The Texas Independence It was a process that originated with the armed confrontations between the Texan settlers and the Mexican army. It spanned a period from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836. During this period the Texas War, also known as the Texas War of Independence, took place..
The Texan settlers fought several skirmishes against the Mexican army commanded by General Santa Anna, the constitutional president of Mexico. Among the most important battles fought in this phase of the process of creation of the Republic of Texas are the Battle of Gonsales and the Battle of San Jacinto..
The Independence of Texas was the product of a series of events and political decisions that took place in Mexico. Texas settlers formally declared their independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, in Washington-on-the-Brazos, an area near the Brazos River in Washington. This area is better known as the "birthplace of Texas".
The causes of Texas independence were several, beginning with the promulgation of the Seven Laws, which repealed the federal Constitution of 1824. The abolition of slavery and immigration in Mexico also had an influence..
The confrontations between the Texan settlers and the Mexican government escalated with the coming to power of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, and continued with the imprisonment of Texan leader Stephen F. Austin, among other events..
After the Battle of González (or Gonsales) on October 2, 1835, the settlers decided to fight for their independence and establish the Republic of Texas.
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After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, it wanted to conquer the northern region of the dissolved viceroyalty of New Spain. During the colonial period, this region remained depopulated by Mexicans, but was dominated by Apache and Comanche indigenous peoples..
The northern region was made up of the territories of the states of Coahuila and Texas, newly created by the Mexican federal Constitution of 1824. That year the Mexican government authorized its colonization and settlement and invited the American colonist Moses Austin to settle along with some 300 families. Native Americans.
Initially, the federal government tried with Mexicans, but they were not willing to colonize that dangerous territory; In contrast, Austin and other foreigners were attracted to the Mexican government's proposal. The settlers received a series of benefits to encourage them to remain in East Texas.
American settlers and businessmen were exempted from paying certain taxes and duties for 7 years, pursuant to the Imperial Colonization Law issued in January 1923. In addition, the Mexican government allowed the establishment of slave-owning settlers..
The only condition imposed by the Mexican government on the settlers was that they renounce American citizenship and convert to Catholicism. In 1831, when slavery was abolished in Mexico, the Mexican government asked the settlers to free or abandon their slaves.
These requests were attended only by the first settlers, not by the slave owners who later settled. Among the latter, a feeling of wanting to achieve self-government and increase slavery began to grow..
The rich plantation estates depended on slave labor. On the other hand, Texans wanted to increase trade with the United States..
On the death of the American businessman Moses Austin in 1821, his son Stephen F. Austin (called “father of Texas”) assumed his leadership and everything changed..
The great distance between Texas and Mexico City caused this territory to get out of federal control. It was then that the Mexican government realized the big mistake it had made in allowing US immigration..
The settlers were attracted by the promise of obtaining large territories in this fertile region ideal for growing cotton. When they arrived in Texas, the settlers were happy with the Mexican government, but then a series of events helped promote the independence of this territory..
In 1831 Mexico decided to abolish slavery, following the example of almost all Western nations. Had it been true in Texas, this would have meant a huge loss of unpaid labor for wealthy Texas ranchers. The expanding cotton economy depended exclusively on slaves for its sustenance.
On the other hand, slavery in the southern United States was tolerated by the government. American slave-owning immigrants had accumulated power in this territory; In the early 1830s, they outnumbered native Mexican-Indian Texans.
The Mexican government, recognizing its weakness to control Texan territory, also abolished Anglo-American immigration through the edict issued on April 6, 1830. This provoked the indignation of settlers with relatives in the United States..
At the same time, the Mexican government added difficulties to trade between Texas and the United States. Heavy tariffs were imposed on foreign imported products.
Conflicts between the Texan settlers and the Mexican government occurred intermittently during these years. Among these impasses it is worth mentioning those known as the Anáhuac Disturbance (1832), which ended in the Battle of Velasco, won by Texas on June 26 of that year..
As a result, the Mexican garrisons in Texas were abandoned, except in San Antonio (Béjar) and in Goliad..
Between these years the political conventions carried out by the Texas settlers to make various requests to the Mexican government take place..
The first request was that the tariff exemption that had been suspended be extended, as well as the repeal of the Anglo-American anti-immigration law and the administrative separation of Texas from the province of Coahuila.
Texans wanted to be an autonomous state and Stephen F. Austin was in charge of transmitting the Texas request to the federal government in Mexico City. The Mexican government repealed the immigration law but ignored the other two requests.
Stephen F. Austin was arrested and imprisoned in Mexico in 1834, after an intercepted letter advising settlers to ignore the government's response..
Austin remained in prison for 18 months. Returning to Texas in 1835, he found that the Texas rebellion was about to break out..
When General Antonio López de Santa Anna assumed the presidency in 1833, the Mexican leader promised to consolidate the power of the nascent republic and strengthen national unity..
The arrival of Santa Anna to the presidency of Mexico caused alarm in the northern region. Texans preferred to continue to function as an autonomous state.
Apart from the above causes, the promulgation in 1835 of the centralist Constitution was the trigger for the war and subsequent independence of Texas.
This legislation, which is also known as the Seven Laws, repealed the federal Constitution of 1824. The pronouncements not only came from Texas, but from different regions of the country.
There were other important events that led to the independence of Texas. For example, the capture of Goliad, the siege and subsequent capture of San Antonio by the Texas rebels, the Battle of Concepción on October 28, and the victory in Grass Fight on November 26, 1835..
This War of Independence began on October 2, 1835 with the Battle of González (Gonsales) and ended on April 21, 1836 with the Battle of San Jacinto.
A small contingent of the Mexican army was mobilized to the town of González, located east of San Antonio. His intention was to recover a cannon delivered to the city to defend against the attacks of the natives.
However, the locals did not allow it and the rebellion broke out. The skirmishes occurred at the end of September, when 18 militiamen blocked the passage of the Mexican army in the Guadalupe River, located in front of González.
The Texans surprised the troops sent by Santa Anna in the early hours of the morning. The thick night fog prevented them from being seen by the Mexican soldiers, who did not know precisely how many men were attacking them..
With the dawn of dawn they attacked the Mexican troops again and they withdrew to San Antonio de Béxar. General Martín Perfecto de Cos, who had been sent to Texas to reaffirm Mexican control over that territory, was defeated.
It was an armed confrontation whose relevance was more political than military. The Battle of González marked the break between the Texas settlers and the Mexican government. The history texts of the United States consider that the independence of that state began at that time..
Faced with these defiant actions of the settlers towards the government of Mexico, General Santa Anna himself decided to take charge of the situation.
He wanted to avenge the humiliation of the Mexican army commanded by General Martín Perfecto de Cos and teach them a lesson. Santa Anna advanced with about 7,000 men, making his way through Texas.
In December 1835, Anglo-American settlers and mestizo Texans captured the city of San Antonio. Then, two months later Santa Anna arrived with his troops in San Antonio de Béxar to recover the city. Texan leader Samuel Houston ordered the settlers to leave the city, but a rebel group decided to stay to defend it..
The settlers waited for Santa Anna at the old Spanish mission of El Álamo, located on the road to San Antonio. The Texan rebels were outnumbered and received only meager support from several dozen men from other areas..
For twelve days Santa Anna besieged and attacked the fortress in which all its 183 combatants died, except for the women and children who were allowed to leave. Houston, with its troops camped in González, withdrew to the northeast along with the civilians.
The Mexican army was after his head; instead of facing it, Houston decided to wait for an opportune moment. That moment came in April, right on the banks of the San Jacinto River, where Santa Anna camped.
On April 21 in the afternoon, the Texan commander surprised the president and caudillo Antonio López de Santa Anna with some 900 soldiers. It took 18 minutes for the Texans to cause the bloodiest defeat to the Mexican army.
Some 630 Mexican soldiers were killed and another 730 taken prisoner, while Texas casualties were only 6 men..
"Remember The Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" the Texans shouted in battle. Santa Anna was barely able to flee the massacre, but was hunted down and captured. On May 14, 1835, General Santa Anna - being a prisoner - signed the Treaties of Velasco as president of Mexico..
Through the Treaties of Velasco, the independence of Texas was recognized and the War of Independence ended, although after his release, Santa Anna was removed from office and Mexico refused to recognize the validity of these treaties..
Skirmishes and armed clashes between Mexico and the Republic of Texas continued until the United States-Mexican War in 1846.
Although the territories of Texas and Mexico were not delimited after independence, the country was stripped of a large part of the northern region that belonged to it..
Mexico did not recognize the independence of Texas, so it established the Sabina River as the boundary. For their part, the Texans set the border at the Rio Grande, much further south. In 1845 Texas joined the territory of the United States and began the territorial dispute between Mexico and the United States..
The immediate consequence of this event was the War between Mexico and the United States in 1846.
After Texas Independence the United States did not stop with its expansionist policy in the South. They seized the territories of California and New Mexico and the country had no way to deal with this situation. Mexico's financial and armed weakness prevented it from defending its territory.
The internal Mexican political conflict between liberals and conservatives also had an influence..
Between 1842 and 1844 Mexico sent a military expedition to try to recover the territory of Texas, but once again it failed. However, this new Mexican defeat favored the return to power of General Santa Anna.
Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna was harshly recriminated for his defeat in Texas and for the signing of the Velasco Treaties. The deterioration of his once brave and intrepid warrior image suffered a social disaster.
The way in which his capture took place was highly questioned and he was considered a "sell country" for recognizing the independence of Texas.
The conquest of Mexico by the US troops after the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, hit Mexican morale. For 9 months, the United States waved its flag at the National Palace; this wound never fully closed.
Unable to face the power of the United States due to the economic and political crisis it was experiencing, Mexico signed the Guadalupe-Hidalgo treaty.
Through this pact - which was called the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Definitive Agreement between the United Mexican States and the United States of America - the war between both nations was ended..
In this pact, the border limits between Mexico and Texas (United States) were established. Mexico had to recognize the landmark of the Rio Grande.
- Antonio López de Santa Anna (1795 - 1876). President of the United Mexican States between 1833 and 1835 and commander of the Mexican army during the Texas War of Independence.
- Stephen Fuller Austin (1793-1836). American businessman, colonizer called "father of Texas".
- Samuel Houston (1793-1863). First President of the Republic of Texas.
- Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (1798 - 1859). Second President of the Republic of Texas.
- Moses Austin (1761-1821). American businessman who obtained permission from the Mexican government to colonize Texas.
- Green Dewitt (1787-1835). American businessman, colonizer of Texas.
- General Martín Perfect de Cos (1800 - 1854). Military and commander of the Mexican troops who tried to quell the Texas rebellion of 1836.
- Colonel William B. Travis. Commander of the regular Texas troops. He passed away during the siege of the Alamo.
- Colonel James Bowie. Commander of the Texas militias during the Texas War of Independence.
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