Chapter Four - Texas A&M University-Texarkana



Chapter Four: Launching a Nation, 1836-48

Problems confronting the Republic of Texas

1. Independence 5. Physical devastation

2. Santa Anna 6. Plains Indians

3. Military divisiveness 7. Mexican resentment

4. Finances

Presidents of the Republic of Texas

David G. Burnet 1836-1836

Sam Houston 1836-1838

Mirabeau B. Lamar 1838-1841

Sam Houston 1841-1844

Anson Jones 1844-1846

In 1836, Sam Houston easily became the first popularly elected president of Texas. Texans preferred “republicanism,” which they associated with the Anglo-American way of life. They wanted a government limited by a constitution in which the citizens held the sovereignty. They also wanted English as the primary language, religious toleration, and free enterprise.

Houston 1836-38

1. Recognition: The United States was the first country to recognize the Republic of Texas.

2. Finances: To relieve the nation’s financial distress, Houston’s government issued paper money and practiced austerity.

3. Boundaries: The Texas congress fixed the nation’s southern boundary at the Rio Grande River.

4. Counties: The Texas congress changed the Mexican municipios into county units.

5. Immigration: The Texas congress offered free land as an inducement to immigrants.

6. Defense: In 1837, the Texas congress created a law enforcement corps that would later take on the name Texas Rangers.

Adversaries, led by Mirabeau Lamar, criticized Houston:

1. Houston had made a treaty with the Cherokees trading land in northeastern Texas for the Indians neutrality in Texas’ war for independence. Lamar wanted the Republic to reject the treaty.

2. Lamar condemned Houston for failing to eliminate the Indian danger on the western frontier.

3. Lamar criticized Houston for his failure to get Mexican recognition of Texas’ independence and for his effort to get the United States to annex Texas.

4. Lamar blamed Texas’ financial problems on Houston’s fiscal ineptness.

Lamar 1838 – 41

Expenses during the Lamar administration

1. Defense

2. Moving capital to Austin

3. Postal services

4. Government bureaucracy

5. Establishing empire

Lamar spent extravagantly to build a military and, in 1839, to move the nation’s capitol from Houston to Austin. Lamar wanted to lure settlers to the frontier and he wanted to move the government away from the area of strongest support for Houston.

Other issues during the Lamar administration

1. Homestead Act (1839)

2. Empresario system (1840-1841)

3. Education

The Homestead Act of 1839 protected citizens from seizures of their homestead, tools, and work animals. The congress also established an empresario system modeled on the Mexican colonization program.

Attacks by the Houston faction on the Lamar administration

1. Finances

2. Relocation of capital

3. Santa Fe Expedition

Houston 1841 – 44

1. Retrenchment

2. Indians

3. Finances

Houston returned to the presidency in 1841 where he cut spending and unsuccessfully sought peace with the Indians. Houston was unable to reduce the Republic’s debt.

Anson Jones 1844 – 45

Like Houston, Jones could not solve the problem of indebtedness.

Factors explaining population growth

1. Natural reproduction

2. Immigration: headrights, depression of 1837, opportunity for land, land speculators, debtors, empresario system

The population grew to 162,500 by 1848. The empresario system attracted immigrants. Henri Castro founded a French-speaking community and Prince Carl von Solms-Braunfels established German settlements.

Towns

Augustus C. and John K. Allen founded Houston and convinced lawmakers to establish the nation’s first capitol there. Galveston, blessed with one of the best harbors o the Gulf of Mexico, rivaled Houston in the cotton trade by the late 1830s. President Lamar selected the sight for Austin which became the national capital in 1839. Bexar (San Antonio) and Laredo were largely isolated from the Anglo settlements.

Farmers grew corn, cotton (the most reliable export commodity), and side plots of vegetables and fruit trees.

Slave plantations experienced a brisk expansion. Between 1836 and 1847, the number of blacks (almost all of whom were slaves) increased from 5,000 to 38,753. Slave codes established harsh penalties for blacks found guilty of assaulting whites. Often whites lynched blacks suspected of a crime against whites. Slaves worked in the fields and faced punishment if they protested. Some escaping slaves joined with Indians, but more (3,000 by the 1850's) made their way to Mexico.

Texans glorified their war for independence. They emphasized the values of "Texan culture" with traits such as resiliency, self-reliance, courage, and faith in the promise of the future. Sometimes undisciplined individualism led to a general lawlessness. In the 1830's and 1840's, a violent feud over land titles between "Regulators" and "Moderators" erupted in East Texas. President Houston sent in the militia to suppress the lawlessness. Nevertheless, most Texans were law-abiding folks.

Indians: In the mid-1800's, the Karankawas were forced to near extinction from white intrusion on their land, disease, and alcoholism. The Caddos moved to land along the Brazos River. After being defeated in the Battle of Neches (1839), the Cherokees retreated across the Red River. Using "strike and pursue" tactics, Texas Ranger companies began to have success in combating the Comanches. Negotiations at the Council House in San Antonio (1840) resulted in conflict. Whites attacked the Indian representatives and the Comanches responded with attacks on East Texas. After Texans had considerable success in raids on the Indians, a peace treaty was negotiated in 1844.

Texas Mexicans (Tejanos) found themselves caught between two worlds. 1) Numerical disadvantage; 2) business conducted in a different language; 3) new form of politics; 4) confronted wrath of whites; 5) increasing numbers of Anglos moved into the San Antonio area. Juan Seguin, who served as mayor in 1841-42, protested harassment of Tejanos. Angry Anglos forced Seguin to seek refuge in Mexico.

Although Anglo Texans had complained about Mexico's failure to provide adequate educational opportunities, they failed to remedy the situation when independent. Education remained almost entirely in private hands.

The literature of the republic was largely in the oral tradition of common folk.

The Houston Telegraph and Texas Register was the most important newspaper during the Republic era.

Travel depended on waterways and crude roads. Generally, transportation remained primitive, slow, and hazardous.

Recognition

Texas's European ambassadors sought recognition for the Republic. England's desire to maintain good relations with Mexico and abolitionist sentiment kept that nation from granting recognition. France became the first European nation to recognize Texas (1839). The Dutch followed in 1840.

Mexico refused to honor the Treaties of Velasco. The government plotted with discontented Tejanos to undermine the Republic. Lamar offered to buy the disputed region between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande, but also prepared to expand the Republic. Assuming wrongly that the residents of New Mexico would welcome an opportunity to join the Republic of Texas, Lamar ordered the disasterous1841 Santa Fe Expedition.

Lamar’s motivations for the Santa Fe Expedition

1. Increased trade

2. Control the middle of the continent

3. Base for expansion to California

In 1842, Santa Anna, Mexico's president, ordered the invasion of Texas to assert Mexico's claim to the disputed borderlands. First under General Rafael Vasquez and then under General Adrian Woll the Mexicans occupied San Antonio. Houston ordered a Texas volunteer force to defend the Rio Grande border. Some Texans carried out an independent invasion of Mexico. Mexicans captured 260 men in this "Mier Expedition." When Texans attempted to escape, Mexicans force them to draw lots to determine which of their number would be executed.

Annexation debate in the United States

Pro-annexation

1. Fear of British influence

2. Manifest Destiny

Anti-annexation

1. Abolitionists

2. Fear of war with Mexico

Provisions of annexation

1. Annexed as single state, but five states could be created

2. Retained title to the public lands

Annexation’s benefits for the USA

1. Neutralize British influence

2. Fulfilled Manifest Destiny

3. Opportunity for land in Texas

Benefits for Texas

1. Relief from public debt

2. Military security

The war began when United States forces occupied the disputed territory near Brownsville. In the resulting skirmish (April 25, 1846), sixteen Americans died.

Historiographical debate on the causes of the Mexican War

1. Traditionally Americans blamed Mexican belligerency and irrationality for causing the war.

2. Traditionally Mexican and American abolitionists argued that President James Polk provoked the conflict in order to take Texas and California from Mexico.

3. More recent Mexican arguments claim

a. national preservation forced Mexico to fight.

b. Mexican politics required leaders to resist the American expansion.

4. Revisionist American historians argue that Polk hoped to annex all of Mexico's Far North, but did not expect war.

The United States army gained control of northern Mexico and then successfully invaded Mexico City. Due to their reputation for atrocities toward civilians, Mexicans referred to the Texas Rangers as Los Diablos (the Texas Devils).

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

1. Mexico recognized the United States’ annexation of Texas.

2. Mexico ceded California and New Mexico

3. United States paid Mexico $18,250,000.

4. Residents of California and New Mexico became citizens of the United States and their property rights were assured.

Legacy of the Texas Republic

1. Transformation of Texas government

2. An Anglo-American population

3. City planning changed

4. Variety of cultural influences

a. East Texas: Old South

b. North Texas: Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois

c. Central Texas: Old South and Europeans

d. South Texas: Tejano culture

5. Influence of American culture on occupations, leisure-time activities, architecture, and dress

Legacies of the 15 years in the Mexican Republic

1. Laws

2. Empresario system

3. Financing education

4. Law enforcement and military strategies of law enforcement groups, such as the Texas Rangers

What had not changed during the 12 years of the Texas Republic?

1. The economy had not improved dramatically.

2. Transportation had not improved.

3. Daily hardships continued

4. Class structure preserved

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