Fredonian Rebellion Research Paper

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Some would say The Fredonian Rebellion was the start of the Texas Revolution. It was the first attempt by colonists in Texas to secede from Mexico and while it lasted no longer than a month, it would foreshadow Texan revolt in the years to come.
The Mexican federal government passed the General Colonization Law in 1824, which allowed empresarios to introduce settlers to Texas. (Barker, 2010) Among the empresarios, was a man named Haden Edwards.
Haden Edwards received his empresario grant on April 14, 1825. (McKeehan, 1997-2001) It entitled him to settle as many as 800 families in a broad area around Nacogdoches in eastern Texas. Like all empresarios he was to “uphold land grants certified by the Spanish and Mexican governments, provide an organization for the protection of all colonists in the area, and receive a land commissioner appointed by the Mexican government.” (Barker, 2010)
Edwards's contract required him to respect all prior legal claims. He “issued a notice that all who had such claims should present them to him to be passed upon. Haden Edwards tried to eject settlers who could not show clear title.” (Ericson, 2003) The claims of the people he believed would be allowed to keep their land and the claims of those he …show more content…

Accompanied by a force of about 30 men, Benjamin Edwards, declared independence from Mexico and created the Republic of Fredonia under the principles of "Independence, Liberty, and Justice." (Davis, 2006) Letters and messengers were sent to the American settlements of Texas, to alert the colonists everywhere to resist Mexican authority. A “treaty was made with the Indians, giving to them all the territory north of a line a short distance above Nacogdoches and south of that line the Americans were to possess the whole territory, both to form the new nation of Fredonia.” (Everett,

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