288 CHAPTER 9

Terms & NamesTerms & NamesMAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

One American's Story

Expansion in Texas

•Stephen F. Austin•land grant•Antonio López deSanta Anna

•Texas Revolution

•Alamo•Sam Houston•Republic of Texas•annex

Mexico offered land grants toAmerican settlers, but conflictdeveloped over religion andother cultural differences,and the issue of slavery.

Today, the state of Texasshares an important tradingpartnership with Mexico.

WHY IT MATTERS NOWWHY IT MATTERS NOW

In 1821, Stephen F. Austin led the first of several groups ofAmerican settlers to a fertile area “as good in every respect asman could wish for, land first rate, plenty of timber, finewater—beautifully rolling” along the Brazos River. However,Austin’s plans didn’t work out as well as he had hoped; 12years later, he found himself in a Mexican prison and his newhomeland in an uproar. After his release, Austin spoke aboutthe impending crisis between Texas and Mexico.

A PERSONAL VOICE STEPHEN F. AUSTIN

“ Texas needs peace, and a local government; its inhabitants arefarmers, and they need a calm and quiet life. . . . [But] my efforts toserve Texas involved me in the labyrinth of Mexican politics. I was arrested,and have suffered a long persecution and imprisonment. . . . I fully hoped to havefound Texas at peace and in tranquillity, but regret to find it in commotion; all dis-organized, all in anarchy, and threatened with immediate hostilities. . . . Can thisstate of things exist without precipitating the country into a war? I think it cannot.”

—quoted in Texas: An Album of History

Austin’s warning proved to be prophetic. The conflict between Texas andMexico would soon escalate into a bloody struggle.

Americans Settle in the SouthwestDuring three centuries of Spanish rule of Mexico, only a few thousand Mexicansettlers had migrated to the vast landscape of what is now Texas. Despite theregion’s rich natural resources and a climate conducive to agriculture, a numberof problems scared off many potential Mexican settlers. One was the growingfriction between Native American and Mexican inhabitants of the area.

THE MISSION SYSTEM Since the earliest Spanish settlements, the NativeAmerican and Mexican populations in the Southwest had come into close con-tact. Before Mexico won its independence in 1821, Spain’s system of Roman

Stephen Austinestablished acolony ofAmerican settlersin Tejas, or Texas,then the northern-most province ofthe Mexicanstate of Coahuila.

▼

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A

B

Catholic missions in California, New Mexico, and Texas tried to convert NativeAmericans to Catholicism and to settle them on mission lands. To protect themissions, Spanish soldiers manned nearby presidios, or forts.

The mission system declined during the 1820s and 1830s, after Mexico hadwon its independence. After wresting the missions from Spanish control, theMexican government offered the surrounding lands to government officials andranchers. While some Native Americans were forced to remain as unpaid laborers,many others fled the missions, returning to traditional ways. When Mexicanscaptured Native Americans for forced labor, groups of hostile Comanche andApache retaliated by sweeping through Texas, terrorizing Mexican settlementsand stealing livestock that supported many American settlers and Mexican set-tlers, or Tejanos.

THE IMPACT OF MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE Trade opportunities betweenMexico’s northern provinces and the United States multiplied. Tejano livestock,mostly longhorn cattle, provided tallow, hides, and other commercial goods totrade in Santa Fe, New Mexico, north and west of Texas.

Newly free, Mexico sought to improve its economy. Toward that end, thecountry eased trade restrictions and made trade with the United States moreattractive than trade between northern Mexico and other sections of Mexico.Gradually, the ties loosened between Mexico and the northern provinces, whichincluded present-day New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.

Mexico was beginning to discover what Spain had previously learned: own-ing a vast territory did not necessarily mean controlling it. Mexico City—the seatof Mexican government—lay far from the northernprovinces and often seemed indifferent to the problems ofsettlers in Texas. Native American groups, such as theApache and the Comanche, continued to threaten the thin-ly scattered Mexican settlements in New Mexico and Texas.Consequently, the Mexican government began to look forways to strengthen ties between Mexico City and thenorthern provinces.

MEXICO INVITES U.S. SETTLERS To prevent border vio-lations by horse thieves and to protect the territory fromNative American attacks, the Mexican government encour-aged American farmers to settle in Texas. In 1821, and againin 1823 and 1824, Mexico offered enormous land grantsto agents, who were called empresarios. The empresarios, inturn, attracted American settlers, who eagerly bought cheapland in return for a pledge to obey Mexican laws andobserve the official religion of Roman Catholicism.

Many Americans as well as Mexicans rushed at thechance. The same restless determination that produced newinventions and manufactured goods fed the American urgeto remove any barrier to settlement of the West. The popu-lation of Anglo, or English-speaking, settlers from Europeand the United States soon surpassed the population ofTejanos who lived in Texas. Until the 1830s, the Anglo set-tlers lived as naturalized Mexican citizens.

AUSTIN IN TEXAS The most successful empresario,Stephen F. Austin, established a colony between the Brazosand Colorado rivers, where “no drunkard, no gambler, noprofane swearer, and no idler” would be allowed. By 1825,Austin had issued 297 land grants to the group that later

Expanding Markets and Moving West 289

NOWNOW THENTHEN

TEJANO CULTUREThe Anglo and Mexican culturesof Texas have shaped one anoth-er, especially in terms of music,food, and language.

For example, Tejano musicreflects roots in Mexican mariachias well as American country andwestern music and is now a$100 million a year industry. Asfor language, Tejanos often speaka mixture of Spanish and Englishcalled Spanglish.

As Enrique Madrid, who lives inthe border area between Texasand Mexico, says, “We have twovery powerful cultures coming toterms with each other every dayon the banks of the Rio Grandeand creating a new culture.”

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

A

AnalyzingEffects

How didrelations betweenthe Mexicans andNative Americansin the Southwestchange after1821?

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

B

AnalyzingMotives

What didMexico hope togain from Anglosettlement inTexas?

A. Answer After 1821,Mexico gaveaway their landsand tried to capture NativeAmericans forforced labor.Native Americangroups retaliatedwith violence.

B. Answer Mexico hopedto protectagainst raids byNativeAmericans andhorse theives,and to bringAmerican manu-factured goodsinto Mexico.

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became known as Texas’s Old Three Hundred. Each family received 177 very inex-pensive acres of farmland, or 4,428 acres for stock grazing, as well as a 10-yearexemption from paying taxes. “I am convinced,” Austin said, “that I could takeon fifteen hundred families as easily as three hundred.”

At the colony’s capital in San Felipe, a visiting blacksmith, Noah Smithwick,described an established town, with “weddings and other social gatherings.”Smithwick stayed in a simple home but learned that “in the course of time thepole cabin gave place to a handsome brick house and that the rude furnishingswere replaced by the best the country boasted.”

In 1836, Mary Austin Holley, Stephen Austin’s cousin, wrote admiringlyabout towns such as Galveston on the Gulf Coast and Bastrop.

A PERSONAL VOICE MARY AUSTIN HOLLEY

“ Bastrop . . . continues to grow rapidly. It is a favorite spot for new settlers, andis quite the rage at present. . . . It is situated on a bend of the [Colorado], slopingbeautifully down to the water, with ranges of timber—first oak, then pine, thencedar, rising in regular succession behind it.”

—quoted in Texas: An Album of History

Word about Texas spread throughout the United States.Posters boldly stated, “Go To Texas!” Confident that Texaseventually would yield great wealth, Americans increasing-ly discussed extending the U.S. boundaries to the river theycalled the Rio Grande (known in Mexico as the Rio Bravo).President John Quincy Adams had previously offered to buyTexas for $1 million; President Andrew Jackson later uppedthe bid to $5 million. Mexico not only refused to sell Texasbut also began to regret its hospitality to Anglo immigrants.

Texas Fights for IndependenceAs Texas’s Anglo population surged, tensions grew withMexico over cultural differences, as well as slavery. Theoverwhelmingly Protestant settlers spoke English ratherthan Spanish. Many of the settlers were Southern cotton orsugar farmers who had brought slaves with them. Mexico,which had abolished slavery in 1824, insisted in vain thatthe Texans free their slaves.

“COME TO TEXAS” In 1830, Mexico sealed its bordersand slapped a heavy tax on the importation of Americangoods. Mexico, however, lacked sufficient troops to policeits borders well. Despite restrictions, the Anglo populationof Texas doubled between 1830 and 1834. In 1834, Austinwon a repeal of the prohibition on immigration. By 1835,more than 1,000 Anglos each month streamed into Texas,scrawling the initials “G.T.T.” on their doors to indicate thatthey had “Gone to Texas.” A year later, Texas’s populationincluded only 3,500 Tejanos, 12,000 Native Americans,45,000 Anglos, and 5,000 African Americans.

Meanwhile, Mexican politics became increasinglyunstable. Austin had traveled to Mexico City late in 1833 topresent petitions for greater self-government for Texas toMexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna.

290 CHAPTER 9

D

KEY PLAYERKEY PLAYER

SANTA ANNA1795–1876

Antonio López de Santa Annabegan his career fighting forSpain in the war over Mexicanindependence. Later, he switchedsides to fight for Mexico.

Declaring himself the “Napoleonof the West,” Santa Anna tookcontrol of the government aboutten years after Mexico won inde-pendence in 1821. He spent thenext 34 years alternately servingas president, leading troops intobattle, and living in exile. Heserved as president 11 times.Santa Anna was a complex manwith much charm. He sacrificedhis considerable wealth to returnagain and again to the battlefieldand died in poverty and almostforgotten.

C

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

C

EvaluatingLeadership

Why wasStephen Austin’scolony sosuccessful?

C. AnswerAustin was successfulbecause hechose the set-tlers carefully,gave them landand a 10-yeartax exemptionwhich enabledthe colony toestablish itselfquickly.

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

DContrasting

List some ofthe culturalconflicts causedby the influx ofAnglo settlers intoTexas.

D. AnswerThe white set-tlers wereProtestants,spoke English,and broughtslaves, whichdefied Mexicanlaw.

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Nacogdoches

Santa

Anna

Houston

Santa Anna

95°W 91°W

27

Red River

Pecos RiverRio Grande

BrazosRiver

Nueces R i ver

Colorado River

Sabine River

Neches River

TrinityRiver

Gul f of MexicoRefugio,Mar. 12–15, 1836

Alamo,Feb. 23–Mar. 6, 1836

San Antonio,Dec. 10, 1835

Goliad,Mar. 20, 1836

San Jacinto,Apr. 21, 1836

UNITEDSTATES

MEXICO

Land disputedby Texas

and Mexico

REPUBLICOF TEXAS

Matamoros

Waterloo(Austin)

LaredoCorpus Christi

Matagorda

Washington-on-the-Brazos

Galveston

Texan forces

Mexican forces

Texan victory

Mexican victory

0

0 75 150 kilometers

75 150 miles

N

S

EW

War for Texas Independence, 1835–1836

Henry Arthur McArdle conveys the brutality of the fightingin Dawn at the Alamo, painted between 1876 and 1883.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER1. Place What geographical feature marked the

northern border of the Republic of Texas? 2. Region What does the map show as a major

disagreement left unresolved by the war?

While Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna suspended the 1824 Mexicanconstitution and had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution. After Santa Annarevoked local powers in Texas and other Mexican states, several rebellions erupt-ed, including what would eventually be known as the Texas Revolution.

“REMEMBER THE ALAMO!” Austin had argued with Santa Anna for self-gov-ernment for Texas, but without success. Determined to force Texas to obey lawshe had established, Santa Anna marched toward San Antonio at the head of a4,000-member army. At the same time, Austin and his followers issued a call forTexans to arm themselves.

Late in 1835, the Texans attacked. They drove the Mexican forces from theAlamo, an abandoned mission and fort. In response, Santa Anna swept north-ward and stormed and destroyed the small American garrison in the Alamo. All187 U.S. defenders died, including the famous frontiersmen Jim Bowie, who haddesigned the razor-sharp Bowie knife, and Davy Crockett, who sported a raccooncap with a long tail hanging down his back. Hundreds of Mexicans also perished.Only a few women and children were spared.

THE LONE STAR REPUBLIC Later in March of 1836, Santa Anna’s troops exe-cuted 300 rebels at Goliad. The Alamo and Goliad victories would prove costly forSanta Anna. Six weeks after the defeat of the Alamo, on April 21, the Texans

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

EComparing

Compare thereasons for theTexas Revolutionwith the reasonsfor the AmericanRevolution. E

SkillbuilderAnswers1. The Red River.2. Both theRepublic ofTexas andMexico claimeda large stretchof territory westof the Republicof Texas.

E. AnswerBoth the Texasrebels and theAmericancolonistsbelieved theywere oppressedby governmentsoutside of theirterritories.

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struck back. Led by Sam Houston, they defeated SantaAnna at the Battle of San Jacinto. With shouts of “Rememberthe Alamo!” the Texans killed 630 of Santa Anna’s soldiers in18 minutes and captured Santa Anna. The victorious Texansset Santa Anna free after he signed the Treaty of Velasco,which granted independence to Texas. In September 1836,Houston became president of the Republic of Texas. Thenew “Lone Star Republic” set up an army and a navy andproudly flew its new silk flag with the lone gold star.

TEXAS JOINS THE UNION On March 2, 1836, as the bat-tle for the Alamo was raging, Texans had declared theirindependence from Mexico. Believing that Mexico haddeprived them of their fundamental rights, the Texas rebelshad likened themselves to the American colonists who hadchafed under British rule 60 years earlier. On March 16,they ratified a constitution based on that of the UnitedStates. In 1838, Sam Houston invited the United States toannex, or incorporate, the Texas republic into the UnitedStates. Most people within Texas hoped this would happen.U.S. opinion, however, divided along sectional lines.Southerners sought to extend slavery, already established inTexas. Northerners feared that annexation of more slaveterritory would tip the uneasy balance in the Senate infavor of slave states—and prompt war with Mexico.

Then in 1844, the U.S. presidential election featured adebate on westward expansion. The man who would winthe presidency, James K. Polk, a slaveholder, firmly favoredannexation of Texas “at the earliest practicable period.”

On December 29, 1845, Texas became the 28th state inthe Union. A furious Mexican government recalled itsambassador from Washington. Events were moving quicklytoward war.

292 CHAPTER 9

•Stephen F. Austin•land grant

•Antonio López de Santa Anna

•Texas Revolution

•Alamo•Sam Houston

•Republic of Texas•annex

1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.

MAIN IDEA2. TAKING NOTES

Use a diagram similar to this one toanalyze the relationship betweenMexican authorities and Anglossettling in Texas.

What other actions might Mexico orthe settlers have taken to avoidconflict?

CRITICAL THINKING3. COMPARING

Compare and contrast Santa Annaand Austin as leaders. Use detailsfrom the section to explain youranswer. Think About:

• Santa Anna’s role as presidentof Mexico

• Santa Anna’s qualities as a mili-tary leader

• Austin’s settlement in Texas• Austin’s abilities as a negotiator

4. SYNTHESIZINGWhich group or country gained themost from the entry of Texas intothe United States? Who lost themost? Support your opinion withspecific references to the section.

KEY PLAYERKEY PLAYER

SAM HOUSTON1793–1863

Sam Houston ran away fromhome at about age 15 and livedfor nearly three years with theCherokee. He later fought in theU.S. Army, studied law, was elect-ed to Congress, and became gov-ernor of Tennessee.

In his memoirs, Houston told oflistening in vain for the signalguns indicating that the Alamostill stood.

“I listened with an acutenessof sense which no man canunderstand whose hearing hasnot been sharpened by theteachings of the dwellers ofthe forest.”

MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA

FContrasting

Explain thedifferencesbetween theNorthern andSouthern positionson the annexationof Texas.

F

F. Answer TheNorth did notwant to admit aslave statestate, whichwould tip thebalance ofpower betweenfree and slavestates. TheSouth wished toannex Texas andextend slavery,which alreadyexisted in Texas.

Mexico SettlersGoalsActionsOutcomes

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