Southwestern Historical Quarterly

As the author of this book on the Texas republic era informs us various times, Mexican scholars have shown only limited interest in Texas history, mostly in connection to the two issues noted in the book's subtitle: excision and annexation. As a legal scholar, Cárdenas takes a distinct approach, and he gamely attempts to tell the story of the Republic, particularly in juridical terms. The resulting work in the end continues the very tradition of Mexican scholarship on Texas that he critiques; yet, it does so in an updated way that takes into consideration the direction in which recent Texas historiography of the period has been headed while not engaging it as thoroughly as possible.

Perhaps because he is a legal scholar, Cárdenas attempts to present the story of Texas's separation from Mexico and eventual annexation to the United States within the broad framework of the law of nations. The first chapter presents the argument that under today's international legal framework, the movement of Texas from Mexican sovereignty to United States acquisition would be illegal. Crimea, Scotland, and Catalonia are used as examples of how the modern system works. In contrast, what happened with Texas falls under the tradition prevailing in the early nineteenth century that recognition merely required three elements: population, territory, and government. His bottom line is that what happened with Texas was a case of "might makes right." Mexico certainly made its share of mistakes, but these did not rise to the level of deserving to have its territory dismembered, as eventually came to pass following the Mexican War.

There follow chapters on the Constitution of 1836, what the author calls the "years of the Republic," and on the annexation process. None of these offer much that is not well known to a Texas audience, although they would fill in a great deal of detail for a Mexican audience unfamiliar [End Page 233] with how the Texas constitution diverged from that of the United States. That audience will also benefit from understanding that the differences between Texas presidents Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar were substantial and impactful on both relations with Mexico and the annexation process.

The book ends with a chapter on slavery, the major conclusion of which follows the recent trend of rejecting the traditional view that the peculiar institution was not a direct cause of the Revolution. To the contrary, following in the steps of Andrew Torget (whom he does not cite) and Alice Baumgartner (whom he does), the author concludes that slavery was not only the most important factor in bringing about the Texas revolt, given the growing antipathy of Mexico's political classes with the institution, but that it served the interests of the United States.

Unfortunately, the Mexican reader will find almost nothing about his Texas compatriots in this work. Except for Juan Seguin as a military leader during the Revolution, there is no mention of the Mexican-Texan population. He notes at the end of the book that Mexican scholars should try to understand the circumstances of Mexican Texans, but he could have taken a step in that direction by referring to the growing literature on the subject over the last thirty years. Consequently, while Mexican readers will get a general idea of the process by which Texas became independent, developed as a republic, then became part of the United States, particularly in juridical terms, the most that an English-language audience will get from the book is a better idea of how and why Mexican scholars continue to focus on the Anglo American versus Mexican government struggle.