History & Politics
José Antonio Navarro
José Antonio Navarro was a San Antonio-born Tejano statesman who moved through Spanish, Mexican, Republic and state political systems, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, defended Tejano citizenship rights and later backed secession — a career that also included support for preserving slavery in Texas.
- Roster rank
- #11
- Category
- History & Politics
- Subject type
- Person
- Profile source
- Published Texas Icons profile
Texas story
Life and career
José Antonio Navarro was born in San Antonio de Béxar in 1795 into a politically and commercially prominent Tejano family. As a young man he supported the Gutiérrez–Magee movement against Spanish rule and fled after its defeat, returning in 1816. Under independent Mexico he became a merchant, rancher, lawyer and officeholder, serving in the Coahuila y Tejas legislature and the Mexican federal congress. He supported Anglo-American colonization and Stephen F. Austin's projects, and he also worked against Mexican anti-slavery measures that threatened the use of enslaved labor in Texas.
Navarro became one of the native-born Tejano signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence and helped draft the Republic's constitution. He later represented Béxar in the Republic Congress. In 1841 he joined Mirabeau B. Lamar's Santa Fe Expedition as a commissioner; Mexican authorities captured the expedition, and Navarro endured a prolonged imprisonment before escaping and returning to Texas. At the 1845 convention he supported U.S. annexation and helped protect Tejano citizenship and voting rights in the new state constitution. In later life he wrote to defend Tejano contributions to Texas history and attacked anti-Catholic nativism, but he also supported Texas secession in 1861 and his sons served the Confederacy.
Defining work
What to know
- Mexican-era legislative service
- Texas Declaration of Independence signer
- Republic of Texas constitutional and congressional service
- Santa Fe Expedition commissioner and political prisoner
- 1845 annexation convention and state constitution
- Advocacy for Tejano political and historical recognition
Timeline
Key milestones
- 1795Born in San Antonio de Béxar.
- 1813Supports the Gutiérrez–Magee movement and flees after the Battle of Medina.
- 1816Returns to San Antonio after exile in the United States.
- 1820s–1830sServes in Mexican state and federal political institutions and supports Texas colonization.
- 1836Signs the Texas Declaration of Independence and helps draft the Republic constitution.
- 1841Joins the Santa Fe Expedition as a commissioner and is captured in New Mexico.
- 1842–1844Remains imprisoned in Mexico after most expedition prisoners are released, then escapes.
- 1845Serves as the sole Tejano delegate at the annexation convention and helps draft the state constitution.
- 1846–1849Serves in the Texas Senate.
- 1871Dies at his San Antonio home.
Texas connections
Places in the story
Navarro's birthplace, lifelong political base and the city where his surviving home complex stands.
Casa Navarro
His 1850s San Antonio residence and office, now a state historic site interpreting his Tejano political and commercial life.
Washington-on-the-Brazos
Site of the 1836 convention where Navarro signed the Texas Declaration of Independence.
County established in 1846 and named by the Texas Legislature in recognition of Navarro's public service.
Legacy
Why the story lasts
Navarro's career is central to any account of Texas that treats Tejanos as political actors rather than background figures. He participated in independence movements under Spain and Mexico, helped create the Republic and then fought within the new political order to keep Tejanos from being stripped of citizenship and voting rights.
His record also resists a simple progressive narrative. Navarro promoted colonization that increased his own land interests, opposed Mexican restrictions on slavery and later supported secession. Those positions sit alongside his resistance to anti-Catholic nativism and his effort to preserve Tejano historical memory, making contradiction part of the profile rather than something to edit away.
Sources
Research trail
Cross-linked profiles