From the Annals of Old Mexico – In 1824, the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas was created when Mexico under the Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1824. The state of Nuevo Leon was recognized at the same time. The constitution created a federal system of dual sovereignty between the EUM and the individual states. An initial claim made by the Tejanos against the Mexican government after the ascendancy of Santa Anna and the installation of a new centralist form of government was that they were fighting for the reinstitution of the 1824 Constitution. That quickly morphed into a call for complete independence from Mexico – fueled in large part by the desire to escape Mexico’s prohibition against slavery.