Tejano Origins in Mexican Texas — 5

To the south of the original Tejano settlements lived a third population which at the turn of the century was just on the threshold of an upward thrust from the Río Grande toward the Nueces. Formerly citizens of Tamaulipas and northern Mexico, these southern rancheros became citizens of Texas by virtue of the boundary claims by Texas to the Río Grande after the Texas Revolution. More significantly, they became Tejanos by settling lands under the new headright programs of the Republic of Texas. With these headright settlers came a wave of other immigrants from Mexico. All of these people, strongly Mexican, probably thought of themselves as "Mejicanos" rather than as "Texans." Nevertheless, they were closer to the Béxar-Goliad region than Nacogdoches was. All three groups had descended from the same families and bloodlines. And in any case, they all stood across the same cultural and racial lines from the Anglo-Texans after 1836. By 1835, approximately 350 ranches existed in this region, many of which provided the foundation for future Texas towns. The major ranches included San Diego, San Juan, Palo Blanco, Agua Dulce, El Sauz, Los Olmos, San Luis, Pansacol, Zapata, San Ignacio, and Los Saenz. One of the most important facets of Tejano life was the Mexican form of local government which prevailed in the years between the consummation of Mexican independence in 1821 and the Texan Revolution in 1836. That government was an essential part of Tejano life because, based as it was in the Roman tradition, it set forth a "code" for society. From this code emerged the basic political principles to which the Tejano strove to adhere in the daily governance of their community. A survey of Tejano government then provides not only a study of that political philosophy, but a structural framework of Tejano life as well. The basic unit of Mexican government was the municipality. The jurisdiction of the municipio, as it was called, encompassed the city. But unlike a modern city, the municipality jurisdiction included the surrounding area as well, not unlike a modern American county.² According to the dictates of the Spanish codes of the Recopilación a Spanish municipality should be governed by an ayuntamiento or city council, comprised of its own citizens. After allowing for the establishment of ayuntamientos in the older municipalities, the state government of Coahuila y Texas decreed in June, 1827, that each ayuntamiento should draw up and submit its municipal ordinances for approval in Saltillo. By 1834, all of the old Tejano municipalities had established a formal government. Each had a constitutional alcalde and the specified number of regidores. And each municipality laid out its own town plat, which was actually a square. The principal town square or plaza was in the center with perpendicular streets oriented to the four ordinal directions. Each city street as well as the plaza itself was set to standard measurements, so many varas or yards (approximately) in length and width. The east side of the plaza was designated for ecclesiastical structures such as the cathedral, the chapel, or the chancery. On the west side were the government and public buildings such as the casa capitular or state house, the customs house, and the governor's palace.¹⁸

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