1. Challenges to Spanish Rule
Chapter 7 Lesson 2
Challenges to Spanish Rule
Guiding Question: Why did Mexico want independence from Spain?
Growing Unrest in New Spain
In the early 1800’s, life was difficult for many of the colonists of New Spain. Under Spanish control, colonists were excluded from the best jobs. Most went to government administrators.
When the Spanish King seized money and property from colonial churches in 1804, it hurt the whole economy. Many colonists, who had worked for the Roman Catholic Church, lost their jobs because the churches had no money left to pay them.
Increasingly, colonial people were beginning to resent the heavy hand of Spanish rule!
A Call for Independence

2. Early in the morning of September 16, 1810, a priest in the farming village of
Dolores issued a “grito” or “call”, for a rebellion against Spanish authorities.
Father Hidalgo y Costilla cared deeply about the hardworking people of his village and wanted better opportunities for them. His call for an uprising against the Spanish marked the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence.

3. Only a few months after Father Hidalgo’s revolt
Began he was captured and executed for treason.
However, the movement for independence did not end with his death.
He had inspired many followers who continued to work for
“liberation”, or “freedom” from Spanish rule.

4. Magee was made military commander of what was
Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara traveled to Washington D.C. in 1811 to ask the United States for help. He told American leaders of his plans to free Texas from Spanish rule.
He also asked for men, money, and supplies. He was told he would find all 3 in Louisiana. So he set sail for New Orleans. Upon his arrival, Gutierrez de Lara began recruiting soldiers and convinced a young American officer to join his cause. Lieutenant Augustus Magee.
Magee
Magee was a West Point graduate resigned from the US Army and joined Gutierrez de Lara’s Texas expedition.
Magee was made military commander of what was
now called the Gutierrez—Magee Expedition,
And Gutierrez overall commander.
Gutierrez de Lara

5. The Republican Army of the North
By August 1812, the Gutierrez—Magee Expedition had an army with an impressive sounding name “The Republican Army of the North”. It soldiers included Tejanos, Native Americans, and white American filibusters.
The army crossed the Sabine River and into Texas and captured Nacogdoches without difficulty.
Then the army marched to Goliad, gathering new volunteers along the way and captured Goliad in early November.

6. However, a large Spanish force soon surrounded Goliad and for 3 months the rebel army was under siege. When Magee died suddenly, another American (Samuel Kemper) took command of the troops. By February 1813 the Spanish forces had suffered heavy losses and gave up the siege. They then retreated to San Antonio.
La Bahia in Goliad

7. Kemper’s forces chased the Spanish troops and defeated them in battle
in late March. Spanish officials at
San Antonio surrendered the city to the Republican forces. The victorious leaders issued a declaration of independence for Texas.
However, problems soon arose within the ranks of the Republican army. The Americans wanted an elected government and the Mexicans preferred a government like that in New Spain w/appt. officials. They also wanted Texas to stay part of Mexico . The Americans wanted Texas to be independent or join the United States.

8. The Battle of Medina
In August 1813 the Republican Army battled Spanish forces south of San Antonio near the Medina River.

9. deserted the towns of Goliad and Nacogdoches .
Commanded by General Joaquin de Arredondo, the Spanish overwhelmed the Republican Army and won a complete victory. Most of the rebels were killed in battle, and others were killed after surrendering.
General Arredondo
The Spanish also tracked down and killed colonists in San Antonio who had helped the Republican Army. In fear for their own lives, colonists
deserted the towns of Goliad and Nacogdoches .

10. Pirates, Settlers, and Revolutionaries

11. Pirates, Settlers, and Revolutionaries
Guiding Question: What was the role of Texas in the fight for independence from Spain?
Even after the rebels defeat at Medina, the rebellion continued. Some of the rebels gathered on Galveston Island and made plans to carry on the fight against Spanish rule.
Pirates on Galveston Island
Galveston Island was an ideal base for operations against the Spanish fleet sailing the Gulf of Mexico.

12. Pirates, Settlers, and Revolutionaries
The rebels asked French pirate Louis Michel Aury to patrol the gulf waters . For his service in capturing Spanish ships, the rebels named Aury the commissioner of Galveston.
The next year he helped revolutionary leader Francisco Mina transport his forces to Mexico. When he returned to Galveston Island to find that it was now occupied by another pirate. Jean Lafitte.
Louis Aury
Jean Lafitte had sided with the United States against Great Britain during the War of When that conflict ended, the pirate moved his base to Galveston Island, claiming to support Mexican independence.
Like Aury, Lafitte was more interested in taking the valuable cargo that Spanish ships were carrying. At times Lafitte’s pirates attacked American ships until the US Navy put a stop to it. In 1820 Lafitte abandoned Galveston Island and sailed southward along the Mexican coast.
According to legend, Lafitte buried treasure of gold and silver on one of the islands along the gulf coast, but the treasure has never been recovered.
Jean Lafitte

13. James Long’s Expedition
The last of the filibusters who tried to take Texas away from Spain was James Long of Natchez, Mississippi. Long and many other people on the frontier in Louisiana and Mississippi were angry because the United States had given up all claims to Texas in the Adams—Onis Treaty.
In the summer of 1819, Long led 300 rebels into Texas and easily captured the nearly deserted town of Nacogdoches. The group declared Texas a free and independent republic, and they elected Long as its President.
After taking Nacogdoches, Long went to Galveston Island to ask Jean Lafitte for help. Lafitte refused, saying Long’s small band of rebels had no chance against a large, disciplined army.
While Long was away in Galveston, Spanish troops attacked Long’s forces in East Texas, killing many, including James Long’s brother, David.
Refusing to give up. Long returned to New Orleans for more recruits and a new plan to invade Texas by sea. His forces landed at Point Bolivar on Galveston Bay.

14. The Spanish surrounded and captured Long’s forces.
In the fall of 1821, Long and the rebels moved along the coast to the San Jacinto River and inland to capture Goliad.
Long was taken to Mexico City, where he was shot and killed 6 months
later by a guard.
The Spanish surrounded and captured Long’s forces.

15. Mexico Becomes a Nation
Guiding Question: Why was Mexican independence important for Texas?
In 1820 a rebellion began in Spain. Military leaders sought to force Spain’s King Ferdinand to accept a constitution that limited royal powers. With Spain engulfed in Civil War, Spain’s leaders gave little attention to the concerns of the Mexican people.
Clerics (church leaders) and mestizos had been at the forefront of the Mexican struggle for independence. In time however, criollos (Mexicans of Spanish decent) also joined the revolution.
Augustin de Iturbide took command of the revolutionary army. Then in February 1821, Iturbide issued his plan to establish a Mexican Empire. February 1821

16. The End of Spanish Rule
Iturbide’s Plan de Iguala offered the wary weary people of Mexico 3 guarantees and a plan for government:
It declared the Mexican people independent from Spain.
The Mexican people would unite, with equal rights for
mestizos and criollos.
3. It confirmed the Mexican people’s devotion to the Catholic Church.
The new Mexican government was to be a constitutional monarchy with an elected congress of representatives.

17. The two leaders signed the Treaty of Cordoba on August 24, 1821.
In the summer of 1821, the Spanish Viceroy was replaced. His successor (Juan O’Donoju) arrived in July. Realizing that the Spanish cause was lost O’Donoju agreed to a treaty with Iturbide.
The two leaders signed the Treaty of Cordoba on August 24, 1821.
The period of Spanish rule came to an end. What was once the Spanish colonial province of Texas became a territory of Mexico.

18. San Antonio, the capital and the largest
Although Spain had claimed Texas for 300 years, there had been little growth. Only 3 settlements—San Antonio, Goliad, and Nacogdoches—existed in the Texas interior.
San Antonio, the capital and the largest
town, had only about 2,000 people.

19. The Beginning of Mexican Rule
At the end of Spain’s rule, Texas was a vast, unoccupied territory with few people or settlements. Many of the people lived in poverty. Farmers and ranchers faced constant danger from Native Americans. Yet the biggest threat to Mexican Texas was its ambitious neighbor to the north, the United States.

20. Spain’s Legacy in Texas

21. Spain’s Legacy in Texas
Guided Question: What were the lasting effects of Spanish rule?
In spite of the failure to build strong settlements, the Spanish made many lasting contributions to Texas culture. Many of the things that make Texas the place it is today began in the state’s colonial past. Spain’s legacy in Texas is found in who we are and how we live, where we are, and even the roads we travel.
People and Their Work
Spain’s influence is deeply rooted in our culture, traditions, and people.
The first European language to be used in North America beginning 500 years ago was Spanish.
Nearly 40% of Texas population is Hispanic.
Nearly 6 million Texans today have Spanish names.
Cattle ranches in Texas adopted Spanish ranching methods and equipment such as chaps and lariats. Mexican Vaqueros (cowboys) made the first long cattle drives from South Texas to markets in Louisiana.
In Texas, settlers were quick to adopt Spanish customs to frontier conditions. In doing so they created a distinct Tejano culture that has continued in the state to the present day.

22. Places and Roadways
Although the Spanish did not settle everywhere in Texas, they had a huge influence on the culture of the entire state.
For example, many places were named by Spanish conquistadors as they explored and mapped this vast land. They named rivers, mountains, valleys, and deserts (Rio Grande, Guadalupe, Concho, and Sonoran).
Hundreds of Texas communities honor our Spanish past as well (San Antonio, Del Rio, Amarillo, El Paso, Llano).
The earliest roads in Texas were the trading paths used by Native Americans. Often, the Spanish colonial roads followed those early trails (El Camino Real or Atascosita Road).