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Line 51: {{Quote|text=''"Texas must be a slave country. Circumstances and unavoidable necessity compel it. It is the wish of the people there, and it is my duty to do all I can, prudently, in favor of it. I will do so.}} The Texas Revolution was motivated by a number of factors, including resistance to the Mexican government's attempts to centralize power, and the desire of Anglo Texas to preserve the institution of chattel slavery in the territory. In the early 19th century, the cotton economy based on plantation slavery grew rapidly in the [[Southern United States]]. Increasing numbers of slaveholding Anglos began to migrate into the the territory of Texas. As tensions between the Mexican government and Anglo settlers grew, Mexico declared in 1833 that it would no longer extradite fugitive slaves, despite strong objections from the US government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cornell |first1=Sarah E. |title=Citizens of Nowhere: Fugitive Slaves and Free African Americans in Mexico, 1833–1857 |journal=The Journal of American History |date=2013 |volume=100 |page=353 |access-date=24 June 2021 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jat253}}</ref>▼ ▲In the early 19th century, the cotton economy based on plantation slavery grew rapidly in the [[Southern United States]]. Increasing numbers of slaveholding Anglos began to migrate into the the territory of Texas. As tensions between the Mexican government and Anglo settlers grew, Mexico declared in 1833 that it would no longer extradite fugitive slaves, despite strong objections from the US government.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cornell |first1=Sarah E. |title=Citizens of Nowhere: Fugitive Slaves and Free African Americans in Mexico, 1833–1857 |journal=The Journal of American History |date=2013 |volume=100 |page=353 |access-date=24 June 2021 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jat253}}</ref> In 1835 the government of Mexico was overthrown and a new, centralist constitution was promulgated. The [[Constitution of the Republic of Texas]] of 1836 explicitly protected the institution of slavery, and prohibited free blacks from living in Texas without the permission of the legislature.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Krauthamer |first=Barbara |date=2000 |title=Blacks on the Borders: African-Americans' Transition From Slavery to Freedom In Texas and Indian Territory, 1836–1907 |publisher=Princeton University |page=1}}</ref> All in all, thousands of slaves were able to flee Texas and gain their freedom in Mexico.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Krauthamer |first=Barbara |date=2000 |title=Blacks on the Borders: African-Americans' Transition From Slavery to Freedom In Texas and Indian Territory, 1836–1907 |publisher=Princeton University |page=48}}</ref> In 1840 the legislature of independent Texas approved a law ordering all free blacks to leave the Republic,<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Krauthamer |first=Barbara |date=2000 |title=Blacks on the Borders: African-Americans' Transition From Slavery to Freedom In Texas and Indian Territory, 1836–1907 |publisher=Princeton University |page=1}}</ref> though some were exempted by the [[Ashworth Act]]. The role played by slavery has become part of historical debates regarding the revolution's purpose and legacy. Earlier historical accounts tended to reject the contention that the preservation of slavery was a major factor in the revolt.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barker |first1=Eugene C. |title=The Influence of Slavery in the Colonization of Texas |journal=The Southwestern Historical Quarterly |date=1924 |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=32-33 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30234905 |access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref> Conversely, more modern scholarship has affirmed the importance of the desire to protect slavery in the role of the revolt against Mexico in 1835, and the declaration of independence in 1836. The desire to protect slavery also played a central role in Texas' accession into the United States in 1846, especially after Great Britain put pressure on the [[Republic of Texas]] to abolish the practice.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Olmstead |first1=Alan L. |last2=Rhode |first2=Paul W. |title=Cotton, Slavery, and the New History of Capitalism |journal=Explorations in Economic History |date=2018 |volume=67 |page=4 |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2017.12.002 |access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Jewett |first1=Clayton E. |title=Texas in the Confederacy: An Experiment in Nation Building |date=2002 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=0826213901 |page=27 |url=https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Texas_in_the_Confederacy.html?id=ukj_2Y3YfQEC&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y |access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammond |first1=John Craig |title=Slavery, Sovereignty, and Empires: North American Borderlands and the American Civil War, 1660–1860 |journal=Journal of the Civil War Era |date=2014 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=290 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26062152 |access-date=24 June 2021}}</ref> Eventually, the desire to preserve slavery helped move Texas to secede from the United States and join the [[Confederate States of America]] in 1861. [[Siete Leyes]] The University of Virginia Texas Slavery Project [http://www.texasslaveryproject.org/] | |||