Fugitive Slaves in Mexico

[Goddess IsIs Akkebala]

National History Project
Fugitive Slaves in Mexico
Researched by Kathy Pozniak, Von Humboldt Middle School

U.S. history is filled with stories of the Underground Railroad. Mention fugitive slaves and inevitably attention is drawn north - first to the northern states, and later, after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, further north yet to Canada. Yet thousands of slaves gained their freedom through a different route - into Mexico. In this paper, I hope to show that while slave escapes into Mexico may be only a small chapter in history, it adds another integral layer towards understanding the political, social and economic developments of the antebellum era.

In 1821, the Spanish government granted land to Moses Austin, an American, in Mexico. Unable to entice internal migration to this vast and unoccupied territory, the Spanish decided to take the unusual step of encouraging foreign immigration to establish a base of small rural landholders. (1) A few months after this grant, Mexico won its independence from Spain. And, although Moses Austin died before leading settlers into Mexico, this unique scheme for settlement was not abandoned. Shortly after its establishment, Mexico allowed Stephen Austin and other U.S. citizens to occupy land within the Mexican state of Texas. These settlers brought their slaves with them. By 1825, one out of five residents in Texas was a slave. (2)

Then, on September 15, 1829, Mexican President Vicente Guererro abolished slavery.(3) Ten years later, U.S. Senator John Niles characterized this action as a "hazardous experiment." In his book, the History of South America and Mexico, Niles argued that Spanish methods of colonization, in particular the practice of intermarriage with indigenous peoples, had caused a deterioration in their innate intelligence level and, consequently, their ability to practice democracy. Niles contended that any further heterogeneity would only guarantee the fall of the Mexican republic.(4)

Just two and a half months after Mexico abolished slavery and for reasons unrelated to Niles's opinion, Texas Governor J.M. Viesca secured an exemption for his state. The land fees generated an important source of income for the local government.(5) Nonetheless, Mexican officials were uneasy about the numbers of new Americans settling within Mexico and they attempted to curb the number of newcomers, including slaves, in another way. In 1830, Mexico decreed that foreigners could not cross the border without obtaining a passport issued by Mexican agents.(6) The Mexican government, however, was generally ineffectual in enforcing this law and it was largely ignored.

While slaveholders looked to Mexico for land, so too did abolitionists. In 1832, Benjamin Lundy attempted to acquire land in Texas for the purpose of establishing a colony for ex-slaves. Lundy favored colonization because he believed it was a way to end slavery; slaves would be freed only if their owners could be guaranteed that they would then leave the United States.(7) Furthermore Lundy realized freed slaves in the U.S. would still be subjected to racism and discrimination. In Lundy's opinion, they would have a better chance someplace where they would enjoy greater social and legal equality.(8) Though he knew of the 1830 law that prohibited further U.S. settlements in Texas, Lundy hoped that Mexican officials would make an exception for him. They did not. Two years later, Colonel Juan Almonte suggested to Lundy that he again petition for land but in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which was not included in the 1830 law.(9) Tamaulipas was located just south of Texas and straddled the Rio Grande. Although Lundy did not indicate in his recollections what motivated Almonte to make this offer, another Mexican official, Senator Francisco de Tagle, had suggested as early as 1831 that fugitive slaves be given homes on the frontier as a barrier against possible invasion.(10) In March of 1835, the Mexican government granted Lundy 138,000 acres of land in Tamaulipas.(11) Lundy wanted to establish at least 250 families within two years.(12) Unfortunately, war interceded.

In December of 1835, Americans in Texas began a fight for independence from Mexico. According to Lundy, they rebelled when they "ascertained that slavery could not be perpetuated... under the government of the Mexican Republic."(13) In the midst of the fighting, many slaves escaped into Mexico but those that moved to Tamaulipas found themselves entrapped once more. The Texan nation's new boundaries expanded southward to the Rio Grande River. Consequently, Lundy's land grant was no longer in Tamaulipas but in Texas; the planned colony never came to fruition.(14) Lundy never attempted to establish another colony in Mexico and he died in 1839.(15) The Republic of Texas declared slavery to be legal and in its ten-year existence, the slave population grew 450% from 5,000 to nearly 27,500.(16)

In the midst of mounting tensions between Mexico, Texas, and the United States during the 1840s, slavery became an issue over which Mexico could assert its sovereignty. Mexican authorities always rejected Texans' demands to reclaim their runaways. Texas President Sam Houston lamented to U.S. General William Harding in July, 1841, that ". . . two valuable negro boys for which I had paid in cash $2100 previous to my visit to Nashville, ran away last spring to Mexico. Thus you can see I am in bad luck."(17) After the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848) Mexico continued to assert itself by refusing to enter into any extradition treaties with the United States and, although it finally ratified an agreement in 1862, it specifically excluded runaway slaves.(18)

Consequently, Mexico remained a place of amnesty. However, the absence of an organized network for escapes meant that most slaves made their way into Mexico either individually or in small groups. Despite this impediment, thousands of fugitive slaves lived in Mexico by 1850. But the flow of runaways into Mexico did not compare with the numbers still enslaved in Texas. According to the 1850 U.S. census, 58,161 slaves lived in Texas, whose entire population was 212,592. Thus, slaves comprised over 28% of the population.(19) On the eve of the Civil War, this percentage had increased to the point where nearly 1/3 of the total population of Texas were slaves.(20)

Finding the Mexican government uncooperative, Texas slaveowners took measures to stop escapes as well as to reclaim runaways. In 1850, they pressured the federal government to set up border patrols but with few troops assigned to patrol this vast frontier, this was not very successful.(21) Slaveowners also offered rewards of $200-$600 for the recapturing of fugitives. Noah Smithwick recalled being part of a group of men in pursuit of runaway slaves in Texas in 1855. Unprepared for the resistance they received, Smithwick's group retreated home. Much to his own surprise, Smithwick hoped that the fugitives had made it to Mexico.(22) (See Document One) Sometimes, however, Texans did not respect the border in their pursuits of runaway slaves. In 1855, Captain James Callahan of the Texas Rangers under the orders of Texan Governor Elisha Pease entered Mexico in an attempt to recapture slaves. Callahan insisted that the purpose of his excursion was to pursue Indians rather than recapture fugitive slaves. The Mexican government with the help of Native Americans, however, forced him to retreat and withdraw without the slaves; although not without leaving a small village in ruins.(23)

Sam Houston offered yet another solution to the problem of fugitive slaves in Mexico. In 1858, he proposed making Mexico a protectorate of the United States because he believed that Mexicans were incapable of maintaining a democracy and thus creating a "good neighborhood."(24) Although Houston did not originally mention slavery as a rationale, in promoting his plan a year later he suggested that slavery would aid Mexico's agricultural development. He also said that it would "provide for the reclamation of our slaves who escape into her territory."(25)

Seemingly unaffected by these debates, many runaway slaves assimilated into Mexican culture - learning the language and the customs. A number of persons left recollections of their encounters. As early as 1833, Lundy wrote about a man he met while in San Antonio de Bexar, Mexico. (See Document Two) Frederick Law Olmsted wrote of meeting an ex-slave during his travels through Mexico in 1854. (See Document Three) Mrs. William Cazneau, who lived in the border town of Eagle Pass from 1850-1852, documented the experience of an acquaintance of hers who encountered an ex-slave in Monterey. (See Document Four) Much to the surprise of these Americans, these former slaves had obtained wealth and status in their new communities.

Textbooks and survey courses do not focus on the topic of runaway slaves into Mexico probably due to the small known numbers. Estimates generally range between 3,000 to 5,000. Yet to focus in on just the relatively small numbers of fugitive slaves in Mexico is to miss the larger picture. By teaching this topic within the larger context of other events in the 19th Century, such as Manifest Destiny, expansion of slavery and Mexican independence, it serves to add another integral detail and greater understanding to this period in history.



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Endnotes
(1) Rosalee Schwartz, "Across the Rio to Freedom," Southwest Studies No. 44 (1975): 8.
(2) Ibid., 11.
(3) Ibid., 16.
(4) John M. Niles, History of South America and Mexico (Hartford: H. Huntington, 1839), 199. [F 96 .6202]
(5) Schwartz, "Across The Rio to Freedom," 16.
(6) Ibid., 17.
(7) Merton Dillon, Benjamin Lundy and The Struggle for Negro Freedom (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1966), 27.
(8) Ibid., 91.
(9) Dillon, Benjamin Lundy, 180.
(10) Ronnie C. Tyler, "Fugitive Slaves in Mexico," Journal of Negro History, Volume 57, Issue 1 (January, 1972), 2.
(11) Benjamin Lundy, The Life, Travels and Opinions of Benjamin Lundy. Ed. William Parrish. (Philadelphia: William D. Parrish Publisher, 1847), 168.; Dillon, Benjamin Lundy, 203-204.
(12) Dillon, Benjamin Lundy, 203-204.
(13) Benjamin Lundy, "The Origin and True Causes of the Texas Insurrection," (originally published in Philadelphia's National Gazette, 1839), 31.
(14) Dillon, Benjamin Lundy, 219.
(15) A. M. Shotwell. Benjamin Lundy. (Lansing: Robert Smith Printing Company, 1897), 9.
(16) Frederick Law Olmsted, Till Freedom Cried Out. Ed. T. Lindsay Baker and Julie Baker. (College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1997), xxi.
(17) Sam Houston, The Writings of Sam Houston Volume III. Ed. Amelia Williams and Eugene Barker (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1942), 10.
(18) Tyler, "Fugitive Slaves in Mexico," 11.
(19) Frederick Law Olmsted, A Journey through Texas. (New York: Dix, Edwards and Company, 1857), 472.
(20) Olmsted, Till Freedom Cried Out, xxi.
(21) Tyler, "Fugitive Slaves in Mexico," 4.
(22) Noah Smithwick, The Evolution of a State. (Austin: Gammel Book Company, 1900), 326.
(23) Tyler, "Fugitive Slaves in Mexico," 8-9. Olmsted, A Journey through Texas, 333.
(24) Sam Houston, The Writings of Sam Houston Volume VII. Ed. Amelia Williams and Eugene Barker. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1942), 104.
(25) Sam Houston, The Writings of Sam Houston Volume VII. Ed. Amelia Williams and Eugene Barker. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1942), 362.