Citizen and Lawyer
T HE DEPARTURE of Bradburn and his soldiers from Anahuac, so far from giving the war party a shot in the arm, had the opposite effect. Revolutionary activity thrives on resistance, even persecution, and now the enemy was removed. The hated anti-immigration law was repealed, and the zeal for collecting taxes and duties seemed momentarily to have gone out of the Mexican officials. People were comparatively prosperous. The climate was the kind in which the peace party could thrive, and its conservative viewpoint came to dominate. Even the imprisonment of Stephen Austin, soon to occur, did not arouse people to the point where they favored going to war to free him. Biding its time, the core of the war party remained true to its ideals, but it took little overt action during the 1833-34 period.
How Travis was chafed by the apathy of the conservative elements is revealed in his correspondence. He regarded himself as at least one of the leaders of the war party, and a fair case has been made for the thesis that he may have envisioned himself as a potential "George Washington of a new country."1 Instead of playing a prominent role in the events of 1833 and 1834, however, he was compelled to sit on the sidelines while others garnered the glory.
The separation of Coahuila and Texas, which the Mexican Government had promised to bring about, now became a focal issue. In March and April 1833 a convention was held at San Felipe, to which such important men as Stephen Austin, Sam Houston, David G. Burnet, Branch T. Archer, and James B. Miller were delegates. A committee was appointed to draft a constitution, and the resulting document contained provisions for