Transcript Document

TEXAS REVOLUTION
AUSTIN
• Stephen F. Austin believed that Santa Anna was
becoming a dictator.
• “War is our only recourse. There is no other remedy. We must
defend our rights, ourselves, and our country by force of
arms.”
MEXICAN ARMY
• General Cos brought more soldiers to San Antonio,
bringing the number to 650.
• What do you think was the reaction to this by the Texas
settlers?
• Officials were afraid of radicals like William B. Travis.
• Rumors spread through Texas that Cos was planning
to arrest all Texan leaders and march them back to
Mexico.
GONZALES
• October 2, 1835
• Known as the “Lexington of Texas.”
• Colonel Ugarthechea ordered the people of
Gonzales to surrender their small brass cannon.
• The town official refused and sent runners to gather
more troops.
• In response, Ugartechea ordered 100 soldiers to take the
cannon by force
• The townsfolk buried the cannon in a peach
orchard until reinforcements arrived.
• The Texan forces dug up the cannon an mounted it
on a wagon.
• “Come and Take It”
• 160 Texans commanded by Colonel John H. Moore.
• 1 Mexican soldier killed
• Mexican point of view?
• Texan point of view?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHYWcBILxgk
SAN ANTONIO
• October 9, 1835
• 120 Texans took the presidio at Goliad by surprise.
• The only large Mexican Army left was in San
Antonio, commanded by General Cos.
• Austin took command of 300 Texans at Gonzales
and marched to Texas.
• Grew to 400 by the time they reached San Antonio
• Army of the People
• Cos commanded 750
• After a brief fight, the Texans laid a siege to San
Antonio
• ?
PEACE AND WAR
• War Party
• Favored immediate declaration of independence
• Peace Party
• Favored a proclamation saying they were only fighting for
the Mexican Constitution of 1824
• Consultation at San Felipe
• November 6, 1835
THE GRASS FIGHT
• Stephen F. Austin left his command at San Antonio
to ask for aid from the United States.
• Edward Burleson chosen to command army.
• The Texas forces went to intercept a caravan they
thought was carrying silver to pay Cos’s troops.
• The caravan was only carrying grass for Cos’s horses
• With little action and Winter coming, many of the
Texans returned home.
THE ASSAULT ON SAN ANTONIO
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The Siege of Bexar
“Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?”
Milam led a group of 300 volunteers to San Antonio.
Assault began on December 5, 1835
• Lasted 4 days
• Milam’s troops had the advantage because Mexican troops
were only equipped for fighting on open fields.
• Milam killed in the fighting
• The Mexican army took refuge in the abandoned
mission known as the Alamo.
• Cos asked for surrender and promised he would never
again fight against the colonists or the Constitution of
1824.
• Cos and his soldiers were allowed to return to
Mexico.
• Significant victory
• 400 Texans defeated 1000 Mexican troops
• 2 Texans killed, 21 wounded
• 150 Mexican troops killed, wounded, or captured
• With the capture of San Antonio and Goliad, Texas soil was
free of Mexican troops.
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
• Governor Henry Smith
• Worked while the fighting was going on in San Antonio.
• Plans were made for a post office, navy, and army.
• Also appealed to the U.S. for money, men, and supplies
• A convention was planned but Smith vetoed the
proposal.
• Smith also vetoed a plan to capture the Mexican town
of Matamoros.
• Nearly resulted in a breakdown from lack of
cooperation.
• What should have the council been doing?
SANTA ANNA CROSSES INTO TEXAS
• The Texas provisional government made plans to
meet again in March of 1836.
• Didn’t think Santa Anna would march to Texas.
• Why?
• February 1836, Santa Anna crossed the Rio Grande
into Texas.
• Headed straight to San Antonio
• The Texans still remaining in San Antonio moved into
the Alamo.
• Other Texans traveled to Washington-on-the-Brazos.
INDEPENDENCE
• Washington-on-the-Brazos
• A few cabins
• Site for a convention of elected delegates
• Meeting to decide, yet again, Texas’s future
• Delegates met in near-freezing temperature in an
unfinished building.
• Convention of 1836
• Began working on March 1
• 59 delegates
• Only 2 of the members were native Texans
• Jose Antonio Navarro and Jose Francisco Ruiz
• Passed a motion to write a declaration of
independence from Mexico.
• Written by George C. Childress (maybe)
• The Texas Declaration of Independence was similar to
the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
• Written 60 years earlier
• Texas DOI
• Stated that Santa Anna had violated the liberties guaranteed
under the Mexican Constitution of 1824
• Charged that the Texans had been deprived of freedom of
religion, the right to trial by jury, the right to bear arms, and the
right to petition the government.
• Charged that Mexico had failed to provide a system of public
education.
• Justified the use of force due to Mexico sending it’s armies first.
• “The people of Texas, in solemn convention
assembled, appealing to a candid world for the
necessities of our condition., do hereby resolve and
declare that our political connection with the
Mexican nation has forever ended; and that the
people fo Texas do now constitute a free,
sovereign, and independent republic.”
• The Declaration of Independence was adopted by
unanimous vote on March 2, 1836.
CONSTITUTION
• After the adoption of the Declaration of Independence,
the convention turned to writing a constitution.
• Took two weeks to complete (March 16, 1836)
• Similar to U.S. Constitution
• 3 branches of government
• Legislative, executive, and judicial
• Contained a Bill of Rights
• Guaranteed freedom of speech, press, religion, trial by jury, and other
basic “civil rights.”
• Some parts of the constitution were based on practices
common in Spanish-Mexican law.
• Property was jointly owned by husbands and wives
• Measures to help those in debt
• Ministers and priests could not hold public office
• Slavery was made legal
AD INTERIM GOVERNMENT
• Ad Interim = temporary
• Why would the delegates create an Ad Interim
Government instead of holding elections?
• David G. Burnet chosen as President
• Former Empresario
• Early Texas settler
• Sam Houston was chosen as commander in chief of
the army.
• Put in charge of the volunteers and the regular army
• Why would this be a big deal?
THE ALAMO FALLS
• March 15, 1836 – The convention learns that Santa
Anna has taken control of the Alamo.
• March 17, 1836 – Messengers arrived to report that
Santa Anna was marching toward Washington-onthe-Brazos.
• The ad interim government moved to Harrisburg
and later Galveston.