TEXAS REVOLUTION - BUSTAMANTE DECREE OF APRIL 6, 1830

Contributed by: Joan Renfrow

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Articles of the Bustamante Decree of April 1830

Article 1
Cotton goods excluded in the law of May 22, 1829, may be introduced through the 
ports of the Republic until January 1, 1831 and through the ports of the South 
Sea until June 30, 1831.

Article 2
The duties received on the above-mentioned goods shall be used to maintain the 
integrity of the Mexican territory to form a reserve fund against the event of 
Spanish invasion, and to promote the developments of national industries in the 
branch of cotton manufacturers.

Article 3
The government is authorized to name one or more commissioners who shall visit 
the colonies of the frontier states and contract with the legislatures of said 
states for the purchase, in behalf of the Federal government, of lands deemed 
suitable for the establishment of colonies of Mexicans and other nationalities; 
and the said commissioners shall make, with the existing colonies, whatever 
arrangements seem expedient for the security of the republic. The said 
commissioners shall supervise the introduction of new colonists and the 
fulfilling of their contract for settlement, and shall ascertain to what extent 
the existing contracts have been completed.

Article 4
The chief executive is authorized to take such lands as are deemed suitable for 
fortification or arsenals and for the new Colonies, indemnifying the States for 
same, in proportion to their assessment due the Federal government.

Article 5 
The government is authorized to transport the convict soldiers destined for Vera 
Cruz and other points to the colonies, there to establish them as is deemed fit; 
the government will furnish free transportation to the families of the soldiers, 
should they desire to go.

Article 6 
The convict soldiers shall be employed in constructing the fortifications, 
public works and roads which the commissioners may deem necessary, and when the 
time of their imprisonment is terminated, if they should desire to remain as 
colonists, they shall be given lands and agricultural implements, and their 
provisions shall be continued through the first year of their colonization.

Article 7
Mexican families who voluntarily express a desire to become colonists will be 
furnished transportation, maintained for one year, and assigned the best of 
agricultural lands.

Article 8
All the individuals above mentioned shall be subject to both the Federal and 
State colonization laws.

Article 9 
The introduction of foreigners across the northern frontier is prohibited under 
any pretext whatsoever, unless the said foreigners are provided with a passport 
issued by the agent of the republic at the point whence the said foreigners set 
out.

Article 10 
No change shall be made with respect to the slaves now in the states, but the 
Federal government and the government of each state shall most strictly enforce 
the colonization laws, and prevent the further introduction of slaves.

Article 11 
In accordance with the rights reserved by the general congress in the seventh 
article of the law of, August 18, 1824, it is prohibited that emigrants, from 
nations bordering on this republic shall settle in the states or territory 
adjacent to their own nation. Consequently, all contracts not already completed 
and not in harmony with this law are suspended.

Article 12 
Coastwise trade shall be free to all foreigners for the term of four years, with 
the object of turning colonial trade to ports of Matamoras, Tampico and Vera 
Cruz.

Article 13 
Frame houses and all classes of foreign food products may be introduced through 
the ports of Galveston and Matamoros, free of duty for a period of two years.

Article 14 
The government is authorized to expend five hundred thousand dollars (pesos) in 
the construction of fortifications and settlements on the frontier; in the 
transportation of the convict-soldiers and Mexican families of same, and their 
maintenance for one year, on agricultural implements---on expenses of the 
commissioners or transportation of troops; on premises to such farmers among the 
colonists as may distinguish themselves in agriculture, and on all the other 
expedients conducive to progress and security, as set forth in the foregoing 
articles.

Article 15 
To obtain at once one-half of the above sum, the government is authorized to 
negotiate a loan on the custom proceeds which will be derived from the ordinary 
classes of cotton goods. Said loan to pay a premium of three per cent monthly, 
payable at the expiration of the periods fixed in the tariff schedule.

Article 16 
One-twentieth of the said customs receipts shall be listed in the promotion of 
cotton manufactures, such as in the purchase of machines and looms, small sums 
being set aside for the installing of the machinery, and any other purpose that 
the government shall deem necessary; the government shall apportion these funds 
to the states having this form of industry. The said funds shall be tinder the 
control of the minister of relations for the purpose of promoting industries of 
such importance.

Article 17 
Also three hundred thousand dollars (pesos) of the above-mentioned customs 
receipts shall be set aside as a reserve fund on deposit in the treasury, tinder 
the strict responsibility of the government, which shall have power to use same 
only in ease of Spanish invasion.

Article 18 
The government shall regulate the establishment of the new colonies, and shall 
present to congress, within a year, a record of the emigrants and immigrants 
established under the law, with an estimate of the increase of population on the 
frontier.