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The Texas Revolution
MAIN IDEA
American and Tejano citizens led Texas to independence from Mexico.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
The diverse culture of Texas has developed from the contributions of many different groups. Tejano
TERMS & NAMES
Stephen Austin Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna Sam Houston William Travis Juan Segun Battle of the Alamo Lone Star Republic
CALIFORNIA STANDARDS
ONE AMERICANS STORY
Son of a bankrupt Missouri mine owner, Stephen Austin read his mothers letter, written in 1821, in stunned silence. His father, Moses Austin, was dead. In his last moments, she told her son, He called me to his bedside, . . . he begged me to tell you to take his place . . . to go on . . . in the same way he would have done. Stephen knew what that meant. Moses Austin had spent the last years of his life chasing a crazy dream. He had hoped to found a colony for Americans in Spanish Texas. A week after his fathers death, Stephen Austin was standing on Texas soil. His fathers dream would become his destiny. This section explains how Stephen Austin, along with others, worked hard to make the lands of Texas a good place to live.
8.5.2 Know the changing boundaries of the United States and describe the relationships the country had with its neighbors (current Mexico and Canada) and Europe, including the influence of the Monroe Doctrine, and how those relationships influenced westward expansion and the MexicanAmerican War. 8.8.5 Discuss Mexican settlements and their locations, cultural traditions, attitudes toward slavery, landgrant system, and economies. 8.8.6 Describe the Texas War for Independence and the MexicanAmerican War, including territorial settlements, the aftermath of the wars, and the effects the wars had on the lives of Americans, including Mexican Americans today. CST1 Students explain how major events are related to one another in time.
Spanish Texas
The Spanish land called Tejas (TayHAHS) bordered the United States territory called Louisiana. The land was rich and desirable. It had forests in the east, rich soil for growing corn and cotton, and great grassy plains for grazing animals. It also had rivers leading to natural ports on the Gulf of Mexico. It was home to Plains and Pueblo Native Americans. Even though Tejas was a state in the Spanish colony of New Spain, it had few Spanish settlers. The Spanish mission system you learned about in Chapter 2 was still common. Missions raised crops and livestock, traded with other missions, and were largely self-sufficient. Around 1819, Spanish soldiers drove off Americans trying to claim those lands as a part of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1821, only about 4,000 Tejanos (TayHAHnohs) lived in Texas. Tejanos are people of Spanish heritage who consider Texas their home. The Comanche, Apache, and other tribes fought fiercely against Spanish settlement of Texas. Also, the mission system began to decline. The Spanish officials wanted many more settlers to move to Texas. They hoped that new colonists would help to defend against Native Americans and Americans who illegally sneaked into Texas.
Key events that brought the territory into the United States
Taking Notes
Use your chart to take notes about Texas.
Types of people who traveled there New Mexico Utah Oregon Texas California
Why they
went there
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Vocabulary
empresarios: individuals who agreed to recruit settlers for the land
To attract more people to Texas, the Spanish government offered huge tracts of land to empresarios. But they were unable to attract Spanish settlers. So, when Moses Austin asked for permission to start a colony in Texas, Spain agreed. Austin was promised a large section of land. He had to agree that settlers on his land had to follow Spanish laws.
Mexican Independence Changes Texas
Shortly after Stephen Austin arrived in Texas in 1821, Mexico successfully gained its independence from Spain. Tejas was now a part of Mexico. With UNITED the change in government, the Spanish land grant STATES given to Austins father was worthless. Stephen Austin traveled to Mexico City to persuade the new Mexican govMEXICO ernment to let him start his colony. It took him almost a year to get permission. And the Mexican government would COAHUILA AND TEXAS consent only if the new settlers agreed to become Mexican (1824) Gulf of citizens and members of the Roman Catholic Church. Mexico Between 1821 and 1827, Austin attracted 297 families to his new settlement. These original Texas settler families are known as the Old Three Hundred. He demanded evidence that each Posters such as the one above family head was moral, worked hard, and did not drink. So law-abiding encouraged were his colonists that Austin could write to a new settler, You will be Americans from astonished to see all our houses with no other fastening than a wooden the East to settle in Texas. Some pin or door latch. people scrawled The success of Austins colony attracted more land speculators and G.T.T. on their settlers to Texas from the United States. Some were looking for a new doors to indicate life, some were escaping from the law, and others were looking for a they had gone to Texas. chance to grow rich. By 1830, the population had swelled to about 30,000, with Americans outnumbering the Tejanos six to one.
A. Answer Americans had problems adapting to Mexican laws, speaking Spanish, and they wanted slavery to continue. A. Analyzing Causes Why was there growing tension between Americans and Tejanos?
Rising Tensions in Texas
As more and more Americans settled in Texas, tensions between them and the Tejanos increased. Used to governing themselves, Americans resented following Mexican laws. Since few Americans spoke Spanish, they were unhappy that all official documents had to be in that language. Slave owners were especially upset when Mexico outlawed slavery in 1829. They wanted to maintain slavery so they could grow cotton. Austin persuaded the government to allow slave owners to keep their slaves. On the other hand, the Tejanos found the Americans difficult to live with, too. Tejanos thought that the Americans believed they were superior and deserved special privileges. The Americans seemed unwilling to adapt to Mexican laws, and few converted to Catholicism.
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The Mexican government sent an official to Texas to investigate the tensions. He was not happy with what he found. In 1829, he reported to his government, I am warning you to take timely measures . . . Texas could throw this whole nation into revolution. His advice turned out to be right. Responding to the warnings, the Mexican government cracked down on Texas. First, it closed the state to further American immigration. Next, it required Texans to pay taxes for the first time. Finally, to enforce these new laws, the government sent more Mexican troops to Texas.
Texans Revolt Against Mexico
These actions caused angry protests. Some Texans even talked of breaking away from Mexico. Most, however, listened to Austin, who remained loyal to Mexico. In 1833, Austin set off for Mexico City with a petition. This document listed reforms supported by both Americans and Tejanos. The most important request was that Texas become a self-governing state within Mexico. In Mexico City, Austin met General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, the Mexican president. At first, the general agreed to most of the reforms in Austins petition. But then Santa Anna learned of a letter Austin had REMEMBER THE ALAMO! written. The letter said that if the changes werent Today the Alamo, shown below, is again under siege. Moisture approved Austin would support breaking away from seeps into the limestone walls Mexican rule. This was rebellion! The general had and causes them to crumble. Austin jailed for an entire year. The Texans were furious Many people view the mission as a memorial to Americans and ready to rebel. willingness to fight for freedom, Santa Annas answer to talk of rebellion was to send so a Texas group has begun more troops to Texas. In late September 1835, Mexican attempts to preserve the Alamo from further damage. The Alamo soldiers marched to the town of Gonzales. They had looks quite different from the orders to seize a cannon used by the Texans for protecbattle site of 1836. The tion against Native Americans. Texas volunteers had famous bellshaped front hung a flag on the big gun that said, Come and Take It. was added in The Mexican troops failed to capture the cannon. the 1850s. Two months later, Texans drove Mexican troops out of an old mission in San Antonio that was used as a fortress. It was called the Alamo. Among the Texas volunteers were free African Americans such as Hendrick Arnold and Greenbury Logan. Angered by these insults, Santa Anna and 6,000 troops headed for Texas.
B. What Summarizing three actions did the Mexican government take to control Texas? B. Answer The Mexican government stopped American immigration, levied taxes, and sent troops to Texas.
The Fight for the Alamo
On March 12, 1836, Texans met at a settlement called Washington-on-the-Brazos to decide what to do about Santa Annas troops. They believed they could do only one thing: to declare Texas a free and independent republic. Sam Houston, the only man at the meeting with military experience, was placed in command of the Texas army.
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C. Analyzing Causes What Texan actions moved Santa Anna to head toward Texas? C. Answer American resistance at Gonzales and at San Antonio
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The Texas army hardly existed. At that moment, Remember there were two small forces ready to stand up to Santa the Alamo! Annas army. One was a company of 420 men, led by a Texan soldier James Fannin, stationed at Goliad, a fort in southeast Texas. The second was a company of 183 volunteers at the Alamo. Headed by William Travis, this small force included such famous frontiersmen as Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. In addition, Juan Segun (wahn sehGEEN) led a band of 25 Tejanos in support of revolt. On February 23, 1836, Santa Annas troops surrounded San Antonio. The next day, Mexicans began their siege of the Alamo. Two nights later, Travis scrawled a message to the world.
D. Making Inferences Why would William Travis address his message to all Americans? D. Possible Response Travis wanted to rally support for Texas from all Americans.
A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S T The enemy has demanded a surrender. . . . I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. William Travis, To the People of Texas and all the Americans in the World
Because Juan Segun spoke Spanish, he was chosen to carry the plea through enemy lines. Segun got the message through to other Texas defenders. But when he returned, he saw the Alamo in flames. The Alamos defenders held off the Mexican attack for 12 violent days. Travis and the defenders stubbornly refused to surrender. On the 13th day, Santa Anna ordered more than 1,800 men to storm the fortress. The The Battle of the Alamo was Texans met the attackers with a hailstorm of cannon and so intense that Davy Crockett gun fire. Then suddenly it became strangely quiet. The did not have time to reload his Texans had run out of ammunition. At days end, all but gun, which he called Betsy. He used it as a club. This print five Texans were dead. The Battle of the Alamo was over.
is by a 20th-century illustrator, Frederick Yohn. What does the print reveal about the battle?
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JUAN SEGUN 18061890 Juan Segun was a Tejano hero of the Texas Revolution. It was Segun who dashed through enemy lines at the Alamo with a last desperate attempt for aid. And after the war, it was Segun who arranged for the remains of the Alamo defenders to be buried with full military honors. Newcomers to Texas who disliked all Tejanos falsely accused Sequn of planning rebellion. Fearing for his life, he fled to Mexico in 1842, there to seek a refuge amongst my enemies.
SAM HOUSTON 17931863 Raised by a widowed mother, Sam Houston grew up in Tennessee. He lived with the Cherokee for about three years. Later, he served in the U.S. Army, in Congress, and as the governor of Tennessee. I was a General without an army, wrote Houston, after taking command of the Texas forces in 1836. Yet by the time the war was over, he and his troops had defeated Santa Annas larger army. Houston was elected the first president of the Republic of Texas. When Texas became a state, he served as a U.S. senator.
In what ways did the experiences of Segun and Houston differ?
Those men who had not died in the fighting were executed at Santa Annas command. A total of 183 Alamo defenders died. A few women and children were not killed. Susanna Dickinson, one of the survivors, was ordered by Santa Anna to tell the story of the Alamo to other Texans. He hoped the story would discourage more rebellion. The slaughter at the Alamo shocked Texansand showed them how hard they would have to fight for their freedom from Mexico.
Victory at San Jacinto
With Santa Anna on the attack, Texansboth soldiers and settlersfled eastward. Houston sent a message to the men at Goliad, ordering them to retreat. They were captured by Mexican forces, who executed more than 300. The Texans would not soon forget the massacre at Goliad. But even in retreat and defeat, Houstons army doubled. Now it was a fighting force of 800 angry men. It included Tejanos, American settlers, volunteers from the United States, and many free and enslaved African Americans. In late April, Santa Anna caught up with Houston near the San Jacinto (san juhSINtoh) River. Late in the afternoon of April 21, 1836, the Texans advanced on the Mexican army with the stillness of death. When close to Santa Annas camp, they raced forward, rifles ready, screaming Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! In just 18 minutes, the Texans killed more than half of the Mexican army. Santa Anna was forced to sign a treaty giving Texas its freedom. With the Battle of San Jacinto, Texas was now independent.
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