The creation of Texas is usually dated from 1821, when Spanish authorities granted Moses Austin permission to colonize a large tract of largely unpopulated land. Austin’s plea for the grant was based in part upon his claim to Spanish citizenship by reason of his previous residence in Louisiana. Moses Austin’s death in Missouri the same year and the creation of an independent Mexico failed to stop the colonization project. Austin’s son, Stephen, took over and spent a year in Mexico City persuading the new authorities that his claim should be accepted. When additional grants were made by the provincial government, Austin’s colonization scheme prospered, as did those of other empresarios who had received grants. European American settlers from the United States, sometimes accompanied by their slaves, soon represented a large majority of the people of Texas.
The creation of Texas is usually dated from 1821, when Spanish authorities granted Moses Austin permission to colonize a large tract of largely unpopulated land. Austin’s plea for the grant was based in part upon his claim to Spanish citizenship by reason of his previous residence in Louisiana. Moses Austin’s death in Missouri the same year and the creation of an independent Mexico failed to stop the colonization project. Austin’s son, Stephen, took over and spent a year in Mexico City persuading the new authorities that his claim should be accepted. When additional grants were made by the provincial government, Austin’s colonization scheme prospered, as did those of other empresarios who had received grants. European American settlers from the United States, sometimes accompanied by their slaves, soon represented a large majority of the people of Texas.
Austin and officials of the province of Texas-Coahuila worked in harmony for several years. Slavery was opposed by Mexican officials, but the province of Texas-Coahuila recognized labor contracts that made indentured servants of the slaves. All settlers were required to be Roman Catholics, but they were not required to attend church services. The empresario settlers were given such generous terms for acquiring land that they usually sided with the government against people from the United States who were settling illegally in the eastern part of the province. It was with Austin’s backing, for example, that the Fredonian Uprising of 1826, led by the brothers Haden and Benjamin Edwards against the government, was put down.
The rapid growth of the Euro-American population in Texas created uneasiness among many Mexican officials. The frequent incidents between Texan and Mexican officials, especially in eastern Texas, were viewed with alarm; the attempts of Presidents John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson to acquire all or part of Texas were greeted with hostility. General Manuel Mier y Teran proposed a plan to save Texas from being overrun by Euro-Americans. Mier y Teran called for placing more Mexican troops in the northern provinces, settling more Mexicans and Europeans in the area, and increasing coastal trade between Texas and the rest of Mexico. The Colonization Law of April 6, 1830, adopted Mier y Teran’s suggestions and forbade further immigration from the United States. The plan to attract more Mexicans and increase commerce with Texas failed to materialize, and the limiting of legal immigration from the United States only served to restrict the immigration to illegal settlers who had no vested interest in supporting the Mexican government.
The military occupation of Texas was the only part of the plan that was realized, and it only increased the friction between the government and the settlers. The Texans looked to the presumably liberal revolutionary forces of Antonio López de Santa Anna for relief, and when he came to power, they held a convention at San Felipe in April, 1833, to make plans to petition the new government for the redress of their grievances. Austin was commissioned to present the new government with their requests, including the separation of Texas from Coahuila and a liberalizing of the laws governing immigration and import controls. Austin journeyed to Mexico City, where the Mexican congress agreed to repeal the North American immigration exclusion. Austin, however, was arrested during his return trip on the strength of a letter he had written that appeared to advise the Texans to establish a separate state. He was jailed for two years and could not return to Texas until September 1, 1835.
Sam Houston, the leader of the Texas rebellion, had an exceptional career. Before coming to Texas, he had been a Tennessee congressman and governor of Tennessee. After Texas’s rebellion succeeded, he became the first president of the independent Texas Republic. When Texas was admitted to the Union, he became one of the new state’s first senators and later served as governor. (Library of Congress)
During Austin’s absence, Texas-Coahuila made a number of concessions to the Texans, but Santa Anna’s central government was moving to centralize its authority. Although most Texans disapproved of the seizure of the Anahuac Garrison on June 30, 1835, by a group led by William Barret Travis, they were concerned about the apparent intention of the Mexican government to send a greater number of troops to Texas. The Texans responded by calling conventions on August 15 at Columbia and on October 15 at San Felipe. A provisional government was created, although the Texans proclaimed their loyalty to a constitutional Mexican government. An army was created and Austin called for war.
Not all Texans were committed to the call to arms, and opposition increased during the seven-month war. The mainly Irish settlers in the San Patricio region joined forces with the Mexican army and fought against the rebels at Fort Lipantitlán on November 5. Tejanos, or Mexican Texans, were divided in their loyalties: Some were centralists; others supported the rebel forces; still others tried, largely without success, to remain neutral. This split in allegiances made the Texas revolution a civil war in the truest sense, pitting family member against family member. José Antonio Navarro, a hero to many latter-day Texans, supported the Texas Rebels, while his brother Angel maintained his support for Mexico.
Many Euro-Americans attempted to remain neutral during the spring of 1836. Although they did not support the centralists, many did avoid recruitment into the armed forces. Personal and family protection was their motivating force. Of the few Euro-Americans who did support the centralist cause, most were older and had resided in Texas for more than ten years. There is little evidence that they were very active during the war.
The vast majority of Tejanos who supported the rebel cause were native-born Texans from San Antonio. Their knowledge of the area proved beneficial to the rebels. The effects of the war on Tejanos, however, were devastating. After their homes and farms were ransacked and their supplies used to feed and equip the Texas armies, their initial support for the rebellion faded. Most received no compensation for their sacrifices during the war.
On February 23, 1836, Santa Anna and four thousand troops laid siege to the Alamo. The 187 men inside, mainly newcomers from the United States, held out until March 6, when the garrison, commanded by Travis and including Davy Crockett and James Bowie, was assaulted and wiped out. At Goliad, three hundred defenders under James Fannin surrendered and then were massacred by the Mexican army on March 27.
The delegates who met on March 1, 1836, in Washington, Texas, knew of the siege of the Alamo. Continuing their pattern of following the revolutionary example of the United States, they issued a declaration of independence on March 2 and subsequently adopted a constitution. The siege at the Alamo gave commander-in-chief Sam Houston time to assemble an army. Houston avoided a fight for weeks before surprising Santa Anna’s divided army on the west bank of the San Jacinto River near Galveston Bay on April 21, 1836. The Texans defeated twelve hundred Mexicans with their force of eight hundred. Santa Anna was among the captives. Before being released, Santa Anna pledged himself to secure the independence of Texas, but the Mexican congress disavowed his actions. The Mexican army, however, quickly left Texas and made no serious attempt to regain control. Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas on October 22, 1836. Houston and most Texans were interested in joining the United States, but for diplomatic and domestic reasons, annexation was not accomplished for almost a decade.