After returning home, Manchola became the alcade of Goliad and initiated a resolution–then considered illegal– supporting the Constitution of 1824 and Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
He briefly attended the Convention of 1832 and volunteered to accompany William H. Wharton in journeying to Mexico City to request separate statehood for Texas.
[3] The land disputes may have contributed to a warning that Manchola gave to the Mexican military commander for Texas: "'No faith can be placed in the Anglo-American colonists because they are continually demonstrating that they absolutely refuse to be subordinate, unless they find it convenient to what they want anyway, all of which I believe will be very detrimental to us for them to be our neighbors if we do not in time, clip the wings of their audacity by stationing a strong detachment in each new settlement which will enforce the laws and jurisdiction of a Mexican magistrate which should be placed in each of them, since under their own colonists as judges, they do nothing more than practice their own laws which they have practiced since they were born, forgetting the ones they have sworn to obey, these being the laws of our Supreme Government.
Manchola proposed that the town be renamed after Father Hidalgo, who had played a great role in the Mexican War of Independence.
[5] During his term he also protested to the governor, Agustin Viesca, insisting that the Mexican government enforce the September 1823 order to secularize all missions that had been operating for more than 10 years.
Under his prodding, the legislature finally set official boundaries for de Leon's colony and appointed a commissioner to issue titles to the families which had already settled in that area.
Manchola reached the convention shortly after the delegates approved the document and had elected William H. Wharton to bring it to Mexico City.
Their departure was delayed after Austin and the political leaders in San Antonio de Bexar expressed reservations about the timing of the request.