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13.2 The Texas Revolution. Spanish Texas. Tejas (Texas) was a state in New Spain. Spain had not had much luck convincing Spanish colonists in New Spain to settle in Texas. They wanted to stay near Mexico City. In 1821 only about 4000 Tejanos lived in Texas.
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Spanish Texas • Tejas (Texas) was a state in New Spain. • Spain had not had much luck convincing Spanish colonists in New Spain to settle in Texas. • They wanted to stay near Mexico City. • In 1821 only about 4000 Tejanos lived in Texas.
Where is Jackson when you need him? • The area was good in that it had many natural resources: water, trees, fertile soil. • The area was bad in that the local Native Americans such as the Comanche and Apache fought to keep the Spanish off their land. • The Spanish government wanted to get more European settlers into the area to help control the Native American “problem”.
In order to get more people to settle in Tejas, the Spanish govt offered huge tracts of land to empresarios (people who would bring in settlers), but no Spanish people would take them up on it. • Moses Austin asked for permission to start a colony, and even though he was American, he promised to follow Spanish laws, and even become a Spanish citizen, so Spain agreed.
Mexican Independence Changes Texas • In 1821 Mexico became independent. • Since he now had a completely new government to deal with, Stephen Austin (Moses’ son…Moses had died suddenly of pneumonia) had to renegotiate the land contract. • Austin was granted permission for his colony, but only if settlers would agree to become Mexican citizens, and become Roman Catholic (official religion of Mexico).
Between 1821 and 1827 Austin brought 297 families to the area and they are known as the Old Three Hundred. • In order to qualify for Austin’s colony, you had to prove that you were moral, worked hard, and did not drink. • Austin’s colony was a success and attracted more land speculators and settlers.
Which would have been in Austin’s colony? • Again, some were looking for a new life, some were running from debt, some were runningfrom the law, and some were just hoping to get rich (sounds like the same reasons people moved west in the U.S) . • By 1830 Americans (30,000) outnumbered Tejanos (Spanish/Mexican born citizens) in Texas 6 to 1. This doesn’t bode well.
Rising Tensions in Texas • Most Americans didn’t speak Spanish so they ere unhappy that all official documents had to be written in Spanish (cry me a river). • Slave owners who had come to Texas were unhappy when Mexico outlawed slavery in 1829 (Spain and Mexico had NEVER believed in slavery).
We need eyes on the problem… • Tejanosweren’t happy with the Americans either because they felt the Americans seemed unwilling to adapt to Mexican laws (absolutely true). • In 1829 (Jackson has just been inaugurated in the U.S.) the Mexican govt. sent Mier y Teran to the Texas area to give a report on issues and problems.
Tejanos weren’t happy with the Americans either because they felt the Americans seemed unwilling to adapt to Mexican laws (absolutely true). • In 1829 the Mexican govt. sent Mier y Teran to the Texas area to give a report on issues and problems.
Teran warned that if something wasn’t done soon, Texas would throw the whole country into revolution. • In response to the Teran report, the Mexican govt. cracked down on Texas.
The Teran Report’s suggestions: • Closed the state to further American immigration. • Texans had to pay taxes for the first time. (Oh look, it’s about money and taxes again.) • More Mexican troops were sent into Texas to keep order and make sure all laws were followed. • (More boots on the ground will work every time it’s tried)
Texans Revolt Against Mexico • Texans were unhappy with the crackdown from the Mexican govt. • Austin urged people to remain calm, and remain loyal to Mexico. • Austin took off for Mexico City in order to talk with the government about some reforms so that Texas could become a self-governing state within Mexico.
Sometimes timing is everything… • Austin met with Santa Anna who was the Mexican president and dictator-thug. • Unfortunately Austin had sent an ill-timed letter back to the colony saying that he felt the Mex. Govt. would support the reforms so get a provisional state government ready.
Santa Anna’s soldiers intercepted the letter and Santa Anna saw it as treason and rebellion. • Austin was jailed for a year and Texans were furious about it. • Santa Anna responded to all of this by sending more troops to Texas.
In 1835 the Mexican troops got to Gonzales where they demanded the cannon there be turned over to Mexico. • The rebels responded by hanging a flag that said, “Come and Take It”. • Mexican troops couldn’t take the cannon, and two months later Texas drove Mexican troops out of the Alamo mission in San Antonio.
Now Santa Anna was REALLY mad. • He, himself, decided to take command of the troops from there on out.
The Fight for the Alamo • On March 1-2 a group of Texans met at Washington- on -the -Brazos to declare Texas independent. • Sam Houston was the only man there with military experience so he was named general of the Texas Army (remember, Houston has gotten that experience fighting with Andrew Jackson in the Indian Wars). • One small contingent of men was commanded by James Fannin stationed at Goliad in southeast Texas.
Another group of men was commanded by William Travis at the Alamo. • Mexican troops surrounded the Alamo and even though the Texans held them off for 12 days, Santa Anna and his troops took the Alamo, killed everyone inside, and burned their bodies. • Susannah Dickenson was one of the few survivors of the attack who was allowed to live in order to spread news of the total defeat and massacre.
Victory at San Jacinto • Santa Anna began marching eastward from the Alamo (San Antonio..this was an important city because it served as a supply depot for both sides and was a strategic point along the Old Spanish Trail, a road from East Texas all the way to Mexico City). • Both the Texas military and civilians fled away as Santa Anna moved east. • News of the Goliad Massacre (400 Texas men executed in cold blood), and defeat at the Alamo spread and Houston then had no trouble recruiting more people to fight against Santa Anna.
Houston’s troops were volunteers from the U.S., Tejanos, and many free and enslaved African Americans. • In late April, Santa Anna caught up with Houston’s retreating troops near the San Jacinto River in East Texas. • While the Mexicans were resting and with their backs against a geographic barrier (bayou, swamp), the Texans made swift sneak attack and defeated the Mexicans in 18 minutes.
Lone Star Republic • The new nation of Texas set up its own army and navy. • Houston was elected president. • Many Texans actually wanted Texas to become part of the U.S. right from the start. • In 1836, Texas asked Congress to annex Texas, but many Northerners in the U.S. didn’t want that because Texas would be a slave state.
Other people in the U.S. didn’t want Texas as a state because then the U.S. would be responsible for dealing with the Texas debt and Indian problems. • Also, many forward thinking people realized that taking Texas on as a state would probably mean a conflict with Mexico. • So, in 1836, Congress would not support annexation of Texas.
