US Presidency
1846

The State constitution which they adopted, and which was approved by the Mexican Confederacy, asserted that they were free and independent of the other Mexican United States and of every other power and dominion whatsoever, and proclaimed the great principle of human liberty that the sovereignty of the state resides originally and essentially in the general mass of the individuals who compose it. To the Government under this constitution, as well as to that under the federal constitution, the people of Texas owed allegiance. Emigrants from foreign countries, including the United States, were invited by the colonization laws of the State and of the Federal Government to settle in Texas. Advantageous terms were offered to induce them to leave their own country and become Mexican citizens. This invitation was accepted by many of our citizens in the full faith that in their new home they would be governed by laws enacted by representatives elected by themselves, and that their lives, liberty, and property would be protected by constitutional guaranties similar to those which existed in the Republic they had left.