From the Annals of Our “Freedom-Loving” Forefathers –  In 1840, the Congress of the Republic of Texas passed the Law of February 5 to keep free blacks from permanently settling in Texas.  White Texans were becoming concerned over the status of slavery in the new nation and were troubled by the notion of any free black citizens in Texas.  As a result, the Congress quickly moved to restrict the number of unenslaved blacks. The punitive law provided that all free blacks who had entered Texas after the Texas Declaration of Independence must leave the republic within two years or be declared slaves for the rest of their lives. Only those few free blacks who were already in the republic before Texas independence would continue to have all the rights as free citizens. The law did provide a method  to petition the Congress for an exception.  Records establish that the exception was used exactly once on behalf of David and Abner Ashworth whose petition was approved on December 12, 1840. The Ashworth brothers were the only free blacks to enter Texas after the Declaration of Independence who were given Congressional sanction to remain.  If only there had been high school football back then.