Western Letter New Mexico

The Western Experience

July 31, 2014

Latoya Davis

His/

White slave owner in Mexican Texas

Dear Journal,

I’m writing you to tell you about my day and whats going on. As you know I stay in Texas (Mexican) and its getting harder to keep everything under control. I own about 10 Negros and every day I notice that someone escapes. They haven’t turned back up yet, but I will put the word out. A lot of us have cotton and other commodities and we need the help from the negros. I heard that free and run a way blacks are having difficulties finding jobs in Texas. Mexico's political elite divided into liberals and conservatives. Conservatives wanted a centralized government and wanted all the power! But the liberals wanted it so that the states weren’t controlled by a central government. And eventually the Mexican States were striped of autonomy. This brought on the Texas Revolution. It was more so a military conflict between the government of Mexico and Texas. I really didn’t know what the outcome would be. But it determined the Republic of Texas. Being as though the Texas Revolution just ended more and more people are getting are getting more slaves. In these times “the debate over slave and free states remained relatively calm for a while. However by the late 1840s, several events occurred that upset the balance: the U.S. added new territory as a result of the Mexican war, and the question of whether that territory would be slave or free arose again. California, beneficiary of an increased population because of the gold rush—petitioned Congress to enter the Union as a free state. At the same time, Texas laid claim to territory extending all the way to Santa Fe. Of course Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, not only allowed slavery but was home to the largest slave market in North America.” All I would want to happen is everything going successfully with my crops and maybe...