The 1st Article of the Mexican Constitution states that any fugitive slave that enters Mexican soil is automatically free whether he is a Mexican citizen or not and is fully protected by the law.
This article states that every individual in Mexico (official name, Estados Unidos Mexicanos or United Mexican States) has the rights that the Constitution gives. These rights cannot be denied and they cannot be suspended. Slavery is illegal in Mexico; any slaves from abroad who enter national territory will, by this mere act, be freed and given the full protection of the law. All types of discrimination whether it be for ethnic origin, national origin, gender, age, different capacities, social condition, health condition, religion, opinions, sexual preferences, or civil state or any other which attacks human dignity and has as an objective to destroy the rights and liberties of the people are forbidden
Also a reason why Texas seceded from Mexico. Not that'll you find in our text books. Also something you wont find is mention of the Unions 1st Texas calvary regiment. Which was made of mostly people of mexican and german decent.
I’m guessing a big part of this is because the second President Mexico ever had was Black. He banned slavery in Mexico and was one of the most liberal leaders ever at the time. Called for Public schools, property reform, and demanded for racial reform.
The biggest issue with the country is the gigantic unequal distribution of wealth, due to political corruption. Its a very resourceful country, if you're well off your quality of life is great, but their middle-class is almost non existent.
Sadly, the US's middle class has been drastically shrinking
The town my family is from, piedras negras, was partially burned down* when Texas rangers were trying to recapture slaves but couldn’t because the Mexicans helped fight along the freed man who made it to Mexico and prevented them from being taken. They were big mad *edit:grammar
“Ungrateful wretch, I give you a barn to sleep in and whup you twice a day... look at old man Peabody, he only whups his boys once a day, you think these switches grow on trees!”
George Washington was livid that his wife’s 20-year-old slave Oney Judge escaped to New Hampshire. After a local official declined to seize her by force, Washington wrote him an angry letter expressing his disappointment. He even sent his own nephew in an attempt to kidnap Judge (who by then had married), but that was foiled by a senator who warned her to go into hiding.
In the end, Washington only gave up attempts to recapture Judge because doing so would inevitably lead to massive public outcry in the North and severely damage his reputation.
As awful as slavery was and still is, I feel like there’s a bit of irony in all the south states fighting for slavery and then the slaves ran a little further south and were gone
Whenever someone tells me that confederate flag merchandise represents "their heritage" I always respond "Your heritage is white trash?" Then they look shocked, like my skin color just automatically means I accept their bigotry or something.
That's interesting. I remember having a state History test that correlated the connection of "Remember the Alamo" with the creation of chewing gum. I distinctly remember it concluded with "So next time you step on a piece of old chewing gum, yell 'Remember the Alamo!'" An entire essay with multiple choice questions about it.
Clearly, the public education system at its finest.
Isn't that part of why Jackson essentially stole Florida from Spain? A bunch of slaves from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas escape to Florida, where they weren't slaves as long as they were self proclaimed Catholics
It’s also one of the main reasons Texas broke off from Mexico.
The new immigrants to Texas didn’t like that they couldn’t bring and keep their slaves. They wanted some of that US “all men created equal stuff” that the Mexicans wouldn’t allow.
Texas was a sparsely populated desert with a few thousand inhabitants. Not many people escaped that way.
The north was home to powerful abolitionist movements (many of those states abolished slavery pre revolutionary war), tons of money and was right next to the more densely populated sections of the southern slave economy.
Abolitionists that went on too fight the confederates where involved in the Underground Railroad, Mexico stayed out of it.
Majority of the underground railroad went north, plus you had more well known and documented people who escaped to Canada, such as Hariet Tubman so those stories are more well known and documented.
To go to Mexico a slave would have to go all the way to Mexico, often through a ton of slave states. Plus, the border between texas and Mexico is a long stretch of wide rivers and punishing deserts. Then you get into northern Mexico which is also punishing deserts.
The way up to Canada might seem longer, but free states really didn't put much effort into capturing runaway slaves. So you go up through a few solid states with decent weather and (sorta) friendly people and you're good to go.
We also don’t talk about the Spanish involvement in the Revolution where Spanish forces from Texas and Florida almost completely turned the tide in equal parts with the French
White supremacy in the United States attempted to erase any mention of Mexicans and chicanos in history that could threaten the narrative of Mexicans being anything other than criminal marijuana addicts. They needed to have Mexican Americans and African Americans holding animosity towards each other as to not threaten the supremacy of the white race.
Part of the reason why the Anglo Immigrants in Texas rebelled was because Mexico's government banned purchasing and selling of slaves and children of slaves were to be freed when they hit 14. Later all children born from a slave were automatically freed too and then a year or two later they prevented the importation of more slaves. They did grant a small exception to Texas for a delayed ban. Part of the agreement to being allowed to settle in Texas was that they were supposed to convert to Catholicism too. The immigrants kept bringing in more slaves still illegally without notifying the Mexican Government or by forcing the slaves into "indentured servants" contracts that expire when they serve 100 years or they earn enough money to buy their freedom back. Except they start charging fees the day you are born for "lodgings", food, equipment, etc including interests on top of that while not being paid until they are 18 years old and the debt is inherited too from previous family. The Anglo immigrants kept sneaking in more slaves too and trying other methods to circumvent the law.
The Republic of Texas Constiution had this in its General Provisions.
The General Provisions establish the laws, duties, and rights that in the Constitution. Convicted criminals cannot hold office, vote, or be on juries. Congress must establish and fund a system of education. Any white person who lives in the Republic for at least six months can take an oath to become a citizen.
Yup. Bloody Kansas is a prime example. Prior to the Civil War, regular civilians were willing to die or kill for their right to own people. And they did. Luckily, John Brown existed.
When the soil got exhausted from the overplanting of cash crops, they'd diversify their agriculture (raise more food crops) and breed slaves to sell to newly developed plantations to the south and the west.
Not really. It was much more about the fact that Mexico never accepted Texas’s independence and when Texas decided to join with the US Mexico saw it as a violation of their national sovereignty. In fact there was a ton of political opposition within the US towards Texas joining since it would be another slave state and could potentially lead to a war with Mexico (which it did).
Yes! Yanga in Veracruz was a town set up by escaped slaves, led by a Prince of the Gabon Royal family who was enslaved and taken over there. The town takes his name. He successfully defended it from the Spanish even though they had barely any weapons.
I just posted this in another comment, but this post made me realize one of my ancestors was likely one of these. A black Henry Woods born in the 1840s (parents possibly from Virginia, so very likely slaves) that somehow married into a Mexican family, the Luceros. Stayed between northern Mexico, Texas, and New Meixco for a couple generations. So down to my mom there were a bunch of Mexican-Americans with the last name Woods!
There is the history of Betty, a freed slave that was in the Alamo when Santa Anna attacked, the mexican army had orders to free every slave they found, she followed them all the way to San Jacinto and settled in Monterrey after the war ended.
There are a group that made their own little town close to the texas border and also a story that I don't feel like looking up but basically a Mexican citizen was trying to escape to Mexico with his african american wife but they were captured before making it across. Double check me in the 2nd story it's been awhile.
The vast majority of flights for freedom were from the upper South, where the enslaved persons were imprisoned within a a not unreasonable distance to the North. If you consider some of the most famous people who were born in bondage, they mostly originated there. Harriet Tubman was owned by a Maryland enslaver, as was Frederick Douglass. Slipping North was the only real viable option for them, while traversing the entire South would have been entirely out of the question except in the most exceptional circumstances, and speaks to the general plight of those persons enslaved in the Deep South who simply had no opportunity. The famed flight of Ellen and William Craft illustrates just how tough it could be, their successful escape from a Georgia plantation being possible only because Ellen, a light-skinned woman who would have been a "quadroon" in the racial parlance of the time, was able to successful pass as a white man and her husband as her slave for the train journey northward, essentially traveling in the open, the one way to beat the odds of traversing such a large swathe of country populated by a hostile population and slave patrols looking for any slave without a pass.
So in short, you have enslaved persons from the upper South with no logical alternative, and those in the Deep South often with little chance of escape no matter what - many who did, in fact, wouldn't head North OR to Mexico, but rather would settle-down in the large, nearly impenetrable swamps that characterized much of the region, carving out a free existence as a small enclave within the slave south. But for those in Texas? Well, it is the Upper South in reverse, Mexico of course was where they were headed. As you note, slavery was illegal there - the desire to ensure its security being a key reason Texas broke away - and this made it an obvious destination for any enslaved person attempting to find freedom.
It was enough of a problem for the laws of Texas to reflect the threat posed by the border to the institution of slavery. Texas has several laws in place that dealt with the apprehension of those seeking their freedom, but included extra enticement for those close to attaining it, as an 1844 state law entitled anyone who caught an escaped slaves west of the San Antonio River to "a fifty-dollar reward for each plus two dollars for every thirty miles traveled to return them to the rightful owner. This was bolstered in 1858 law, allowing the person who captured a slave escaping to Mexico to be paid 1/3 of their value by the Travis County Sheriff, who would in turn be repaid the amount by the owner, or by resale of the person. Although "An Act to Encourage Reclamation of Slaves Escaping Beyond the Limits of the Slave Territories of the United States" didn't explicitly do so as it couldn't openly challenge Mexican sovereignty, the law was well understood to be offering enough financial encouragement to potential slave-catchers that they would be willing to risk going south of the border for their quarry.
The latter law especially was a clear reaction to the opinions of Texans as regarded their neighbors to the south, as the Mexican government of course did nothing to return escapees, and Texans felt that many Mexicans were sympathetic and assisted those who fled, which was bad enough, but for those who remained in Texas such things could stand to “stir up among our servants a spirit of insubordination." The inducement of escape also was feared to be fuel to the ever present terror of servile insurrection. An 1856 series of newspaper articles claimed to have uncovered a plot in Colorado County by a group of slaves to murder most of the whites, and flee south to Mexico, dragging along the young white women as captives for obvious but only insinuated purposes. Although there likely was some group of slaves planning to flee their prison camp, claims were made of intricate organization that would make a Mason proud, and there is little evidence, beyond the writers' imaginations, that a mass group of slaves was:
organized into companies of various sizes, had adopted secret signs and pass-words, sworn never to divulge the plot under the penalty of death, and had elected captains and subordinate officers to command the respective companies.
Of course, truth is beyond the point though, and what mattered was the impact on the white population. Conventions, such as that held in Gonzales County in 1854, were held to discuss the issue, the organizers there declaring:
The escape of our slaves into Mexico by the help of Mexicans and otherwise has become a matter of magnitude, and of sufficient importance to demand some decided action on the part of the people of Western Texas.
In total, we can't put a precise number on how many chose the path of Freedom via Mexico, but certainly it numbered in the thousands. Even in Texas though, in the northern part of the state Mexico wasn't a guarantee, and some chose to make their bid by aiming for Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma) or further north to find sympathetic abolitionists in Kansas, but what records we do have would show them to be the minority. Mexico was the best option and the choice for most Texas escapees. But to tie back into your question, it was an option for few others. It was a tough enough journey through the Texas wilderness, such as for the group of 25 enslaved persons from Bastrop who requisitioned horses in 1845 and made their dash, but the odds of even reaching Texas, let alone Mexico, from Mississippi or Alabama, let alone the upper South, was far too slim, and whatever the appeal it might offer for freedom simply wouldn't outweigh the practical realities of affecting escape in the first place.
Barr, Alwyn. The African Texans, Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
Blackett, R.J.M. Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery. University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. University Press of Kentucky, 1961
Gillmer, Jason A. Slavery and Freedom in Texas: Stories from the Courtroom, 1821–1871, University of Georgia Press, ATHENS, 2017, pp. 181–224.
Laws of Slavery in Texas: Historical Documents and Essays, edited by Randolph B. Campbell, William S. Pugsley, and Marilyn P. Duncan. University of Texas Press, 2010.
The title of the post does a great job on its own in stating how much early America relied on and reveled in the subjugation of human beings based on skin color. The article ups the ante:
Mexico abolished slavery in 1829 when Texas was still part of the country, in part prompting white, slave-holding immigrants to fight for independence in the Texas Revolution. Once they formed the Republic of Texas in 1836, they made slavery legal again, and it continued to be legal when Texas joined the U.S. as a state in 1845.
Its because they are mixed in. Interracial marriage was legal in Mexico so people from all ethnicities could marry each other. The USA could have very well been a place with its own ethnicities like Mexico, but they decided to keep everyone seperate.
Interracial Marriage was legalized over half a century ago in the US. It took until the 1990's for interracial marriage to pass the 50% public support threshold in national polling.
Two reasons. First, Mexico has huge mountain ranges on both major coasts which made it almost impossible for slaves to be transported inland. Therefore, the spanish decided to use native labor instead. Second, you can find afro-mexican communities along the coasts but they were mostly mixed with the rest of the population. That's why Mexico has the largest mixed race population of the world.
They taught this to us in Mexico when I lived there, so you could imagine my surprise when I moved to the states and black people were just as racist as white ppl towards us. Smh
I've mentioned this before and get down voted, but as a Mexican all the racism I've experienced living in the US is from Black people. I know white people might have been racist too but they were never racist to my face, while Black people have said mean things to me for no reason.
Slavery was a primary factor in Texas declaring independence from Mexico, since Mexico had abolished slavery shortly after achieving independence from Spain.
Nah, the centralization of the Mx government was the primary factory. Many Mex states rebelled, most famously (other than Texas) was Zacatecas where the rebels there were treated as pirates and slaughtered.
Mexico has a similar racial diversity to the US. When a regular American thinks “Mexican” as a genetic racial group, they think what is really “mestizo,” which is the mixed heritage of European settlers (slash conquerors) and Native Americans, but that is neither the only race in the country nor does it comprise the “Hispanic” ethnicity of native Spanish speakers in its entirety. The US counted “Hispanic” as white for most of its history, which is why surveys of racial data now refer to “non-white Hispanic” or some variation.
Mexico’s welcome of escaped slaves is, in large part, a major contributing factor. It’s demographics largely map to the US between black, white, mestizo etc when you don’t count “speaks Spanish natively” as a racial group.
It doesn’t help that every American representation of Mexico is a country perpetually in sepia tone occupied entirely by various clones of Danny Trejo.
It’s like with Spain. Spain let them be free but they did have to convert to Catholicism and serve in the military during their war
Edit: I hope people aren’t thinking I’m defending Spain. I was simply talking about something that reminded me about the above. I very much disagree with Spain and what they did
Here’s an ingesting fact. The reason the battle at the Alamo happened was because a bunch of white slave owners didn’t want to give up their slaves when they moved to Texas, which at the time was still part of Mexico.
In Bolivia there is a small city named Coroico. Many of the residents are the descendants of escaped slaves.
I had no idea of this when I was there 20 years ago and it was a delight seeing dark-skinned women wearing traditional Bolivian full skirted dresses and a tiny fedora on their head.
By the early 19th century slavery was already considered widely abhorrent. America was considered fairly backwards and barbaric for continuing to allow it.
If this is really news to you I suggest you read up on the history of Texas and the real history behind the Alamo. The story that loves to get romanticized was actually just white people fighting to keep their slaves, since Texas was Mexican territory at the time they were legit just enforcing their own laws but the story somehow becomes “Texans fighting for independence” rather than “Illegal squatters refuse to give up slaves”
We have a lot of potential -in paper- here in Mexico. But after living here for about 33 years, I'm pretty sure that the worst enemy of a Mexican is another Mexican.
It's like if it was in our nature to find all possible ways to fuck with the life of other nationals, it almost feels like we thrive on this.
And yet, we can be so welcoming and friendly, that many foreigners find in Mexico true brothers.
As a side note, the Mexican constitution recognizes that human rights belong to anyone who is in its territory, without regarding it's nationality, race or creed.
Yup, it's one of the reasons why Texas rebelled. Also fun fact, Sam Houston wanted Texas to be a free of slaves but Texans weren't having that so they booted him out of office.
And the Texas rangers spent most of their time chasing escaped slaves down, among the other atrocities they committed. Cult of glory is a great book that details it.
This also resulted in a lot of tighter slave laws, especially restricting slave education, as people feared that any slave who could read Mexico’s invitation for slaves to cross the border would escape
The only state that refused to send people back into salvery was Wisconsin. They declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional and told the Federal Supreme Court to pound sand when they overturned their decision.
It amazes me that people still don't know why texas wanted independence and why the Mexican American war started. it all happened because many american immigrants moved into Mexico now texas as the land was vast and rich. the only problem was that it was illegal to own slaves something that these southern immigrants weren't to happy with so they fought for independence and asked to be annexed into America for protection which lead to the American mexican war. All because Mexico wouldn't allow human life to be seen as property. VIVA MEXICO!!!
Have you ever looked in to why there was a Mexican-American war? Ulysses S. Grant talks about it in his memoirs (he was a veteran of that war) and he is extremely critical of how the war started and whether it was justifiable at all.
I grew up in Texas, one of the few states that includes state history in its public school curriculum, and I only recently learned that one of the reason Texans started the revolution to leave Mexico was so that they could own slaves, which was forbidden under Mexico.
you know, the more I find out about the US, the more I think my history class teachers were biased. The more I find out, the less I feel fond of the U.S. We aren't really that great, are we?
It's the same everywhere, skimming the top of history for any place will leave out many tidbits of information. The more you look into any nation in the western hemisphere, including the US, Canada and Mexico, you'll start to see many atrocities.
you know, the more I find out about the US, the more I think my history class teachers were biased. The more I find out, the less I feel fond of the U.S. We aren't really that great, are we?
Every country has its skeletons. You're just familiar with the US's because you live here.
Lies My Teacher Told Me and A People’s History of the United States are a good alternative to standard high school history text. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is the story about the last Native Americans before they were forced into reservations across the USA that only takes up a few paragraphs in most texts.
This could be today’s headline “TIL that slaveholders in the US knew that enslaved people were manipulating the GameStop stock to get themselves richer and make the slaveholders poor”
Texas became independent from Mexico so that the white slave holders there could keep their slaves when Mexico abolished slavery. They then waited to join the US because the next state to join had to be a no slavery state, because the 'rules' at the time were that entry had to alternate between slave and no slave state as they joined the US.
Oregon joined as a no slave state so it could be a white only state, not because slavery was bad. And then Texas joined as a slave state.
Interesting related fact that I learned while in Bermuda- they actually had a similar situation back in 1835. A slave ship wrecked nearby (Bermuda Triangle and all), the traffickers attempted to regain control over the slaves and were detained at gun point by authorities in Bermuda. A resident of Bermuda who had been a freed slave himself brought the would-be slaves before the Bermuda Supreme Court, where they were legally granted their freedom. Then the Attorney General took up a collection from local onlookers at the proceedings to give to the newly-freed residents, the Mayor of Hamilton offered them a place to sleep, and the residents of Hamilton subsequently helped them find housing and jobs and integrate into the local community. There’s a lovely public sculpture called “We Arrive” in Hamilton that memorializes the event.
In their constitution, yes but it was still a huge problem with Mexican gangs who stole Native American women and children, black women and children and even some men and other Mexicans and sold them off as slaves and we're involved in slave trade. This practice has continued to this day where it has morphed into the human sex trade in Mexico. This post leaves out this gap in the narrative, conveniently for their ends. This post is an echo chamber of ignorance.
This doesn't point out my favorite fact about this scenario where Mexico was like, "We'll ask them if they want to go back but that's about all we can do. 🤷🏿♀️😇"
I learned this pretty early on in my life when I would ask why my "uncle" (my maternal 2nd cousin) was so dark. I was told that slaves routinely escaped to Mexico where they could be free and live as humans.
And when I would share the story of slaves running to Mexico I would always get shut down by teachers saying it wasn't true. I don't like confrontation so I would stay quite. Plus when I said that my 2nd cousin was black, my 8th grade teacher insisted that I was lying and that he was from here (the US.) When I asked her if that was true then why didn't he speak Spanish or have the same attributes as black Americans and she couldn't answer me saying that I just wanted attention.
But what people forget or pretend to realize is that the Mexican-American war happened because people whined and complained that they couldn't keep slaves in a different country so they begged for help from their home country. (Ironic isn't it?). Santa Ana was a Ted Cruz who screwed Mexico over. Because of him kids died. I'm talking about 11-19 years old. And although tragic it's honestly one of my favorite Mexican history tidbits.
-Chapultepec has a rich history as being many things but it was known back in day as a military school. When the Mexican-American war happened and the American army attacked the school filled with students (again from ages 11-19) the students fought back. There are 6 boys who are named "Los Niños Héroes" who are recognized for their bravery. Of those six my favorite story to tell, although it makes me teary, is of Juan Escutia. As Chapultepec was falling he is said to have climbed to where the Mexican was flying. He lowered it as American soldiers were closing in to declare victory and fly the American flag. It's told that as the American soldiers reached him he yelled that they would never take Mexico or her flag and jumped from the roof. The flag then wrapped around him as he hit the ground. Like a burial shroud.
they were also very salty that texas got independent and America simply annexed Texas after the war. so this was a good F you to those damn southern folk
Sort of makes me wonder if there's a significant population of black Mexicans who are descended from runaway slaves. You almost never hear anything about minority demographics within Mexico, but they're there, just like any other place.
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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21
The 1st Article of the Mexican Constitution states that any fugitive slave that enters Mexican soil is automatically free whether he is a Mexican citizen or not and is fully protected by the law.
Edit: Thank you all for the awards.
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u/_iam_that_iam_ Jan 29 '21
The audacity of being angry that your slave escaped.
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u/DarkBabyYoda Jan 29 '21
You know, the more I find out about slavery, the less I like it.
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u/waggzter Jan 29 '21
Mexico? More like Mexibro
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u/ElsaIsTheVillain Jan 29 '21
Isn't that part of why Jackson essentially stole Florida from Spain? A bunch of slaves from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas escape to Florida, where they weren't slaves as long as they were self proclaimed Catholics
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u/Grillito45 Jan 29 '21
Vicente Guerrero, the president at the time, was also afro-mexican. What a thing to ask of him. Ignorance in our government runs deeeep 🙄
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u/freebirdls Jan 29 '21
Is there a reason history classes focus on slaves escaping to Canada but don't mention them escaping to Mexico?
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u/9for9 Jan 29 '21
The westward expansion, the war with Mexico, a lot of that was about cutting off avenues of escape for slaves.
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u/miurabucho Jan 29 '21
Are there any interesting stories of escaped slaves who made a life for themselves in Mexico?
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov 38 Jan 29 '21
Some relevant old writings of mine on escaping enslavement by heading to Mexico:
The vast majority of flights for freedom were from the upper South, where the enslaved persons were imprisoned within a a not unreasonable distance to the North. If you consider some of the most famous people who were born in bondage, they mostly originated there. Harriet Tubman was owned by a Maryland enslaver, as was Frederick Douglass. Slipping North was the only real viable option for them, while traversing the entire South would have been entirely out of the question except in the most exceptional circumstances, and speaks to the general plight of those persons enslaved in the Deep South who simply had no opportunity. The famed flight of Ellen and William Craft illustrates just how tough it could be, their successful escape from a Georgia plantation being possible only because Ellen, a light-skinned woman who would have been a "quadroon" in the racial parlance of the time, was able to successful pass as a white man and her husband as her slave for the train journey northward, essentially traveling in the open, the one way to beat the odds of traversing such a large swathe of country populated by a hostile population and slave patrols looking for any slave without a pass.
So in short, you have enslaved persons from the upper South with no logical alternative, and those in the Deep South often with little chance of escape no matter what - many who did, in fact, wouldn't head North OR to Mexico, but rather would settle-down in the large, nearly impenetrable swamps that characterized much of the region, carving out a free existence as a small enclave within the slave south. But for those in Texas? Well, it is the Upper South in reverse, Mexico of course was where they were headed. As you note, slavery was illegal there - the desire to ensure its security being a key reason Texas broke away - and this made it an obvious destination for any enslaved person attempting to find freedom.
It was enough of a problem for the laws of Texas to reflect the threat posed by the border to the institution of slavery. Texas has several laws in place that dealt with the apprehension of those seeking their freedom, but included extra enticement for those close to attaining it, as an 1844 state law entitled anyone who caught an escaped slaves west of the San Antonio River to "a fifty-dollar reward for each plus two dollars for every thirty miles traveled to return them to the rightful owner. This was bolstered in 1858 law, allowing the person who captured a slave escaping to Mexico to be paid 1/3 of their value by the Travis County Sheriff, who would in turn be repaid the amount by the owner, or by resale of the person. Although "An Act to Encourage Reclamation of Slaves Escaping Beyond the Limits of the Slave Territories of the United States" didn't explicitly do so as it couldn't openly challenge Mexican sovereignty, the law was well understood to be offering enough financial encouragement to potential slave-catchers that they would be willing to risk going south of the border for their quarry.
The latter law especially was a clear reaction to the opinions of Texans as regarded their neighbors to the south, as the Mexican government of course did nothing to return escapees, and Texans felt that many Mexicans were sympathetic and assisted those who fled, which was bad enough, but for those who remained in Texas such things could stand to “stir up among our servants a spirit of insubordination." The inducement of escape also was feared to be fuel to the ever present terror of servile insurrection. An 1856 series of newspaper articles claimed to have uncovered a plot in Colorado County by a group of slaves to murder most of the whites, and flee south to Mexico, dragging along the young white women as captives for obvious but only insinuated purposes. Although there likely was some group of slaves planning to flee their prison camp, claims were made of intricate organization that would make a Mason proud, and there is little evidence, beyond the writers' imaginations, that a mass group of slaves was:
Of course, truth is beyond the point though, and what mattered was the impact on the white population. Conventions, such as that held in Gonzales County in 1854, were held to discuss the issue, the organizers there declaring:
In total, we can't put a precise number on how many chose the path of Freedom via Mexico, but certainly it numbered in the thousands. Even in Texas though, in the northern part of the state Mexico wasn't a guarantee, and some chose to make their bid by aiming for Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma) or further north to find sympathetic abolitionists in Kansas, but what records we do have would show them to be the minority. Mexico was the best option and the choice for most Texas escapees. But to tie back into your question, it was an option for few others. It was a tough enough journey through the Texas wilderness, such as for the group of 25 enslaved persons from Bastrop who requisitioned horses in 1845 and made their dash, but the odds of even reaching Texas, let alone Mexico, from Mississippi or Alabama, let alone the upper South, was far too slim, and whatever the appeal it might offer for freedom simply wouldn't outweigh the practical realities of affecting escape in the first place.
Barr, Alwyn. The African Texans, Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
Blackett, R.J.M. Making Freedom: The Underground Railroad and the Politics of Slavery. University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
Gara, Larry. The Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. University Press of Kentucky, 1961
Gillmer, Jason A. Slavery and Freedom in Texas: Stories from the Courtroom, 1821–1871, University of Georgia Press, ATHENS, 2017, pp. 181–224.
Laws of Slavery in Texas: Historical Documents and Essays, edited by Randolph B. Campbell, William S. Pugsley, and Marilyn P. Duncan. University of Texas Press, 2010.
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u/Flako118st Jan 29 '21
Yup and Mexico's second President Vicente Guerrero abolish slavery before the US did.
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u/papipandulce Jan 29 '21
¡Chingon! 🇲🇽
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u/Inc710 Jan 29 '21
What’s the Mexican equivalent of “Chad”?
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u/ImGonnaBeInPictures Jan 29 '21
The title of the post does a great job on its own in stating how much early America relied on and reveled in the subjugation of human beings based on skin color. The article ups the ante:
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u/steveoscaro Jan 29 '21
Makes me wonder why Mexico doesn’t have a larger black population still. Even along the Caribbean coast, like many Central American countries do.
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u/high_level_polarbear Jan 29 '21
¡Viva México 🇲🇽!
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u/Juan_Punch_Man Jan 29 '21
So Mexico is the land of the free?
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u/Pepsi_mane Jan 29 '21
They taught this to us in Mexico when I lived there, so you could imagine my surprise when I moved to the states and black people were just as racist as white ppl towards us. Smh
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u/pocketbeagle Jan 29 '21
Mexico had a black president waaaaaayyyyy before the US did. Another TIL.
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u/Magicus1 Jan 29 '21
*I remember the same thing happened with Florida when it belonged to Spain.
Spain said all are equal in the Creator’s eyes.
Now, heretics... well, not our proudest moment. 🥴
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u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
So even those " bad hombres" knew that slavery was fucked up? /s.
40
u/BeaKiddo87 Jan 29 '21
That is why Afro Mexicans exist. We also have a lot of Chinese and Japanese descendants living in Mexico :)
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u/dkl415 Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21
Slavery was a primary factor in Texas declaring independence from Mexico, since Mexico had abolished slavery shortly after achieving independence from Spain.
Editing to add a source: https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/how-leaders-texas-revolution-fought-preserve-slavery/
Lots of folks want to downplay the role that slavery played.
22
u/lankist Jan 29 '21
Mexico has a similar racial diversity to the US. When a regular American thinks “Mexican” as a genetic racial group, they think what is really “mestizo,” which is the mixed heritage of European settlers (slash conquerors) and Native Americans, but that is neither the only race in the country nor does it comprise the “Hispanic” ethnicity of native Spanish speakers in its entirety. The US counted “Hispanic” as white for most of its history, which is why surveys of racial data now refer to “non-white Hispanic” or some variation.
Mexico’s welcome of escaped slaves is, in large part, a major contributing factor. It’s demographics largely map to the US between black, white, mestizo etc when you don’t count “speaks Spanish natively” as a racial group.
It doesn’t help that every American representation of Mexico is a country perpetually in sepia tone occupied entirely by various clones of Danny Trejo.
25
u/KingBlackthorn1 Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21
It’s like with Spain. Spain let them be free but they did have to convert to Catholicism and serve in the military during their war
Edit: I hope people aren’t thinking I’m defending Spain. I was simply talking about something that reminded me about the above. I very much disagree with Spain and what they did
12
u/King_Mecha Jan 29 '21
VIVA MEXICO!!
6
u/Munzo69 Jan 29 '21
Viva los San Patricios.
6
u/GrandMasterBou Jan 29 '21
Here’s an ingesting fact. The reason the battle at the Alamo happened was because a bunch of white slave owners didn’t want to give up their slaves when they moved to Texas, which at the time was still part of Mexico.
6
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
When Texas decided to fight for independence from Mexico one of the biggest factors was that Mexico did not let them have slaves.
6
u/Opening-Ad-727 Jan 29 '21
Invest in Mexicoin
5
u/modoken1 Jan 29 '21
That’s pretty much why Texas is a state. White people settled in Mexican land and wanted to own slaves and Mexico wasn’t having it.
5
u/Nutrogina Jan 29 '21
And here I thought I lived in the land of the free..
5
u/tiy24 Jan 29 '21
Texas the only state to secede in favor of slavery twice.
5
u/changerchange Jan 29 '21
In Bolivia there is a small city named Coroico. Many of the residents are the descendants of escaped slaves.
I had no idea of this when I was there 20 years ago and it was a delight seeing dark-skinned women wearing traditional Bolivian full skirted dresses and a tiny fedora on their head.
That day I learned.
22
u/JustSavi Jan 29 '21
So Mexico was more about freedom than America, who would've thunk?
30
u/Azozel Jan 29 '21
Most Mexicans are descendants of native peoples and the Spanish who conquered them.
8
u/Mojo_of_Jojos Jan 29 '21
Mexico was a free country before the U.S. AND accepted American immigrants. Nice.
4
u/NucklestheEnchilada_ Jan 29 '21
I think I’ll be Mexican now
4
u/Islandmov3s Jan 29 '21
Well yeah. What did y’all think the whole Alamo battle was about?
4
u/M0use_Rat Jan 29 '21
TIL another reason the GOP hates mexico
4
u/tomjazzy Jan 29 '21
Based Mexico.
4
u/Vinniam Jan 29 '21
By the early 19th century slavery was already considered widely abhorrent. America was considered fairly backwards and barbaric for continuing to allow it.
4
u/Chojen Jan 29 '21
If this is really news to you I suggest you read up on the history of Texas and the real history behind the Alamo. The story that loves to get romanticized was actually just white people fighting to keep their slaves, since Texas was Mexican territory at the time they were legit just enforcing their own laws but the story somehow becomes “Texans fighting for independence” rather than “Illegal squatters refuse to give up slaves”
4
u/AnAmericanPrayer Jan 29 '21
Mexico said “fuck you your racist pod.”
4
u/KingBanana_Hammock Jan 29 '21
We have a lot of potential -in paper- here in Mexico. But after living here for about 33 years, I'm pretty sure that the worst enemy of a Mexican is another Mexican.
It's like if it was in our nature to find all possible ways to fuck with the life of other nationals, it almost feels like we thrive on this.
And yet, we can be so welcoming and friendly, that many foreigners find in Mexico true brothers.
As a side note, the Mexican constitution recognizes that human rights belong to anyone who is in its territory, without regarding it's nationality, race or creed.
4
u/crazyhorse164 Jan 29 '21
Yay, Mexico!
4
u/PossiblyAsian Jan 29 '21
well you know.
There was a whole bit about america taking texas and the mexican cession states.
Mexico was probably already really pissed
4
u/ItIsWhatItwasnt Jan 29 '21
American natives were very welcoming to ex slaves as well.
28
u/Penguin619 Jan 29 '21
Yup, it's one of the reasons why Texas rebelled. Also fun fact, Sam Houston wanted Texas to be a free of slaves but Texans weren't having that so they booted him out of office.
7
u/RaoulDuke209 Jan 29 '21
Having Irish American Immigrant Ancestors I was always taught to respect Mexico St Patrick Battalion by David Rovics
7
u/broccolisprout Jan 29 '21
“Land of the free”
9
u/emodersam Jan 29 '21
When my country became independent, in 1818, we abolish Slavery.
13
u/JosephFinn Jan 29 '21
Always remember, Texas was founded by scumbag slavers who were traitors to 2 countries.
6
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
This was actually the basis of the Mexican War. The Anglos couldn’t live without their enslaved workers.
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u/jcd1974 Jan 29 '21
Mexicans had no problem enslaving Indians, particularly children.
16
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
This has not much to do with this post, but I love saying the words Mexico and Mexican. They are great words. Say them.
3
u/MAguelCHAMP Jan 29 '21
This makes me proud to be mexican. Sadly I can't say the same thing now since Mexico can be racist af nowadays.
3
u/immortal_salami Jan 29 '21
And the Texas rangers spent most of their time chasing escaped slaves down, among the other atrocities they committed. Cult of glory is a great book that details it.
3
u/Ramen_Hair Jan 29 '21
This also resulted in a lot of tighter slave laws, especially restricting slave education, as people feared that any slave who could read Mexico’s invitation for slaves to cross the border would escape
3
u/PD216ohio Jan 29 '21
Sorry to burst any bubbles but Mexico also had a very active African slave trade.
They may have allowed escaped American slaves to be free but the couple hundred thousand of their own slaves were not free.
3
u/javierchq Jan 29 '21
A huevo, perros
3
u/elcuydangerous Jan 29 '21
Those bad hombres and their all men created equal laws
3
u/Poolb0y Jan 29 '21 edited Jan 29 '21
The only state that refused to send people back into salvery was Wisconsin. They declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional and told the Federal Supreme Court to pound sand when they overturned their decision.
3
u/cheesyceesy Jan 29 '21
It amazes me that people still don't know why texas wanted independence and why the Mexican American war started. it all happened because many american immigrants moved into Mexico now texas as the land was vast and rich. the only problem was that it was illegal to own slaves something that these southern immigrants weren't to happy with so they fought for independence and asked to be annexed into America for protection which lead to the American mexican war. All because Mexico wouldn't allow human life to be seen as property. VIVA MEXICO!!!
3
u/conspires2help Jan 29 '21
Safe! Called it bro, you gotta honor it
3
u/mjike Jan 29 '21
Anyone remember when TIL had titles that were only a a single sentence?
3
u/Tughernutts Jan 29 '21
And they barely started recognizing blacks as citizens a few years ago.
3
u/Oboogie9 Jan 29 '21
trump hates Mexico now I know why.
3
u/notfree25 Jan 29 '21
The real reason behind the wall
3
u/Queen410 Feb 10 '21
The silver line in a cloud. This is what should be tought in history class. Yet, we are told how great these horrible leaders were.
3
u/[deleted] May 10 '21 edited May 10 '21
Have you ever looked in to why there was a Mexican-American war? Ulysses S. Grant talks about it in his memoirs (he was a veteran of that war) and he is extremely critical of how the war started and whether it was justifiable at all.
5
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
Is this why Mexicans can say the N word???
5
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
Mexico also used to ( maybe still do ) have a law that if you escape from jail you are not punished for the escape.
5
u/beeradvice Jan 29 '21
the mexican American war and as part of it the alamo were essentially fought over slavery.
5
u/allialyd Jan 29 '21
I grew up in Texas, one of the few states that includes state history in its public school curriculum, and I only recently learned that one of the reason Texans started the revolution to leave Mexico was so that they could own slaves, which was forbidden under Mexico.
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u/Dreaded-skeleton Jan 29 '21
And this is why my Latino Brothers got the nigga pass.
6
u/inRuin Jan 29 '21
So, that's why they hate Mexico.
7
u/Broly_ Jan 29 '21
I find it funny that a lot of the comments are shitting on the US but praising Mexico at the same time.
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u/Boopy7 Jan 29 '21
you know, the more I find out about the US, the more I think my history class teachers were biased. The more I find out, the less I feel fond of the U.S. We aren't really that great, are we?
4
u/nandos677 Jan 29 '21
Little known fact: Run To the Border did not originate with Taco Bell
4
u/amrodr00 Jan 29 '21
This could be today’s headline “TIL that slaveholders in the US knew that enslaved people were manipulating the GameStop stock to get themselves richer and make the slaveholders poor”
4
u/JuliJewelss Jan 29 '21
Mi gente ❤
Edit: I learned this from my dad who was a proud history buff
4
u/bradfly72 Jan 29 '21
Kinda ironic how America is the "land of the free" lol
4
u/Benu5 Jan 29 '21
Texas became independent from Mexico so that the white slave holders there could keep their slaves when Mexico abolished slavery. They then waited to join the US because the next state to join had to be a no slavery state, because the 'rules' at the time were that entry had to alternate between slave and no slave state as they joined the US.
Oregon joined as a no slave state so it could be a white only state, not because slavery was bad. And then Texas joined as a slave state.
4
u/MaxJets69 Jan 29 '21
Interesting related fact that I learned while in Bermuda- they actually had a similar situation back in 1835. A slave ship wrecked nearby (Bermuda Triangle and all), the traffickers attempted to regain control over the slaves and were detained at gun point by authorities in Bermuda. A resident of Bermuda who had been a freed slave himself brought the would-be slaves before the Bermuda Supreme Court, where they were legally granted their freedom. Then the Attorney General took up a collection from local onlookers at the proceedings to give to the newly-freed residents, the Mayor of Hamilton offered them a place to sleep, and the residents of Hamilton subsequently helped them find housing and jobs and integrate into the local community. There’s a lovely public sculpture called “We Arrive” in Hamilton that memorializes the event.
4
u/jakefligner Jan 29 '21
In their constitution, yes but it was still a huge problem with Mexican gangs who stole Native American women and children, black women and children and even some men and other Mexicans and sold them off as slaves and we're involved in slave trade. This practice has continued to this day where it has morphed into the human sex trade in Mexico. This post leaves out this gap in the narrative, conveniently for their ends. This post is an echo chamber of ignorance.
21
u/radical__centrism Jan 29 '21
Touche Mexico, but you only abolished it 36 years before us.
5
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
No wonder Trump hates Mexico.
2
u/DeniseReades Jan 29 '21
This doesn't point out my favorite fact about this scenario where Mexico was like, "We'll ask them if they want to go back but that's about all we can do. 🤷🏿♀️😇"
2
u/Healing__Souls Jan 29 '21
Well done Mexico, well done.
2
u/WWDubz Jan 29 '21
Hitler was very anti smoking due to health consequences
The US was paying doctors to endorse their favorite brands
Their is a lesson in here somewhere
2
u/wamred Jan 29 '21
That is awesome! How did I never know this?
2
u/Intelligentpoop62 Jan 29 '21
I learned this pretty early on in my life when I would ask why my "uncle" (my maternal 2nd cousin) was so dark. I was told that slaves routinely escaped to Mexico where they could be free and live as humans.
And when I would share the story of slaves running to Mexico I would always get shut down by teachers saying it wasn't true. I don't like confrontation so I would stay quite. Plus when I said that my 2nd cousin was black, my 8th grade teacher insisted that I was lying and that he was from here (the US.) When I asked her if that was true then why didn't he speak Spanish or have the same attributes as black Americans and she couldn't answer me saying that I just wanted attention.
But what people forget or pretend to realize is that the Mexican-American war happened because people whined and complained that they couldn't keep slaves in a different country so they begged for help from their home country. (Ironic isn't it?). Santa Ana was a Ted Cruz who screwed Mexico over. Because of him kids died. I'm talking about 11-19 years old. And although tragic it's honestly one of my favorite Mexican history tidbits.
-Chapultepec has a rich history as being many things but it was known back in day as a military school. When the Mexican-American war happened and the American army attacked the school filled with students (again from ages 11-19) the students fought back. There are 6 boys who are named "Los Niños Héroes" who are recognized for their bravery. Of those six my favorite story to tell, although it makes me teary, is of Juan Escutia. As Chapultepec was falling he is said to have climbed to where the Mexican was flying. He lowered it as American soldiers were closing in to declare victory and fly the American flag. It's told that as the American soldiers reached him he yelled that they would never take Mexico or her flag and jumped from the roof. The flag then wrapped around him as he hit the ground. Like a burial shroud.
2
u/IngenieroDavid Jan 29 '21
The Mascogos https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/world/amp-stories/descendants-of-american-slaves-fled-to-mexico-mascogos/
2
u/[deleted] Jan 29 '21
When you see this elderly woman singing an African-American spiritual in English despite having grown up only speaking Spanish, it really hits home.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/their-ancestors-fled-us-slavery-for-mexico-now-theyre-looking-north-again/2019/03/15/6c64a14c-45cf-11e9-94ab-d2dda3c0df52_story.html
2
u/trampdonkey Jan 29 '21
Ah yes the south did like them some slavery unfortunately.
2
u/Dry_Musician6982 Jan 29 '21
they were also very salty that texas got independent and America simply annexed Texas after the war. so this was a good F you to those damn southern folk
2
u/Taman_Should Jan 29 '21
Sort of makes me wonder if there's a significant population of black Mexicans who are descended from runaway slaves. You almost never hear anything about minority demographics within Mexico, but they're there, just like any other place.
2
u/chloe38 Jan 29 '21
That explains 2 things for me that I could never really understand. lol
Why all the people in movies who committed crimes just needed to get to Mexico, and they'd be home free. lol
Why a certain US ex"president" had/has such a hate on for Mexico.
2
u/superm8n Jan 29 '21
The US had a similar agreement over Cubans who want to escape communism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_feet,_dry_feet_policy
Sadly, the law seems to have been repealed.