The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987 Page: 222
492 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
it." Article 28, which prohibited the introduction of slaves of any sex or
age, and which declared that any slaves that might be introduced were
to be immediately free, was approved without debate. To article io,
which provided for the admission of single men and women, two addi-
tions were approved. The first provided that if they married within six
years of their entrance into the new settlement, they would then receive
the stated amount of land for a married couple. The second, a proposal
made by Deputy Felix Fermin Pail of Venezuela, declared that if a
single person of either sex comprehended in the new settlements should
marry an Indian, that couple should receive an additional amount of
land.4
The Mexican deputies Jose Maria Couto, F6lix Quio Tehuanhuey,
and Jose Maria Puchet all argued that natives of nations or colonies
bordering on Spanish American territory should not be allowed to
settle near the coast or the boundary of that territory. Puchet's proposal
was more specific: "No authority in New Spain shall be able to concede
to natives or subjects of the United States license for settlement except
on land that is distant no less than 150 leagues from that which is today
recognized as the boundary or that which may be fixed in the future."
The peninsular deputy Conde de Toreno objected that such an article
would be undiplomatic and discriminatory toward some nations. Pu-
chet responded that he was not discriminating against settlers coming
from the United States to live in Mexico, but that he was against their
being able to reside near the boundary between the two countries. He
said that in New Spain, as a legal attorney in the Viceregal Secretariat,
he had handled 170 cases against 280 culprits. These were "not good
Americans" but "bad Americans," natives of the United States who had
crossed the boundary on the pretext of trade, hunting, or whatever,
and who had tried to establish settlements of nine, ten, or fifteen resi-
dents. No sooner had the cases been concluded than the United States
had obtained a pardon for them. Hence, because of the problem so cre-
ated,5 New Spain had been forced to keep an expeditionary regiment
on the Texas frontier at great expense. The argument of Couto, Te-
huanhuey, and Puchet did not win approval but a similar article did be-
come a part of the Mexican colonization law later. An addition pro-
posed by Ignacio Sandino of Santa Fe, New Mexico, won approval and
was included in the decree to fall between articles 17 and i8, as follows:
"No land acquired under this law shall be entailed or passed into mort-
main, or destined for the foundation of any convent or monastery.""
4Ibid., 2,435.
5Ibid., 2,486.
"Ibid., 2,437, 2,522.222
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 90, July 1986 - April, 1987, periodical, 1986/1987; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117152/m1/275/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.