Editing Battle of San Jacinto (section)

===Mexican constitution overturned===
General Antonio López de Santa Anna was a proponent of governmental [[federalism]] when he helped oust Mexican President [[Anastasio Bustamante]] in December 1832.  Upon his election as president in April 1833,<ref>Jackson, Wheat (2005), p. 28</ref> Santa Anna switched his political ideology and began implementing centralist policies that increased the authoritarian powers of his office.<ref>Poyo (1996), pp. 42–43, "Under the Mexican Flag" (Andrés Tijerina)</ref> His abrogation of the [[1824 Constitution of Mexico|Constitution of 1824]], correlating with his abolishing local-level authority over Mexico's state of ''[[Coahuila y Tejas]]'' (Coahuila and Texas), became a flashpoint in the growing tensions between the central government and its [[Tejanos|Tejano]] and Anglo citizens in Texas. While in Mexico City awaiting a meeting with Santa Anna, [[Texians|Texian]] ''[[empresario]]'' [[Stephen F. Austin]] wrote to the ''[[ayuntamiento]]'' (city council) of Béxar (now [[San Antonio]]) urging a break-away state. In response, the Mexican government kept him imprisoned for most of 1834.<ref>Henderson (2008), pp. 86–87</ref><ref>Jackson, Wheat (2005), pp. 30–31</ref>

Colonel [[Juan Almonte]] was appointed director of colonization in Texas,<ref>Jackson, Wheat (2005), pp. 49, 57</ref> ostensibly to ease relations with the colonists and mitigate their anxieties about Austin's imprisonment.<ref>Jackson, Wheat (2005), pp. 38–39</ref> He delivered promises of self-governance and conveyed regrets that the Mexican Congress deemed it constitutionally impossible for Texas to be a separate state. Behind the rhetoric, his covert mission was to identify the local power brokers, obstruct any plans for rebellion, and supply the Mexican government with data that would be of use in a military conflict. For nine months in 1834, under the guise of serving as a government liaison, Almonte traveled through Texas and compiled an all-encompassing intelligence report on the population and its environs, including an assessment of their resources and defense capabilities.<ref>Jackson, Wheat (2005), pp. 42–44, 208–283</ref>