1. Americans Move West

2. Manifest Destiny
Idea that the United States should extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans
Mid 1800’s – Americans b/g to move west and settle for a variety of reasons
Religion, money, land, etc.
They reached the west by following a series of “trails”

3. Trails to the West Oregon Trail California Trail Santa Fe Trail
Main route to the Pacific coast
California Trail
Route taken in the Gold Rush of 1849
Santa Fe Trail
Wagon route through the Southwest to trade w/Mexico
Typical trip west took 5-6 months

4. Donner Party 1846 – group of 87 people going west
Led by two brothers (last name Donner)
Got trapped by winter snows high in the Sierra Nevada.
41 people died of starvation
Those left alive forced to resort to cannibalism in order to survive

5. Mormon Migration Mormon Trail Route used by Mormons
Led by Brigham Young
To escape persecution and find a place to practice religion freely
Stopped at the Great Salt Lake, present day Utah

7. Come to Mexico!
1820’s – Texas is part of Mexico but full of American settlers
Santa Anna – Mexican president – passes colonization laws to get settlers into Mexico
Offered the settlers…
Cheap land to nearly anyone willing to come
A 10 year tax exemption
But required them to…
B/c Mexican citizens, live under Mexican law, convert to Catholicism

8. Recruiters Empresarios – recruited people to settle in Mexico
Mexico gave empresarios large land grants in Texas
In exchange the empresarios had to fill the land w/ a certain number of settlers
Empresarios governed the colonies they established
Stephen Austin was the first and most successful empresario

9. Americanize Texas Mexican govt. assumed the settlers would…
Accept Mexican citizenship, adopt Mexican customs, come to see Mexico as their own country
The Mexican govt. was wrong, Americans did not…
Learn Spanish, convert or attend the Catholic church, dismissed Mexican culture

10. Tension Builds 1830’s – Mexico tries to take back control…
Closed their borders to American settlers
Banned the import of slaves
Placed taxes on goods imported from foreign countries
Wanted to discourage trade w/ the US
New laws infuriate settlers
They did not want the Mexican govt. telling them what to do

11. Negotiations
Settlers hold two conventions to have negotiations w/ Mexico about the new laws
The First Convention – 1832
Name Stephen Austin president of the convention
They asked Mexico to…
Reopen Texas to US immigrants, loosen taxes on imports

12. Get Aggressive The Second Convention – 1833
More aggressive requests
They recommended separating Texas from the current Mexican state it resided in and making it a new Mexican state
Created a constitution for the new state
Designated Austin to travel to Mexico City to negotiate w/ the Mexican govt.
Negotiations didn’t go well

13. Austin Imprisoned Austin sent a letter to his people
He suggested Texas should peacefully organize its own state govt.
The letter was intercepted by Mexican officials
January 1834 – Austin was arrested for treason, jailed in Mexico City w/o trial and was released 1 ½ years later

14. Get Ready! 1834 – Santa Anna names himself dictator
Austin felt negotiations w/ Santa Anna were impossible
Urged Texans to organize an army and prepare for war
Sam Houston
Took command of the Texan army

15. The Alamo February 1836 –Texan rebels holed up at the Alamo
Goal – to delay Santa Anna’s forces and give Houston’s army more time to prepare
They held off the Mexican troops for 13 days
March 6, 1836 – Mexican troops storm the Alamo
Texans fought them off for 6 hours b/f they were overrun
Davy Crockett & Jim Bowie died here

16. The Alamo in San Antonio, TX

18. Battle of San Jacinto
Both armies camping along the San Jacinto River (modern day Houston)
Houston launches an afternoon assault
Mexicans in a panic, they were taking a nap
The battle lasted less than 20 minutes
The killing lasted for hours

19. “Remember the Alamo”
Yelling their battle cry Houston’s troops attacked the Mexican troops
Hundreds were killed
Over 700 Mexicans were taken captive
Including Santa Anna
He was forced to order his army out of Texas and sign a treaty making Texas its own country
Republic of Texas
Texans suffered only 9 killed and 34 wounded

20. The Republic of Texas 1836 – Sam Houston elected president
Voted in favor of annexation
Annexation – b/c part of the United States
North does not want to admit Texas as a slave state
Jackson wants to avoid sectional tensions and war w/ Mexico
Mexico was still claiming Texas
He made no move toward annexation