The Texas Revolution And The Mexican Cession

Santa Anna was elected President of Mexico in 1833. In 1834 he repealed the constitution and established himself as a dictator, which played a major factor in the Texas Revolution. With the constitution repealed, the Texians did not have the same benefits as they did when they first settled in Mexico. Under the oppressive rule of Santa Anna, the Texians began to rebel (Callcott, 2010).

In the December of 1835, during the Texas Revolution, the Alamo was occupied by two hundred Texan soldiers located near the present day in San Antonio. The Alamo was a church in the middle of San Antonio. William Travis and James Bowie were the commanders who were prepared to defend the Alamo from the Mexicans who wanted it back. Unfortunately, the Texan soldiers were outnumbered to secure the Alamo from General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna by thousands of his soldiers. The battle was only for thirteen days and Santa Anna slaughtered everyone except for a few such as a widowed wife named Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson, her infant daughter Angelina, and the one person who witnessed the final assault and survived named Joe. For the Texans, the battle of the Alamo is an "image of brave resistance and a rallying cry in their battle for freedom." This urged more Texans to join the military and lead the following fight to triumph against Mexico. The battle cry “Remember the Alamo!” within Texas culture was a symbol of “Patriotic sacrifice.”

The men fought very bravely and had some of the best fighters in America at their side, such as Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William B. Travis were all patriots who came together to fight for Texas’s freedom. All of the soldiers who fought for the Alamo were volunteers, all wanting their freedom from the Santa Anna. The Texan soldiers defeated over 700 of the Santa Anna’s soldiers but still lost the battle of the Alamo.

Sam Houston played a monumental role in sparking the Texas revolution. He believed that independence from Mexico was necessary saying that “war inevitable” and “urging volunteers to come to the aid of their Anglo brethren” (p. 60). Also, Houston’s role as commander-in-chief of the army was very important in winning the war for Texas Independence. After the capture of Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, many of the soldiers in the Texas Army wanted to execute him on the spot. But because of Sam Houston’s level head, he knew that “his prisoner was the key to removing all Mexicans soldiers from Texas without further bloodshed”, and “Jacinto became his password to Texas heroism forever” (p. 85-87). Furthermore, Houston’s leadership as the president of the Republic of Texas “kept the republic alive until it became a part of his mother country” (p. 198).

On July 4, 1776. An unprecedented event occurred that will change the world forever. A colony successfully won its own war against their mother nation, and became a newly formed independent country. The idea of nations breaking apart and forming new countries took the world by storm. Soon after, countries residing in Latin America also began to break away from their mother land. By the 1900’s many Latin American countries were form. One of these newly formed nation is Mexico. I will be comparing the American Revolution to the Mexican Revolution The American revolution was fueled by the rage of the colonists in retaliation against the way King George the Third was ruling.

They stopped further immigration into Texas from the U.S. They decided to free Negro slaves as Americans had brought many African American slaves. Slavery was illegal in Mexico, but the settlers brought slaves. Then Americans did not like this, so they did do something to Mexican government. They had a Texas revolution against Mexicans.

The Texas Revolution was a key point in our nation’s history and in the history of the state of Texas. For, if Texas had not revolted the way that they did, it would probably not have become a state. There are many causes that are speculated on why Texas revolted whether they are political disputes against the Centralist party in Mexico that had primary control at the time of the Revolution. These and more will be explored. Also, there are key battles in the Texas Revolution that decided the final fate of Texas, none more famous than the famous Battle of San Jacinto and The Alamo.

     The Alamo first saw action when General Cos landed at Copano, and headed to San Antonio to meet up with Colonel Ugartechea. By now war was on everyone’s mind and many events prior to Cos marching toward San Antonio set the playing field for war, but not everyone really was for it,..... at least not yet. Meanwhile, in Gonzales the revolution had started over a cannon that the settlers would not give up. This is also were the phrase “come and take it!” was born. What had happen was Ugartechea sent a lieutenant with some men to unarm a group of colonist who had a cannon at their disposal in Gonzales. What the Mexican’s did not count on was that in the end they would be sent running off to San Antonio after being repulsed by the colonists. Now the colonists formed a small army to March on Cos and his men, which the settlers wanted out of Texas for good. As Lord points out Cos would be ready for the settlers in San Antonio. Lord also points out how the mission in San Antonio got its name, Lord states that the mission once held a colonial company from the Alamo de Parras in Mexico, and that the named carried over and was shortened to just being called the Alamo.

On March 1, 1836, the Convention of 1836 met at Washington-on-the-Brazos and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence (Hardin, 1994). On March 4, 1836, General Houston was given military authority of all land forces to include regular, volunteer, and militia forces (Moore, 2004).

When America had their revolution, it began to give Mexico their own ideas for their revolution. There was a war known as The Peninsular War which weakened Spain. The Castas system caused tension between locals and the Peninsular which was born in Spain. The Bourbon reforms had many economic effects and limited local power. The Royal Fifth was a 20% tax. In the incubation stage Miguel de Hidalgo (Leader of the revolution against Spain) was captured at the Battle of Calderon Bridge in 1811. Congress of Chipancingo declared their independence in 1813. In the symptomatic stage General Augustin seized the capitol in 1821. One of the Mexican advantages was that Spain had government problems because of Napolean. Spain is at war with France and Mexico is fighting on their turf. One of the Spanish advantages was conflict between creoles and inhabitants. Next in the crisis stage Iturbide becomes emperor of Mexico and is quickly deposed. Mexico becomes a republic. Santa Anna becomes president of Mexico in 1833 and again 10 other times. Santa Anna was also a self-proclaimed dictator at different times. Constitution was approved by congress in 1917. And finally in the convalescent stage there was a loss of protection from Spain. Over half a million Mexicans died in the revolution. And eventually there was Texas revolution, the Mexican-American war, and a civil war arguing over what kind of government should be

The battle for Texas’ independence was a hard battle. Many lives were taken, home destroyed, and families were torn apart. Texas residents wanted to break away from Mexico and become a self-governing republic inside of Mexico because they did not like Santa Anna’s laws. Mexico did not allow slave immigration, so Texas wanted to be a part of the United States that allowed slavery. But the main reason was that Mexico would not change or consider any government ideas that the Anglos and Mexicans had for Texas, and resulted in Santa Anna ruling and making all the laws and decisions. Santa Anna also overthrew the Mexican government and made himself the Mexican dictator. Stephen Austin came to try and settle the trouble caused by the suggestion of Texas’ constitution, but instead Santa Anna imprisoned him for a year.

The United States wanted to expand its territory toward the West and the Southwest during the Market Revolution in search for raw materials. After gaining its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico was left “destitute, reducing its ability to supply the establecimientos as before.” Aside from that, Native groups such as the Apache and the Comanche returned to raid its supply. They continued to raid Mexico, especially Texas. Eventually, the Native groups reached the outskirts of Mexico City. To create a buffer zone between Mexico and the Natives, the Mexican government opened its border in Texas and welcomed new settlers. Most of these settlers were Anglo-American. By the end of the 1820s, “Anglo-American outnumbered Mexicans in Texas 12,000 to 5,000.” The Anglo-American brought with them cash crops that helped flourished the economy of Texas.

The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in American history. The question at hand would deeply impact the United States for generations to come. There was on one side a long list of reasons for why to not allow annexation, but there was the same kind of list on the other side for reasons to push forward for annexation. Some of these reasons of both sides were slaves, war, manifest destiny, politics , and constitutional rights. Also the way Texas began in a way said that they should be apart of the United States In the end there were more important reasons for annex Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the was she was.

Moses Austin would not live to see it come to fruition as he was attacked my highway men and died shortly thereafter. That would fall on his son, Stephen F. Austin, who is often referred to as the “Father of Texas”. Austin and the other settlers were drawn to the territory by grants and deferred taxation provided by the Spanish government; however, in 1821 Mexico declared independence from Spain. Austin was concerned that the new independent Mexican government would not recognize the previous arrangements made with his father. He would have to travel all the way to Mexico City to make his case, and in 1823 the Mexican Congress confirmed Austin’s grant.

The Mexican Revolution was a complex and bloody conflict which lasted about a decade, and in which one million people lost their lives.