2. Unit 9: Westward Expansion Lesson 4: Texas Independence

3. In 1820, Texas was populated by a few Americans & about 3,000 Tejanos: –people of Mexican heritage who consider Texas their home (3,000 is not very many)

4. Most of the region belonged to Native Americans who really didn’t want people coming to settle there

5. Regardless of what the Natives wanted, Spanish officials wanted more of their own people to settle in Texas so they wouldn’t lose control of it

6. How do we get Spanish people to settle there? In the early 1800s, Spanish officials offered large pieces of Texas land to empresarios: –people who agreed to settle & bring more settlers with them

7. One empresario was Stephen Austin –In 1821, he established the first settlements along the Brazos & Colorado Rivers

8. Around the same time as Austin was establishing those settlements, Mexico won its independence from Spain The Mexican gov’t offered each American settler in Texas a large piece of land

9. Did the American settlers get that land for free? Not exactly In exchange, for the land, the settlers promised to 1. become citizens of Mexico 2. obey Mexico’s laws 3. accept the Roman Catholic faith

10. Why would Mexico want them to do those things? To ensure the settlers’ loyalty –Meanwhile, though, 1,000s of Americans moved into Texas without Mexico’s permission

11. These settlers never promised to obey Mexico’s laws or accept the Roman Catholic faith –They wanted to keep their own ways of life

12. Conflicts Begin Even though the Mexican gov’t prohibited slavery, many settlers who had never pledged their allegiance to Mexico were using slaves to grow cotton

13. In 1829, the cotton growers protested so strongly that the Mexican gov’t decided to allow slavery in Texas

14. Mexico Starts to Get Nervous By 1830, there were over 5 times as many Americans in Mexico as Tejanos –One Mexican general warned officials that America might be out to take over Texas, as America had done to every other territory it shared a border with

15. Mexican officials heeded the warning &, in 1830, banned further American settlement in TX –It also ordered construction of 5 new army posts in TX to enforce Mexican laws

16. Were the Americans happy about these things? Nope Many protested, & some started to talk about splitting TX off from Mexico

17. In 1833, Stephen Austin went to Mexico City with a petition The petition was written on behalf of the Americans and the Tejanos It called for 1. an end to the ban on American settlement, 2. the creation of a separate Texas state

18. The new head of the Mexican gov’t, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, insisted that Texas remain part of Mexico

19. Austin got defiant & wrote a letter back to TX telling them to go ahead with their push for statehood –Unfortunately, the Mexican gov’t found the letter, & Santa Anna had Austin arrested There’s something you don’t see everyday 

20. By the time Austin got out of prison, 8 months later, Santa Anna had made himself a dictator, and he threw Mexico’s constitution away

21. When the constitution was taken away, Mexicans, as well as Americans living in Texas, lost many of their freedoms

22. Americans living in Texas felt that their rights were being violated because: they were being taxed unfairly laws were passed to limit their movement Santa Anna tried to control everything

23. Santa Anna’s dictatorship only added to Texans’ belief that they needed to separate from Mexico –Before attempting to separate, they wrote a –declaration of independence listing their grievances

24. October, 1835 Upon hearing of the Texans’ intention, Santa Anna sent soldiers to seize a cannon at the TX town of Gonzales –When the troops got to Gonzales, they found a flag hanging over the cannon that said “Come and Take It”

25. After a quick fight, the Mexican soldiers left without the cannon Santa Anna then ordered troops to occupy San Antonio

26. In December, hundreds of TX volunteers attacked San Antonio, which was filled with Santa Anna’s Mexican soldiers –Within 5 days they’d driven the Mexicans out of San Antonio

27. On March 2, 1836, Texans announced the creation of the Republic of Texas They placed Sam Houston, a former governor of Tennessee, in command of the army

28. Meanwhile, in San Antonio, about 200 TX soldiers took cover in & defended an empty mission called the Alamo For 12 days, Santa Anna’s Mexican forces fired at the mission Davy Crockett

29. Finally, on March 6, Santa Anna ordered an all-out attack –Davy Crockett & his fellow Tennessee sharpshooters inside the Alamo fired at the Mexican soldiers still 200 yards away –For every Mexican soldier that fell, though, another moved closer

30. When Mexican soldiers climbed over the walls of the Alamo, the Americans fought them in hand-to-hand combat –Mexican soldiers soon captured & killed Davy Crockett

31. By later that morning, all of the Alamo defenders had died –Only a few women, children, & slaves survived –The Alamo movie previewThe Alamo movie preview

32. The One Good Result of the Alamo Massacre: It angered Texans and inspired them to want to prevent such losses from happening again

33. The Goliad Massacre In an effort to prevent another such massacre at a fort, Sam Houston sent word to James Fanin, the army commander in Goliad, to abandon the fort there –On their way away from the fort, Fanin & his troops ran into a Mexican army

34. After a short fight, Fanin surrendered his troops A week later, the Mexicans began to execute the prisoners –Many escaped, but about 350 were killed by Mexican firing squads

35. After hearing about the Alamo & Goliad, about 1,400 TX volunteers rushed to join Sam Houston’s army –Houston didn’t strike against the Mexicans immediately –He took time to build an army, & stayed informed about the movements of the Mexican army with the help of 2 spies Roz

36. The Battle of San Jacinto Houston finally decided to strike in April, 1836 On April 21, when the Mexicans had settled down to take an afternoon nap, Houston ordered the attack –TX volunteers raced into battle, screaming “Remember the Alamo” & “Remember Goliad”

37. The Battle of San Jacinto only lasted 18 minutes It was the most intense battle of the TX Revolution

38. Casualties More than 600 Mexican soldiers were killed, with hundreds more wounded or captured 9 Texans were killed

39. The day after the battle, Santa Anna was taken prisoner On May 14, he was forced to sign a peace treaty with TX –In September 1836, Texans elected Sam Houston president of the new independent nation- the Republic of Texas