Agenda

• Today: Texas Political Roots

    - Mexican Texas and the Texas Revolution
    - Texas Republic
    - Annexation by United States
    - Civil War and Reconstruction
    - Democratic Party Dominance
    - Republican Gains and Dominance

• Next class: Political and Demographic (People) Diversity of Texas

    - Homework Start (50% by class time): Chapter 1: Texas Political Culture and Diversity

Announcemnts

Mexican Texas and the Texas Revolution

• Begins: 1821 Mexican Independence

• Mexico federalist Constitution

    - State of Coahila y Texas
    - 1821 - 3,500 settlers in Texas total; many more indigenous people
    - Mexican government passed General Colonization Law to encourage settlement

• The Old Three Hundred and Stephen F. Austin

    - settled along the Brazos River in 1822

• Empresarios

    - 23 other empresarios (like Austin) brought settlers to Texas
    - 1 Mexican national
    - 2 Europeans
    - 20 from the southern US

Mexican Texas and the Texas Revolution

• The Texians

    - The Mexican government did not have the money to provide defense to the settlers against Native Americans
    - The settlers were authorized to form militias for their own defense
    - Settlers were exempted from property taxes for 10 years
    - 1830 US immigrant "Texians" dominated
    - Mexican President Anastasio Bustamante revoked the 10 year property tax exemption
    - Mexico prohibited additional immigration from the US and cancelled all empresario contracts
    - Bustamante demanded Texas comply with the Mexican abolition of slavery, which the Texians did by calling the slaves "indentured servants for life"
    - 1832 Texians held a convention to demand end to immigration restrictions
    - 1833 Texians demanded separation of Texas from Coahila

Mexican Texas and the Texas Revolution

• Battle of Velasco

    - June 25-26, 1832
    - The Boston Harbor of Texas
    - The Mexican commander attempted to stop the legal shipment of a cannon by the militia to defend Anahuac
    - Texian militia attacked Fort Velasco (current Surfside Beach)
    - The fort surrendered to the Texians after two days

• End of the Constitution of 1824

    - The Mexican Constitution of 1824 was a federalist constitution
    - October 23, 1835 the Basis of Reorganization of the Mexican Nation" was issued overthrowing the Constitution by decree
    - The "free states" were replaced by departments of the central government
    - The Texians held a convention and declared independence
    - Other states which declared independence from the central dictatorship: Yucatan, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Tabasco

Texas Republic: Battle of Gonzales

Battle of Gonzales

Texas Republic: Battle of Gonzales

• Battle of Gonzales: October 2, 1835

    - The settlers milia borrowed a cannon from the Constitution of 1824 Mexican government in 1831
    - Agreement was to return it on request
    - The new Mexican dictatorship requested the return of the cannon in 1835
    - The settlers refused
    - Mexican army soldiers attempted to seize the cannon 
    - The soldiers withdrew after a minor skirmish resulted in 2 deaths and 1 injury

Texas Republic: Battle of the Alamo

The Alamo

Texas Republic: Revolution

• Battle of the Alamo: February 23 – March 6, 1836

    - Mexican commander: President General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the dictator of Mexico
    - Texian Commander: Lieutenant-Colonel William Barret "Buck" Travis
    - 2,100 Mexican soldiers laid siege to the 200 defenders of the Alamo for 13 days
    - On March 6, 1836 under orders of no quarter, the Mexicans seized the Alamo exterminating the defenders

• Texas Declaration of Independence: March 2, 1836, at the Convention of 1836 in Washington-on-the-Brazos

• The United States recognized Texas on March 3, 1836

Texas Revolution: The Goliad Campaign and the Runaway Scrape

• Goliad Campaign: February 18 – March 27, 1836

    - Mexican commander: General José de Urrea 
    - 1500 Mexican regulars, militia and cavalry
    - Marched up the Gulf Coast 
    - At the Battle of Coleto, 400 plus Texians surrendered and were then executed by order of General Urrea following orders from Santa Anna

• The Runaway Scrape

    - Texian Commander: Sam Houston
    - The Texian army and a large number of civilians fled the Mexican Army
    - They paused March 31 for two weeks of military drills at Groce's Landing on the Brazos River
    - On April 21, they marched on Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto
    - Santa Anna surrendered secretly agreeing to recognize the Republic of Texas and set the Rio Grande River as the border

Republic of Texas

Republic of Texas

Republic of Texas

• Mexico refused to recognize the terms negotiated by Santa Ana

    - There were periodic military engagements between Texas and Mexico

• Republic of Texas poltics

    - No official political parties
    - Unofficially divided between supporters of Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar
    - Lamar advocated permanent independence, expulsion of Native Americans, and expansion to the Pacific Ocean
    - Houston advocated peaceful coexistence with Natives annexation by the United States

Tejanos in the Republic of Texas

Juan Seguin

Tejanos after the Revolution

• Tejanos fought alongside Texians in the Revolution, but had mixed treatment after

• Juan Seguin, hero of the Texas Revolution

    - ordered to leave the Alamo during the siege, crossing enemy lines, as a messenger
    - Attempted to return to the Alamo
    - organized rear guard protecting civilians in the Runaway Scrape
    - Texas Senator 1837 to 1840
    - 1839 town of Seguin was named after him
    - 1841 Mayor of San Antonio
    - 1842 Santa Anna's army overran San Antonio
    - Seguin was blamed for the attack and after threats on his life fled to Mexico
    - He was captured, arrested, and conscripted into the Mexican Army
    - fough for Mexico in the Mexican-American War
    - Returned to Texas 1852, served two terms as Justice of the Peace
    - Death: Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico 1890
    - Remains interred at Seguin, Texas 1976

Annexation by United States

• Annexation proposed in 1837 but rejected by the Van Buren administration and Congress over slavery concerns

• Annexation proposed again by US President John Tyler in 1843

    - Treaty of Annexation secretly negotiated with Sam Houston administration in April 1844
    - US election of 1844 centered on the issue
    - Pro-annexation Democrat James K. Polk ran and won on a platform of Manifest Destiny
    - Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay

• Annexation bill eventually passed by Congress

    - signed by John Tyler on his last day in office 
    - Texas ratified the agreement
    - President Polk signed the agreement December 29, 1845

• Texas formally joined the Union February 19, 1846

Civil War and Reconstruction

• Election of Abraham Lincoln led to secession by South Carolina on December 20, 1860

• Texas secession convention

    - convened February 1, 1861
    - Declaration of Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union passed February 2nd
    - Voters of Texas approved secession February 23, 1861 in a referendum
    - March 2, 1861 - convention reconvened and accepted Confederate Statehood

• March 16, 1861: Governor Sam Houston resigned in protest

• 90,000 Texans served in the Confederate military

• Union forces blockaded Galveston, Houston, and other ports

• June 2, 1865: General Edmund Kirby surrendered on board the USS Fort Jackson in Galveston Harbor

Civil War and Slavery end in Texas

General Gordon Granger

Reconstruction

• Union Military Imposed Constitution of 1866

• Reconstruction

     - Union imposed rule
     - loyalty oaths required
     - Freedman's Bureau
     - vigilante violence by whites
     - the KKK terrorized blacks and Republicans

• 1870: Reconstruction ends, Texas readmitted to the Union

Democratic Party Dominance

• Democratic Party dominance: 1870 - 1990s

• KKK functioned as the paramilitary arm of the Democratic Party in the 1800s and occasionally in the 20th century

• The Grange and other farm organizations enjoyed a lot of power

• Opposition to banks and big money interests from the East Coast

• Farmer Jim: Governor James “Pa” Ferguson 1915-1917

    - investigated by state Attorney General Dan Moody
    - impeached, convicted and removed from office
    - Succeeded by William Pettus Hobby, father of later Lt. Governor William Hobby, Jr. and grandfather of Paul Hobby, Namesake of William P. Hobby Airport

Democratic Party Dominance

• First Woman Governor “Ma” Ferguson, 1925-1927 and 1933-1935
• New Deal Democrats enjoyed wide success nationally during the Great Depression

Republican Gains and Dominance

• 1950s and 1960s: Democratic dominance continued

    - Shivercrats - opposed Truman administration over oil rights in the Gulf

• President Dwight Eisenhower (R)

    - "Texans for a Texan" campaign slogan
    - Supported Texas positions
    - Shivercrats broke with their party to support his election in 1952

• United States Senator Lyndon Johnson nominated by the Democrats for Vice-President 1960 to run with John F. Kennedy

    - Kennedy assassinated in 1963 in Dallas
    - Johnson ran for President successfully in 1964
    - Johnson dropped out in 1968 over issues related to the Vietnam War

Republican Gains and Dominance

• The national Democratic Party continued to drift further to the left of Texas Democrats and voters generally

• Second Woman Governor and last Democratic Governor: Ann Richards 1991-1995 term

• Last Democrat statewide officials elected in Texas, 1994:

    - Lt. Governor Bob Bullock
    - Attorney General Dan Morales
    - Comptroller John Sharp
    - Land Commissioner Garry Mauro

Authorship and License

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

Graphics Credits: Wikimedia Commons

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.