The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F.…
January 1834 CE
The application off the immigration control of the introduction of tariff laws had done much to dissatisfy the colonists in Texas, peaking in the Anahuac Disturbances.
Austin had become involved in Mexican politics, supporting the upstart Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Following the success of Santa Anna, the colonists had sought a compensatory reward, proclaimed at the Convention of 1832—resumption of immigration, tariff exemption, separation from Coahuila, and a new state government for Texas.
Austin did not support these demands; he considered them ill-timed and tried his hardest to moderate them.
When they were repeated and extended at the Convention of 1833, Austin had traveled to Mexico City on July 18, 1833, and met with Vice President Valentín Gomez Farías.
Austin had gained certain important reforms; the immigration ban was lifted, but a separate state government was not authorized.
Statehood in Mexico requires a population of eighty thousand, and Texas has only thirty thousand.
Arrested by the Mexican government in January 1834 in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico, Austin is taken to Mexico City and imprisoned. No charges are filed against him as no court will take jurisdiction.