin Papers, K27.
8McKinney to Royall, October 28, 1835, Archives of Texas, in the State
Library.
'"Journal of the Permanent Council," in THE QUARTERLY, VII 273;
Journals of the Consultation, 47.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 10, July 1906 - April, 1907, periodical, 1907; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101040/m1/101/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.