Texas Independence (1835): Background, Causes, Texas War, Consequences and Featured Personages

The Texas Independence (1835) was a process originated with the armed confrontations between the Texas settlers and the Mexican army. It covered a period that goes from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836. During this period took place the Texas War, also known as the War of Independence of Texas.

The Texas settlers clashed in several skirmishes against the Mexican army commanded by General Santa Anna, 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.

Texas Declaration of Independence Act

The Independence of Texas was the product of a series of political events and decisions that took place in Mexico. The Texan 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The causes of Texas independence were several, beginning with the promulgation of the Seven Laws, which repealed the federal Constitution of 1824.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 arrival to power of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and they continued with the imprisonment of the Texas leader Stephen F. Austin, among other events.

After the Battle of Gonzalez (or Gonsales) on October 2, 1835, the settlers decided to fight for their independence and establish the Republic of Texas.

Background

After Mexico became independent from Spain in 1821 he wanted to conquer the northern region of the dissolved Viceroyalty of New Spain. During the Colony this region remained depopulated of Mexicans, but it was dominated by indigenous Apaches and Comanches.

The northern region was constituted by the territories of the states of Coahuila and Texas, newly created by the Mexican federal Constitution of 1824. That year the Mexican government authorized their colonization and settlement and invited the American settler Moses Austin to settle together with some 300 families native of United States.

Initially the federal government tried with Mexicans, but they were not willing to colonize this dangerous territory; In exchange, Austin and other foreigners did feel attracted by the proposal of the Mexican government. The settlers received a series of benefits to encourage them to stay in East Texas.

The settlers and American businessmen were exempted from the payment of certain taxes and duties for 7 years, in accordance with the Imperial Colonization Law passed in January 1923. In addition, the Mexican government allowed the establishment of slave colonists.

The only condition imposed by the Mexican government on the settlers was that they renounce US 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.

Self-government and more slavery

These requests were met only by the first settlers, but not by the slavers who were subsequently settled. Among the latter began to grow a feeling of wanting to achieve self-government and increase slavery.

The rich plantation haciendas 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 made this territory out of federal control. It was then that the Mexican government realized the big mistake 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 to promote the independence of this territory.

Causes

Abolition of slavery

In 1831 Mexico decided to abolish slavery, following the example of almost all Western nations. Had it been accomplished in Texas, this would have meant a huge loss of unpaid labor for wealthy Texan landowners. The expanding cotton economy depended exclusively on slaves for their support.

On the other hand, slavery in the southern United States was tolerated by the government. American immigrant slavers had accumulated power in this territory; in the early 1830s, they outnumbered native-Mexican-Indian Texans.

Abolition of immigration

The Mexican government, recognizing its weakness to control the Texan territory, also abolished the Anglo-American immigration through the edict issued on April 6, 1830. This provoked the indignation of the settlers with relatives in the United States.

In parallel, the Mexican government added difficulties to trade between Texas and the United States. Strong tariffs were imposed on imported foreign products.

The 1832 and 1833 Conventions

The conflicts between the Texan settlers and the Mexican government followed one another intermittently during these years. Among these impasses are those that are known as the Anahuac Perturbation (1832), which ended in the Battle of Velasco, won by Texas on June 26 of that year.

As a result, Mexican garrisons in Texas were abandoned, except in San Antonio (Béjar) and Goliad.

Between these years take place the political conventions made by the Texan settlers to make several requests to the Mexican government.

The first request was to extend the tariff exemption that had been suspended, as well as the repeal of the Anglo-American anti-immigration law and the administrative separation of Texas from the province of Coahuila.

The 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.

Imprisonment of Austin

Stephen F. Austin

Stephen F. Austin was arrested and imprisoned in Mexico in 1834, after a letter intercepted in which he advised settlers to ignore the government's response.

Austin remained in prison for 18 months. Upon returning to Texas in 1835, he found that the Texas rebellion was about to explode.

Arrival to the power of General Santa Anna

Gral. Antonio López de Santa Anna

When General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna assumed the presidency in 1833, the Mexican leader undertook 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 functioning as an autonomous state.

The Seven Laws

Apart from the previous causes, the enactment 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 came not only 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 Texan rebels, the battle of Concepción on October 28 and the victory in Grass Fight on November 26, 1835.

Texas War

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 Gonzalez, 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 were presented at the end of September, when 18 militiamen blocked the passage of the Mexican army in the Guadalupe River, located opposite González.

The Texans surprised the troops sent by Santa Anna in the early hours of the morning. The thick fog of the night prevented them from being seen by the Mexican soldiers, who did not know precisely how many men were attacking them.

With the dawn of the dawn they attacked the Mexican troops again and they retreated 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 Gonzalez marked the break between the settlers of Texas and the government of Mexico. The history texts of the United States consider that at that time the independence of that state began.

Battle of San Jacinto

Battle of San Jacinto, Texas.

Before these defiant actions of the colonists towards the government of Mexico, the own general Santa Anna 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 of 1835 Anglo-American settlers and mestizo Texans captured the city of San Antonio. Then, two months later Santa Anna arrived with his troops to San Antonio de Béxar to recover the city. The Texas 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 in the old Spanish mission of El Alamo, located on the road to San Antonio. The Texan rebels were inferior in number and barely received a meager support from several dozen men from other areas.

For twelve days Santa Anna besieged and attacked the fortress in which all 183 of her fighters were killed, except for the women and children who were allowed to leave. Houston, with its troops encamped in Gonzalez, retreated to the northeast along with the civilians.

The Mexican army went after his head; for this reason instead of facing it, Houston decided to wait for an opportune moment. That moment arrived in April, right on the banks of the San Jacinto River, where Santa Anna camped.

Capture of Santa Anna

On April 21 in the afternoon the Texan commander surprised the president and leader Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna with about 900 soldiers. It took 18 minutes for the Texans to provoke the bloodiest defeat to the Mexican army.

Some 630 Mexican soldiers were killed and another 730 taken prisoner, while the Texan casualties were only 6 men.

"Remember The Alamo!"And"Remember Goliad!"Shouted the Texans in battle. Santa Anna could barely escape the massacre, but was chased and captured. On May 14, 1835, General Santa Anna -who was 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 being freed, Santa Anna was dismissed and Mexico refused to recognize the validity of these treaties.

The skirmishes and armed clashes between Mexico and the Republic of Texas continued until the War of the United States and Mexico in 1846.

Consequences

Mexican territorial loss by delimitation of Texas

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 limit. For their part, the Texans fixed the border on the Rio Grande, much farther south. In 1845 Texas adhered to the territory of the United States and initiated 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.

Invasion and more territorial dispossession (California and New Mexico)

After the Independence of Texas the United States did not stop in its expansionist policy in the south. They seized the territories of California and New Mexico and the country had no way to cope with this situation. The financial and armed weakness of Mexico prevented him from defending his 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.

Dismissal and disrepute of General Santa Anna

Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was harshly criticized for his defeat in Texas and for signing the Velasco Treaties. The deterioration of his once brave and intrepid warrior image suffered a social setback.

The way in which his capture took place was questioned and he was considered a"sold homeland"for recognizing the independence of Texas.

Defeat moral Mexican

The conquest of Mexico by US troops after the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec hit Mexican morale. For 9 months the United States waved its flag in the National Palace; this wound never completely closed.

Signing of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty

Impossible to face the US power by the economic and political crisis that was living, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

Through this pact, which was called the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits and Definitive Arrangement between the United Mexican States and the United States of America, the war between the two nations was ended.

In this pact, the border limits between Mexico and Texas (United States) were established. Mexico had to recognize the Rio Bravo landmark.

Prominent figures

- 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 War of Independence of Texas.

- 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 Perfecto de Cos (1800 - 1854). Military and commander of the Mexican troops that tried to quell the Texas rebellion of 1836.

- Colonel William B. Travis. Commander of the regular troops of Texas. He died during the site of El Álamo.

- Colonel James Bowie. Commander of the Texas militias during the War of Independence of Texas.

References

1. Texas Revolution. War between Mexico and Texas [1835-1836]. Retrieved on April 17, 2018 from britannica.com
2. Texas Declaration of Independence, 1836. Consulted by gilderlehrman.org
3. The Texas Revolutionary War (1835-1836). Consulted by uswars.net
4. Texas Independence. Consulted from u-s-history.com
5. William Barret Travis. Consulted by ecured.cu
6. Republic of Texas (19th century). Viewed from en.wikipedia.org