Final answer:
The Mexican government increased tensions with American settlers through laws aimed at integrating them into Mexican society, banning slavery which was against the settlers' wishes, and trying to limit American influence in Texas, all of which were met with resistance and laid the basis for future conflict.
Step-by-step explanation:
The actions taken by the Mexican government that increased tensions with American settlers involved a series of legislative and administrative measures aimed to control the growth and assimilation of the Anglo-American population in Texas. In 1830, Mexico prohibited further U.S. immigration into Texas and increased military presence, yet settlers continued to arrive, leading to a population of around twenty thousand Anglo-Americans in Texas by 1835. To integrate the Americans into Mexican society, laws required all official transactions in Spanish, restriction of foreign settlements, and incentives for foreigners marrying Mexican citizens, though these moves were largely ineffective.
Slavery emerged as a major point of contention, with Mexico having largely abolished it as part of revolutionary ideals, while many American settlers from the South sought to maintain their enslaved workers in Texas, often circumventing laws by classifying them as indentured servants. This along with cultural and economic dominance by the settlers over locals, and the refusal by many Texans to be naturalized as Mexican citizens or adhere to Mexican cultural expectations increased the fracture between the two groups. President Vicente Guerrero’s 1829 slavery ban directly targeted Texans, worsening relations. Furthermore, the Mexican government encouraged Mexican immigration and tried strengthening Texas garrisons to balance the American influence.
The culmination of these governmental actions, along with the Americans' belief in their superiority and their disregard for Mexican laws and culture, laid the groundwork for future conflicts, including the Texan revolt and the Mexican-American War, which would leave a lasting legacy of racial and land ownership tensions.