Que Viva Texas!: the Orf Gotten Right to Government in a “Known Tongue” Jose R

Nova Southeastern University From the SelectedWorks of Jose R. "Beto" Juarez 1999 The American Tradition of Language Rights, ¡Que Viva Texas!: The orF gotten Right to Government in a “Known Tongue” Jose R. "Beto" Juarez, Nova Southeastern University Available at: https://works.bepress.com/jose- juarez/9/ DATE DOWNLOADED: Mon Nov 2 15:42:43 2020 SOURCE: Content Downloaded from HeinOnline Citations: Bluebook 21st ed. Jose Roberto Juarez Jr., American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in a Known Tongue, 1 Scholar 45 (1999). ALWD 6th ed. Juarez, J. ., American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in a Known Tongue, 1 Scholar 45 (1999). APA 7th ed. Juarez, J. (1999). American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in Known Tongue. Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Minority Issues, 1, 45-152. Chicago 7th ed. Jose Roberto Juarez Jr., "American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in a Known Tongue," Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Minority Issues 1 (1999): 45-152 McGill Guide 9th ed. Jose Roberto Juarez Jr, "American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in a Known Tongue" (1999) 1 Scholar: St. Mary's L Rev on Minority Issues 45. MLA 8th ed. Juarez, Jose Roberto Jr. "American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in a Known Tongue." Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Minority Issues, 1, 1999, p. 45-152. HeinOnline. OSCOLA 4th ed. Jose Roberto Juarez Jr, 'American Tradition of Language Rights, Que Viva Texas: The Forgotten Right to Government in a Known Tongue' (1999) 1 Scholar 45 Provided by: NSU Shepard Broad College of Law Panza Maurer Law Library -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at https://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your license, please use: Copyright Information THE AMERICAN TRADITION OF LANGUAGE RIGHTS, IQUE VIVA TEXAS!: THE FORGOTTEN RIGHT TO GOVERNMENT IN A "KNOWN TONGUE" JOSE ROBERTO JUAREZ, JR.* I. The English-Only Movement .............................. 48 A. The Mixed Record of Challenges Under Federal Law to English-Only Laws and Practices ................... 51 B. The New Federalism and Language Rights: Unexplored Law ...................................... 51 C. The Texas Constitution As an Appropriate Starting Point for the Examination of Language Rights Under State Constitutions .................................... 53 II. Interpreting the Texas Constitution ........................ 61 A. The Use of Historical Argument in Constitutional Interpretation ......................................... 61 B. The Use of Historical Argument to Interpret the Texas Constitution ........................................... 65 C. The Relevance of the History of Prior Texas Constitutions in Interpreting the Current Constitution. 69 D. The Use of Historical Legislative Practice to Interpret the Texas Constitution ................................ 70 III. Government and Language in Spanish Texas .............. 71 IV. Government and Language in Mexican Texas ............. 73 A. The First Contacts with Moses Austin: Multilingual in Texas Government Begins ............................. 74 B. The Efforts of a Small Minority of Anglo-American Immigrants to Learn Spanish .......................... 75 C. The Establishment of Bilingual Government in Texas to Accommodate English-Speaking Anglo-American Immigrants ............................................ 77 * Associate Dean for Student Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, St. Mary's University School of Law. A.B., Stanford University;, J.D., University of Texas. This research was supported by a generous research grant from St Mary's University School of Law. A longer version of this Article has been published in The American Tradition of Language Rights: The Forgotten Right to Government in a "Known Tongue," 13 LAv & INEQ. J. 443. (1995). THE SCHOLAR [Vol. 1:45 D. Bilingual Practices of the Anglo-American Immigrants Not Authorized by Mexican Law ...................... 85 E. The First Bilingual Education Laws in Texas .......... 88 F. Requests of the Anglo-American Immigrants for the Expansion of Bilingual Government in Texas .......... 91 G. Demands by the Anglo-American Immigrants for English Translations of Mexican Law .................. 93 H. Requests by the Anglo-American Immigrants for a Separate Department to Operate in English ........... 97 V. Language Rights and the Struggle for Independence From M exico .................................................... 98 A. The Multiple Causes of Independence ................. 99 B. The Convention of 1832 ............................... 102 C. The Convention of 1833 ............................... 103 D. Language Rights as a Factor in the Attempt to Make Texas a Separate State of Mexico ..................... 105 E. Language Rights and Complaints About the Mexican Justice System ......................................... 107 F. The Desire for Multilingualism, Not English M onolingualism ....................................... 109 G. The Mexican Government's Response to the Demands of the Anglo-American Immigrants: More Bilingual Governmental Services ................................ 110 H. The Consultation of 1835 .............................. 112 I. The Movement Towards Independence ................ 115 J. The Declaration of Independence ..................... 116 K. The Bilingual War for Independence from Mexico .... 118 L. The Limitations of Historical Argument: Racism and the Framers During the Struggle for Independence .... 119 VI. Government and Language in the Republic of Texas ...... 122 A. Bilingual Government in the Republic of Texas ....... 123 1. Provisions for Non-English-Speaking Government Officials ........................................... 124 2. The Provision of Bilingual Laws ................... 124 3. Other Bilingual Governmental Practices ........... 131 4. The Continuing-Use of Spanish-Language Laws by the Texas Courts .................................. 132 5. A New Language in Texas: The German Immigrants ........................................ 133 B. The Lack of Language Requirements for Citizenship in the Republic of Texas ................................. 133 C. Plans for Bilingual Government by the Santa F6 Expedition ............................................ 134 D. Bilingual Local Government .......................... 137 1999] IQUE VIVA TEXASI 1. San Antonio ...................................... 137 2. Laredo ............................................ 140 E. Language and the Schools ............................. 143 F. The Limitations of Historical Argument: Racism and the Framers During the Republic of Texas Period ..... 144 VII. Conclusion ................................................ 145 I have dedicated myself ... to the burdensome work of preparing legitimate translations of [Mexican law] .. .because most of these inhabitants [of Texas] do not understand a word of Castilian and it is entirely impossible to govern a people with laws whose existence most of them ignore absolutely .... -Stephen F. Austin' "[The Mexican government] hath sacrificed our welfare to the State of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually de- pressed... in an unknown tongue...." -Texas Declaration of Independence' "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it ought to be good enough for the children of Texas." -Former Texas Governor Ma Ferguson3 1. Letter from Stephen F. Austin to Jos6 Antonio Navarro (Oct. 19, 1829) (translated by author from Spanish), in THE AusTTr PAPERS (Eugene C. Barker, ed.), reprinted in AmERiCAN I-isTomcAt. Ass'N, II ANNuAL REPORT 272 (1922) [hereinafter AusTN PA- PERS, 1828-1834]. 2. THE DECLARATION OF InEPENDENCE OF THE REPuB. oF Tm. (1836) (emphasis added), reprinted in I H.P.N. GANsmL,TnE LAWs OF TEXAS 1822-1897, at 1063 (Austin, Gammel Book Co. 1898). 3. Quoted in Jos6 A. Cdrdenas, An Educator'sRationale for Native-Language Instruc- tion, in LANGUAGE LoYALirs: A SouRcE BOOK ON THE OFFICIAL ENGLLSH CONTRO- vERsY 342, 349 (James Crawford ed., 1992) [hereinafter CRAWFORD, LANGUAGE LOYALTiES]. The quotation appears in numerous variations and has been described as "probably apocryphal." David Shribman, Before Big Hair & Beauty Contests, Texas Wo- men Got Their Nails Dirty, Hous. CHRON., May 30, 1993, at 4; cf. Laurence McNamee & Kent Biffle, A Few Words, DALLAS MoRNING Nsws, May 2, 1993, at J9 (describing the statement as "an unlikely quote" attributed to Ferguson and stating the quotation is "No more of those sinful languages in the public schools ....If the English language was good enough for Jesus, then it's good enough for Texans."). The quotation has been ascribed most often as a response by Governor Miriam (Ma) Wallace Ferguson, governor of Texas from 1924 to 1926, and again from 1932 to 1934, to an inquiry about whether she supported bilingual education. See Thomas F. Eagleton, The Best and the Brightest, ST.Louis POST- DISPATCH, July 22, 1988, at 3C (quoting Ferguson as stating, "If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me."); William Safire, On Language, N.Y. Ti.ms, May 30, 1982, § 6, at 7 (Magazine Desk) (attributing the quotation as a response to a proposal to use

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