Coahuila and Texas (Mexico)

Coahuila y Tejas, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila y Tejas (lit. 'Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila and Texas'), was one of the constituent states of the newly established United Mexican States under its 1824 Constitution. It had two capitals: first Saltillo (1822–1825) for petition of Miguel Ramos Arizpe, that changing the capital for dispute of political groups, but Monclova recovered primacy because it was the colonial capital since 1689; this action provoked a struggle between the residents of Saltillo and Monclova in 1838–1840, but the political actions of Antonio López de Santa Anna convinced the monclovenses to accept the final change of political powers to Saltillo. In the case of Tejas its territory was organized for administrative purposes, with the state being divided into three districts: Béxar, comprising the area covered by Texas; Monclova, comprising northern Coahuila; and Río Grande Saltillo, comprising southern Coahuila. The state remained in existence until the adoption of the 1835 "Constitutional Bases", whereby the federal republic was converted into a unitary one, and the nation's states (estados) were turned into departments (departamentos). The State of Coahuila and Texas was split in two and became the Department of Coahuila and the Department of Texas. Both Coahuila and Texas seceded from Mexico after Antonio López de Santa Anna abolished Mexico's Constitution, ending the federal system and establishing a provisional centralist system. Texas eventually became the independent Republic of Texas. Yucatán, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Tabasco later also declared their independence from Mexico for the same reasons as Coahuila and Texas. Coahuila joined with Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, to form the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande.