<P> There were also domestic disturbances . The Regulator--Moderator War involved a land feud in Harrison and Shelby Counties in East Texas from 1839 to 1844 . The feud eventually involved Nacogdoches, San Augustine, and other East Texas counties . Harrison County Sheriff John J. Kennedy and county judge Joseph U. Fields helped end the conflict, siding with the law - and - order party . Sam Houston ordered 500 militia to help end the feud . </P> <P> After gaining their independence, the Texas voters had elected a Congress of 14 senators and 29 representatives in September 1836 . The Constitution allowed the first president to serve for two years and subsequent presidents for 3 years . In order to hold an office or vote, a person needed to be a citizen of the Republic . </P> <P> However, it is important to note that citizenship was not granted to all previous inhabitants of Texas, and not all of them could even live legally within the limits of the Republic without the consent of Congress . In this regard, the Constitution of the Republic of Texas (1836) established major differences according to the ethnicity of each individual . Section 10 of the General Provisions of the constitution stated that all persons who were residing in Texas on the day of the Declaration of Independence were to be considered citizens of the Republic, excepting "Africans, the descendants of Africans, and Indians". For new white immigrants, section 6 established that, in order to become citizens, they needed to live in the Republic for at least six months and take an oath . While regarding the black population, section 9 established that black persons who were brought to Texas as slaves were to remain slaves, and that not even their owner could emancipate them without the consent of Congress, while the Congress itself was not allowed to make laws affecting the slave trade or to declare emancipation . Section 9 also established that: "No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part, shall be permitted to reside permanently in the Republic, without the consent of Congress". </P> <P> The first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened in October 1836 at Columbia (now West Columbia). Stephen F. Austin, often referred to as the "Father of Texas," died on December 27, 1836, after serving just two months as the republic's secretary of state . Due mainly to the ongoing war for independence, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas in 1836: (Washington - on - the - Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia). The capital was moved to the new city of Houston in 1837 . </P>

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