Coahuila united and formed
one of these Mexican States. The State constitution which they adopted,
and which was approved by the Mexican Confederacy, asserted that they
were "free and independent of the other Mexican United States and of
every other power and dominion whatsoever," and proclaimed the great
principle of human liberty that "the sovereignty of the state resides
originally and essentially in the general mass of the individuals who
compose it." To the Government under this constitution, as well as to
that under the federal constitution, the people of Texas owed
allegiance.

Emigrants from foreign countries, including the United States, were
invited by the colonization laws of the State and of the Federal
Government to settle in Texas. Advantageous terms were offered to induce
them to leave their own country and become Mexican citizens. This
invitation was accepted by many of our citizens in the full faith that
in their new home they would be governed by laws enacted by
representatives elected by themselves, and that their lives, liberty,
and property would be protected by constitutional guaranties similar to
those which existed in the Republic they had left. Under a Government
thus organized they continued until the year 1835, when a military
revolution broke out in the City of Mexico which entirely subverted the
federal and State constitutions and placed a military dictator at the
head of the Government. By a sweeping decree of a Congress subservient
to the will of the Dictator the several State constitutions were
abolished and the States themselves converted into mere departments of
the central Government. The people of Texas were unwilling to submit to
this usurpation. Resistance to such tyranny became a high duty. Texas
was fully absolved from all allegiance to the central Government of
Mexico from the moment that Government had abolished her State
constitution and in its place substituted an arbitrary and despotic
central government. Such were the principal causes of the Texan
revolution. The people of Texas at once determined upon resistance and
flew to arms. In the midst of these important and exciting events,
however, they did not omit to place their liberties upon a secure and
permanent foundation. They elected members to a convention, who in the
month of March, 1836, issued a formal declaration that their "political
connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the
people of Texas