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The "O. P. Q. Letters" were a pair of anonymous letters (dated 28 January and 7 February 1834) which were meant to incite the people of Texas to insurrection against Mexico.[ citation needed ] The grounds for insurrection were the arrest and imprisonment of Stephen F. Austin.[ citation needed ] The letters received their name because both were signed "O. P. Q."
Although the letters were anonymous, their source is known: both were written by Anthony Butler, who was at the time the American minister to Mexico.[ citation needed ]
Butler was attempting to effect the purchase of Texas by the United States, and felt that rebellion might persuade Mexico to sell. The first of the two, addressed to "Don B.T.A", was sent to Branch Tanner Archer; whether or not the second was meant for the same address is unknown. They characterized the arrest of Austin as cowardly, and claimed it was done by "an ignorant, fanatical and arrogant race." [1] In addition, the forthcoming inspection trip to be made by Colonel Juan Altamonte was called no more than a cynical attempt to please white Texan settlers.
Both letters soon were copied, and these copies were given to Colonel Altamonte in the summer of 1834, during his trip.[ citation needed ] Both the originals and these copies have since been lost. For his part, Altamonte forwarded translations of the letters to the Mexican government.[ citation needed ]
Their tone and the worsening of Texas politics notwithstanding, apparently the letters had little effect. Many leading colonists [ who? ] distrusted Butler; furthermore, Austin had himself written letters urging the settlers to remain calm.[ citation needed ] Altamonte was initially skeptical of the possibility that Butler had been involved in sending the letters; once he was convinced, he began suspecting the United States government as well.[ citation needed ] Consequently, in July the colonel wrote a letter to the secretary of foreign relations in Mexico City recommending that Butler's recall be requested.[ citation needed ] But the Mexican authorities did nothing, and Butler was not recalled until the following year, and then only because President Andrew Jackson was displeased with his work.[ citation needed ]
The Republic of Texas was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, although Mexico considered it a rebellious province during its entire existence despite the Treaties of Velasco of May 1836. It was bordered by Mexico to the west and southwest, the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast, the two U.S. states of Louisiana and Arkansas to the east and northeast, and United States territories encompassing parts of the current U.S. states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico to the north and west. The Anglo residents of the area and of the republic became known as Texians.
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The Consultation, also known as the Texian Government, served as the provisional government of Mexican Texas from October 1835 to March 1836 during the Texas Revolution. Tensions rose in Texas during early 1835 as throughout Mexico federalists began to oppose the increasingly centralist policies of the government. In the summer, Texians elected delegates to a political convention to be held in Gonzales in mid-October. Weeks before the convention and war began, the Texian Militia took up arms against Mexican soldiers at the Battle of Gonzales. The convention was postponed until November 1 after many of the delegates joined the newly organized volunteer Texian Army to initiate a siege of the Mexican garrison at San Antonio de Bexar. On November 3, a quorum was reached in San Antonio. Within days, the delegates passed a resolution to define why Texians were fighting. They expressed allegiance to the deposed Constitution of 1824 and maintained their right to form the General Council. In the next weeks, the council authorized the creation of a new regular army to be commanded by Sam Houston. As Houston worked to establish an army independent from the existing volunteer army, the council repeatedly interfered in military matters.
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