es. This means that the Tigua should have been extended the same protection as the other Pueblos.In order to understand how the eventually loss of tribal lands played out it is important to now take a few steps back in. The original grants from Spain were intended to provide protected land that would be free from non-Indian settlement. The Pueblos were to set up there own system of authority. So in effect the grants set up each pueblo as an independent, sovereign nation. King Charles gave each governor a cane that would be an outward symbol of his authority in addition to the written documents. These canes were modeled after the ones used in Mexico, and Spain. Forty years later with the issuing of Recopelacion de las leyes de los Reynos de las Indios the grants, their rivers and other water sources were protected from being sold or taken away. In 1811 further laws were passed to ensure the protection of Indian lands from sale.In 1821 Mexico won its independence from Spain. The new government reaffirmed the Spanish laws that had protected the Tigua land grants. During the next fourteen years the grants were reaffirmed four times. This protection continued when Texas won its independence from Mexico. The Constitution of the Republic of Texas recognized and honored all Spanish and Mexican land grants. Even thought the State Legislature adopted English common law in 1840 the grants were accepted, thereby protecting their sovereignty. The Treaty of Hidalgo was signed in 1848 after Texas had been admitted into the Union and the Mexican-American War ended. Along with granting the U.S. all lands east of the Rio Grande, upper California and New Mexico, it also provided recognition and the protection to all individuals owning private property acquired under the Spanish and Mexican laws, including the Indian land grants. John Calhoun, Indian Agent for the Territory of New Mexico(at this time included El Paso), reported that the Pueblos of Socorro ...
