TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

1
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• Texans largely supportive of Mexican independence
• Filibustering
• Philip Nolan
• Aaron Burr and General Wilkinson
• Battle of Medina River
• James Long
• Jane Long the Mother of Texas
• Plan de Casa Mata

2
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• Newly-independent Mexico decided to encourage
  Anglo immigration from the United States
• Spain had already been doing it
• Desire to lessen the influence of Catholic
  missions
• Without people, the northern frontier remained
  insecure
• Moses Austin --failed lead miner
• Stephen Austin--had to be convinced to take his
  fathers place
• Difficulties stemmed from instability within the
  Mexican government
• Baron de Bastrop instrumental in securing
  Austins contract
• Old Three Hundred along the Brazos

3
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• National Colonization Law of 1824
• Control given to the individual states
  (federalism) over matters of immigration
• Slavery an open question
• Questions in Mexico echoed American experience
• Coahuila y Texas
• Jefe politico
• Departmento de Texas
• State Colonization Law of 1825
• Preference given in land grants to Mexicanos
• Loyalty oath and religious oath wheres the
  Catholicism?

4
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• The Empresario System
• Settlers could secure land directly from the
  government or rely on a middle-man broker, the
  empresario
• Empresarios rewarded by personal grants if they
  met their quota of families brought to their
  areas
• Austin would be the most successful, completing
  three contracts with the Mexican government
• DeWitts Colony eventually reverts to the
  government
• Victoria
• Other settlements not as popular or successful
• Hayden Edwards and Fredonia
• A few native Mexicanos became empresarios but had
  only modest success (Nacogdoches after Edwards)

5
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• The Anglo-Americans in Texas
• GTT
• Legal vs illegal immigration
• The Problem of the Anglo Invasion
• De Mier y Terans report
• The Law of April 6, 1830
• Unfilled contracts void
• Future settlement limited to Austins and
  DeWitts colonies
• New imports of slaves banned
• The ban of slavery was largely circumvented
• Indentured servants and long-term contracts
• April 6 reinstated this ban, at least officially
• The Viesca faction in Coahuila helped Texas
  escape closer scrutiny
• Growing importance of cotton

6
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• Centralists vs Liberals in Mexican politics
• Velasco and Anahuac
• The Turtle Bay Resolutions
• Bradburn vs Travis
• Appeal to the 1824 Constitution and Santa Ana
• War party largely condemned by Austin and other
  leaders
• 1st Convention at San Felipe
• Jefe Musquiz did not recognize the meeting,
  considering it extra-legal
• Seguin and Balmaceda in Saltillo
• Okayed by Musquiz
• Seen as less radical response to what could be
  demands for a separate Texas (but within the
  Mexican federal system)

7
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• 2nd Convention at San Felipe 1833
• War party now ascendant Whartons, David Burnet
  and Sam Houston
• Anglos outnumbered Mexicans 9-1 in the combined
  state
• Texas must be separated from Coahuila
• Seguin, Austin and Dr. James Miller to go to
  Mexico City to present requests --only Austin
  would end up going
• Santa Anna in power
• Repeal the Law of April 6? With help from VP
  Farias, yes.
• Break Texas off from Coahuila? No.
• Austin said what?!? Prison for him!
• Coahuilas government nevertheless passed laws
  favorable to Anglo-Texians
• English only?
• Increased courts with bilingual officials
• Trial by jury
• Increased influence of Texas in the Coahuila
  legislature

8
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• Despite the Law of April 6, many people had
  continued to come into Texas
• The Irish under the McMullens and McGloin
• Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company
• Robertson and the Texas Association of Nashville
• Squatters
• Life resembled the experience along the American
  frontier
• Home-based production of goods
• Yeoman farming
• Barter to compensate for currency shortage
• Trade with American Louisiana
• Texians began to build their own schools
  independent of the Mexican government
• Religion in Texas never all that Catholic to
  start with, Texans did largely their own thing
  with the acquiescence of the local clergy
• Militia training defense against the natives
• Birth of the Texas Rangers

9
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• Slavery in Texas
• A necessity for economic development (cotton)
• Largely accepted by the majority
• Slave codes largely local in nature
• Tejanos
• Most of the descendants of the Spanish lived in
  the older settlements and cities
• Many became merchants, but the majority settled
  into subsistence farming and ranching
• Stratification of Mexican society still reflected
  in Texas
• Tejano militias actually more pro-active than
  Anglo-Texian companies

10
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• The Indians
• Gradual disintegration of the Karankawas
• Assimilation of the Coahuiltecans
• Decline of the Caddo
• The Cherokee under Chief Bowles (Duwali)
• Plains tribes better armed than before

11
TEXAS UNDER MEXICAN RULE

• Santa Anna moves to the right!
• Farias removed
• Constitution abolished
• Centralists gain power, abolished state
  legislatures
• Revolts in various provinces
• Republic of Monclova in South Texas
• Ugartechea to Cos to Santa Anna send troops!
• Travis response seize Anahuac (1835)
• Mexican POV aha, we knew it was a rebellion all
  along!
• Committees of correspondence modelled along
  American lines
• Divided as to what to do about rumors of Mexican
  troops
• Austins return a convert to the war party

12
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• Cos lands in Texas in September
• Radicals mobilize
• Gonzales, October 2nd, 1835 COME AND TAKE IT!
• Castenedas attempt to reclaim a 6lb cannon
  resulted in an Anglo attack
• Ordered not to incite violence, Casteneda
  retreated to Bexas
• Goliad without it, Cos is cut off from support
• (1st) Siege of the Alamo
• By December, Austin and his allies had laid siege
  to the presidio at San Antonio
• Cos was forced to retreat on December 11th

13
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• The Consultation of 1835 at San Felipe
• Support for the federal system and the 1824
  Constitution
• Hoped to gain support from other Mexican
  federalists
• Some already hoping for independence and American
  recognition (annexation)
• Created local governments, sent representatives
  to Washington, D.C. for financial assistance
• Santa Anna decides to crush the uprising
  personally
• Reflection of his experiences in the Mexican War
  for Independence
• Conscripts and volunteers from the interior
• Urrea commanding the coastal detachment, Santa
  Anna crossing from Laredo
• News of Santa Annas coming persuaded the rest of
  the convention (now meeting at Washington-on-the-B
  razos) to support independence

14
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• March 2, 1836
• Delegates approve a Declaration of Independence
• Santa Anna a tyrant
• Constitution of 1824 overthrown
• Texas subordinated to Coahuila
• Denial of rights (jury trials, religious freedom,
  arms bearing)
• Failure to establish an education system
• Use of military rule
• Significant numbers of the Tejano elite (Zavala,
  Navarro) approved of the Declaration

15
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• Historians now argue about the Revolution (as
  historians are wont to do)
• Traditional view John Waynes Alamo
• Political view extension of the Mexican
  instability
• Economic view speculators would profit more from
  an independent Texas
• Libertarian view an independent Texas would be a
  better guarantor of individual liberties as most
  Anglos understood them
• Ethnocentric/racist view most Anglo (white)
  Texans wanted to be independent from Mexican
  (brown) rule
• Each view has its strengths and weaknesses

16
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• The (2nd) Siege of the Alamo
• Santa Anna arrives February 23rd in San Antonio
  the old mission is fortified by Anglos under Col.
  Travis (including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie)
• Sam Houston had ordered the city evacuated
  Travis had refused
• 189 vs 1800
• Deguello no prisoners
• March 6, 5AM the final assault
• Myths, legends and revisionism what happened to
  Davy Crockett?
• Goliad
• Fannin attempted to flee from Urreas larger
  forces but was surrounded and forced to surrender
• March 27th despite Urreas objections, Santa
  Annas orders are carried out unarmed Texians
  executed (over 300 killed)
• Word of this would inflame Texian opinion

17
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• The Runaway Scrape
• Houston was left as the sole remaining military
  commander
• Worried about lack of training and large number
  of refugees
• Goliad
• In some sense, Houstons prediction was
  self-fulfilling, as many fled once it became
  clear that Houston was retreating to East Texas
• Santa Anna gave chase, confident of his ability
  to defeat the smaller and obviously inferior
  Texian army
• Did not wait to reunite with Urrea, who was
  moving up the coast
• April 19th Houston decides to take a stand, as
  he was now in danger of being overtaken by Santa
  Anna anyway
• April 20th Santa Anna makes camp at San Jacinto,
  near Harrisburg
• April 21st Battle of San Jacinto
• Myths and legends the Yellow Rose

18
THE TEXAS REVOLUTION

• The Aftermath
• Santa Anna captured, given pardon, signs Treaty
  of Velasco
• Urrea furious
• Mexican government repudiates the Treaty of
  Velasco
• Americans circumspect
• Europeans didnt care
• Most Texians assumed that independence would be
  short-lived and that annexation to the United
  States would be soon in the coming.