On his way into Texas, Santa Anna sent letters to Mexico City seeking official sanction for freeing slaves as part of the eradication of the rebellion. “There is a considerable number of slaves in Texas also, who have been introduced by their masters under cover of certain questionable contracts, but who according to our laws should be free,” he wrote to his minister of war in Mexico City. “Shall we permit those wretches to moan in chains any longer in a country whose laws protect the liberty of man without distinction of cast or color?”94 Santa Anna’s vision for redeeming northeastern Mexico
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