What was the Texas Revolution? It was a fight by Texas for independence from Mexico. It led to the Republic of Texas, which didn’t last long before it was absorbed into the growing United States of America.
Texas is the second largest state in the United States, coming after Alaska. It is roughly 40% the size of Alaska, but over 270,000 square kilometers larger than the third largest state, California. If Texas were a country, it would be the 39th largest country in the world and would be larger than France. When it became part of the United States, in 1845, it made the US significantly larger and also kicked off the Mexican – American War.
Texas had been a part of Mexico since Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. The Mexican War of Independence had taken a long time and had probably only been successful because Spain was weakened by the Napoleonic wars throughout Europe. Mexico emerged gradually, winning the war town by town, state by state, until Spain capitulated and granted them independence. The Mexican Republic stretched as far North as the top of the modern states of California, across Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas. It was significantly larger than Mexico is today. When Mexico had gained independence from Spain, the United States government had made several attempts to buy the area from the Mexican government but were unsuccessful. Texas didn’t have a very large population, but many Americans did live there, leading people to believe it should be part of the United States. At the time, the idea of Manifest Destiny was very powerful in the US. This was the idea that the people of the United States were destined to spread across the whole of the continent.
Texas was a part of the Mexican Republic for 14 years before it had had enough and began to fight. Despite the US feeling that Texas should be part of the Union, the US government didn’t have anything to do with the start of the revolution. They were overjoyed, and they helped, but they didn’t start it. US newspapers used a lot of ink to say that Texas should be independent, but they didn’t directly instigate the revolution. 40% of the people who fought on the side of Texas were from the US, and many of them were serving soldiers. Private individuals in the US provided money and supplies, but the US government was always neutral, although it is more accurate that they just turned a blind eye. The revolution started for a number of reasons.
Firstly, when the Mexican Republic was formed, Texas was promised some independence, but this was taken away once the Mexican government started to centralize power. Texas was wrapped up in another state and didn’t even have statehood in Mexico. It had almost no representation in the Mexican government. Secondly, the number of Americans living there outnumbered the number of Mexicans by about 4 to 1. This was because the Mexican government had opened up to immigration from the US to try to balance the number of settlers against the number of indigenous people. The number of Native Americans was far greater than the number of settlers, leading to violence. Thirdly, slavery was legal in the US but illegal in Mexico. Many of the Americans that moved to Texas took their slaves, which caused a lot of problems. And fourthly were the economic connections to the US. It was far easier to sell things produced in Texas to the US than it was to ship them across the desert to sell in Mexico. Texas was closer culturally to the US than it was to Mexico.
The Mexican government, led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, was worried that the US would step in to take Texas, and possibly other states, so he tried to act preemptively by sending in his troops. They savagely overthrew some smaller revolutions, and turned the people and the US press against the Mexican Government. Then, like many wars, the revolution started over something small. The Mexican government had lent a cannon to a small settlement called Gonzales, to protect them from Native American attacks. In October 1835, the army went to get the cannon back. The settlers believed the army was trying to start a fight, and they refused to give it back. And a fight did break out. And the Texas Revolution had started.
A lot of volunteers from the US joined up to fight for Texas, but over the course of two years, the Mexican army won several victories. This culminated with the famous Battle of the Alamo. The Texan forces were facing potential defeat, not realizing that the Mexican army was also close to breaking point. In April of 1836, at the last battle of the revolution, the Mexican army was roundly defeated, and Santa Anna himself was captured. In return for his life, he negotiated a treaty that would create the Republic of Texas. This treaty was never recognized by Mexico because it was signed under duress and that was one of the reasons for the start of the Mexican-American war a decade later.
Texas was a republic for 8 years, and then became the 28th state of the US in 1845. Mexico, which has always thought the US was behind the Texas Revolution, broke off relations with the US. The US sent troops to defend the border of Texas, and they ended up fighting with Mexican troops, which triggered the Mexican-American War. The US ended up invading Mexico and capturing Mexico City. In the resultant peace negotiations, the US paid about $500 million in modern money for Texas, California, Nevada, Utah, and a few other parts of land as well. Mexico didn’t really have any choice. And this is what I learned today.
Sources
https://www.thoughtco.com/causes-of-texas-independence-2136245
https://www.thealamo.org/remember/battle-and-revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_War_of_Independence
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican%E2%80%93American_War
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_area
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_evolution_of_the_United_States
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