The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 290

2Southwestern Historical Quarterly

THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF TEXAS, APRIL 17, 1813
KATHnYN GARRETT
Texas is a land where historical factors abound in multiple
numerals. Texas has been under seven flags,1 has fought two
revolutions for political liberty,2 has declared independence twice,8
has had fifteen capitals,4, and six constitutions." The first con-
stitution was the culminating document of the first revolution.
In the years of 1812 and 1813, Texas fought her first revolution,
hoisted her first republican flag, and formulated her first constitu-
tion, a quarter of a century before the conventionally accepted Texas
Revolution of 1835-1836.
Documents in the national archives, the archives of Texas State
Library, the B6xar Archives, and the Archivo General y Piblico
de la Naci6n, Mexico, reveal that the Casas Revolution in 1811,
and the Guti6rrez-Magee Expedition in 1812-1813, always recorded
as a filibustering expedition, are not isolated events in Texas his-
tory. Through the documents they achieve something better-the
dignity of being one continuous struggle for Texas independence,
the value of being a part of that larger revolution for Spanish-
American independence. The documents shed the effulgence of a
people's struggle for liberty upon these two events. They prove
that the Casas Revolution in 1811 was not an impulsive flare in
Texas in response to the Hidalgo Revolution, although promoted
by this Mexican revolution, it also sprang from insurrectionary
1Fleur-de-lys of royalist France, the red and gold standard of imperial
Spain, the green flag of the first Texas Republic proclaimed by Gutierrez
and Magee, 1813, the flag of the Mexican Republic, the lone star flag of
the Texas Republic, the stars and stripes of the United States, the stars
and bars of the Confederacy, and the restored flag of the United States.
iRevolution for independence from Spain, 1811-1813; revolution for in-
dependence from Mexico, 1835-1836; the Long Expedition, 1819, although
Long declared Texas a free republic, independent of Spain, the movement
was not a revolution in truth, since it was not built upon a revolution of
the core of Texas inhabitants but was an east Texas affair.
'April 6, 1813; March 2, 1836.
4Under Spanish rule: Los Adaes, Monclova, Los Adaes, San Antonio
de B6xar. Under Mexican rule: Saltillo, Monclova. The Republic (pro-
visional) : San Felipe de Austin, Washington-on-Brazos, Harrisburg,
Velasco. Republic and State: Columbia, Houston, Austin, Washington-
on-Brazos, Austin.
"Constitutions of 1813, 1827, 1836, 1845, 1869 and 1876.

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