Formation of the Republic
of the Río Grande

AFTER CROSSING THE RÍO GRANDE on the 7th of January [Ed: 1840], Canales, with the remaining Texans under Jordan, proceeded up the east bank of the river from Mier about six miles and issued a call for a convention of delegates to organize the "Republic of the Río Grande," comprising the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and that portion of Texas lying west of the Nueces River. With their forces at their lowest ebb in numbers, Canales and his cohorts chose this time to proclaim to the world the purpose of their recent, scattered and fruitless campaign.

On January 18 the delegates met at Canales' headquarters on the east bank of the Río Grande, opposite Guerrero, at the Oreveña Ranch in the neighborhood of present day Zapata (formerly Carrizo),[1]  and organized a provisional government based on the long-lamented Mexican constitution of 1824, and chose Jesús Cárdenas, a lawyer of Reinosa and former political chief of the northern district of Tamaulipas, President; Manuel Nina, quartermaster general;[2]  Francisco Vidaurri y Villaseñor, former governor of Coahuila y Texas, Vice President; Canales, commander in chief of the army; and Juan Francisco Farías, secretary ad interim. A council consisting of five regular and three supplementary members was established. The regular seats went to the President, Vice President, and one representative from each of the three departments included in the new republic. Juan Nepomuceno Molano, former alcalde of Matamoros and ex-lieutenant governor of Tamaulipas, was to represent Tamaulipas; Manuel María de Llano, former governor of Nuevo León, to represent his native state of Nuevo