(1795–1871). Politician José Antonio Navarro served in legislatures in Texas when it was part of Mexico, when it was an independent country, and when it was a U.S. state. A supporter of Texas independence, he was an influential Tejano (Texan of Hispanic heritage) leader who worked to help Texas prosper in its early years. He was also a successful businessman, rancher, and land commissioner.
Navarro was born on February 27, 1795, in what is now San Antonio, Texas. At the time the town was called San Fernando de Béxar (or just Béxar), and it was part of Spain’s North American empire. Navarro’s father had moved from the island of Corsica to Béxar and later became the town’s alcalde (mayor and judge). Navarro’s mother was from an old Béxar family descended from Spanish nobles. Although Navarro’s formal education ended when he was 13, he later studied law informally.
In 1813 Navarro and his family supported rebels fighting against the Spanish in what is known as the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition. When the rebellion failed, Navarro and his family had to flee to the U.S. territory of Louisiana. After returning to Béxar in 1816, he supported his family for a time by smuggling wild horses from Texas to Louisiana. Trading with the United States was then illegal. Navarro was caught smuggling in 1819 and was imprisoned for a couple of years. Meanwhile, Mexico broke away from Spain in 1821, and Texas became part of independent Mexico.
Navarro became active in local politics and formed a deep friendship with Stephen F. Austin, who was establishing a large colony of American settlers in Texas. Navarro supported the colonists, believing that their success would be in the best interests of Texas. The colonists were developing the cotton industry in Texas using slave labor. The Mexican government introduced a ban, however, on the importation of slaves into Texas. Navarro, who had been elected to the legislature of the Mexican state of Coahuila and Texas, secured a legal loophole that allowed colonists to continue bringing slaves from the United States to Texas.
Texans began to fight for independence from Mexico in 1835. The following year they issued the Texas Declaration of Independence. Navarro was one of three Mexicans who signed the declaration, along with his uncle, José Francisco Ruiz, and Lorenzo de Zavala. After Texas became an independent republic, Navarro served as a delegate at the convention that wrote Texas’s new constitution. In 1838 he was elected to the Texas Congress. Navarro defended Tejano rights during a time of growing hostility on the part of many Anglo-Texans toward people of Mexican descent.
In 1841 Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar persuaded a reluctant Navarro to serve as a commissioner on the Santa Fe Expedition. This expedition aimed to reroute at least some of the trade on the Santa Fe Trail through Texas. Lamar also wanted Texas to gain control of Santa Fe (now in New Mexico), which was then Mexican territory. Navarro and the more than 300 other members of the expedition set out for Santa Fe but suffered shortages of food and water, were attacked by American Indians, and then got lost. Finally, the starving Texans surrendered to Mexican forces in what is now western New Mexico. Offered his freedom in exchange for renouncing his allegiance to Texas, Navarro refused. He was deemed a traitor to Mexico and was given a death sentence that was later lessened to life in prison. He escaped in 1845, however, and made his way back to Texas, where he was welcomed as a hero and patriot.
As a delegate to the Convention of 1845, Navarro voted in favor of making Texas a U.S. state. Later that year he was the only Hispanic delegate to the convention that wrote the Texas state constitution. In that role, he opposed discrimination against Tejanos, including helping to make sure that voting rights were not restricted to “whites” only. Navarro was elected to the Texas state Senate twice, serving from 1846 to 1848. For some of his later years, Navarro lived on his ranch just outside San Antonio. He died in San Antonio on January 13, 1871. Navarro county, in north-central Texas, is named for him.