Page 324 - American Stories, A History of the United States

in the Southwest. In 1821, Mexico, which then included areas that currently make
up the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and much of 13.1
Colorado, won its independence from Spain.
Newly independent Mexico encouraged trade with the United States and wooed
American settlers to Texas, which was sparsely populated. It granted Stephen F. Austin, 13.2
son of a one-time Spanish citizen, a huge piece of land there in hopes he would help
attract and settle new colonists from the United States. Some 15 other Anglo- American
empresarios received similar land grants in the 1820s. In 1823, 300 families from the
United States were settled on the Austin grant. Within a year, the colony’s popula-
tion was 2021. The offer of fertile and inexpensive land attracted many American
immigrants.
But friction soon developed between the Mexican government and the Anglo-
American colonists over slavery and the authority of the Catholic Church.
Anglo- American settlers were not willing to become Mexicans. Yet under the terms
of settlement, all people living in Texas had to become Mexican citizens and Roman
Catholics. Slavery presented another problem. In 1829, Mexico freed all slaves under
its jurisdiction. The Mexican government gave slaveholders in Texas an exemption
that allowed them to emancipate their slaves and then force them to sign lifelong
contracts as indentured servants, but many Texans refused to limit their ownership
rights in any way. Settlers either converted to Catholicism in name only or ignored
the requirement.
A Mexican commission reported in 1829 that Americans in Texas were flagrantly
violating Mexican law—refusing to emancipate their slaves, evading import duties
on goods from the United States, and not converting to Catholicism. In 1830, the
Mexican Congress prohibited further American immigration and importation of
slaves to Texas.
But the new law was feebly enforced, and the flow of settlers, slaves, and smuggled
goods continued. Texans complained about the lack of local self-government. Under
the Mexican federal constitution, Texas was part of the state of Coahuila, and Texan
representatives were outnumbered three to one in the state legislature. In 1832, the
colonists showed their displeasure by rioting in protest against the arrest of Anglo-
Americans by a Mexican commander.
The Texans’ status as “tolerated guests” was threatened in 1834 when General
Antonio López de Santa Anna made himself dictator of Mexico and abolished its fed-
eral system. News of these developments reached Texas late in the year, along with
rumors that the American immigrants were going to be disfranchised or even expelled.
The Texans, already aroused by earlier restrictive policies, prepared to resist Santa
Anna’s effort to enforce tariff regulations.
Santa Anna sent reinforcements. On June 30, 1835, before they arrived, settlers
led by William B. Travis captured the Mexican garrison at Anahuac without firing Quick Check
a shot. The Texans first fought Mexican troops at Gonzales in October and forced a Why were Austin and the settlers so
cavalry detachment to retreat. Shortly thereafter, Austin captured San Antonio along dissatisfied with Mexican rule over
with most of the Mexican troops then in Texas. Texas?

the Republic of texas
While this early fighting was going on, delegates from the American communities
in Texas declared their independence on March 2, 1836. A constitution, based
on that of the United States, was adopted for the new Republic of Texas, and a
temporary government was installed to carry on the struggle. Although the ensuing Alamo in 1835, Americans living
conflict largely pitted Americans against Mexicans, some Texas Mexicans, or in Mexican­ruled texas fomented
Tejanos, sided with the Anglo rebels. They too wanted to be free of Santa Anna’s a revolution. Mexico lost the
resulting conflict, but not before its
heavy-handed rule. troops defeated and killed a group
Within days after Texas declared itself a republic, rebels and Mexican troops in of American rebels at the Alamo, a
San Antonio fought the famous battle of the Alamo. Myths about this battle have fortified mission in san Antonio.

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