In the early 19th century, Napoleon’s occupation of Spain led to an outbreak all over Spanish America. In the early 1821, Agustín de Iturbide, the leader of the royalist forces negotiated the plan of iguala with Vicente Guerrero. The plan was that Mexico would be established as an independent constitutional monarchy. Mexicans of mixed or pure Indian blood have less rights. On August 24, 1821, O’donojú signed the treaty of Córdoba thus ending New Spain’s dependent on the Old Spain. On October 2, 1835, rebellious Texans and Mexicans soldiers clashed in the town of Gonzales. It was considered as the first battle of Texas’ War of Independence from Mexico. The battle consisted of one dead Mexican soldiers and no other casualties. Previous years …show more content…
Texians used the cannon. Castañeda retreated to San Antonio having lost one man. During the Texas revolution the Texans declare the independence of Texas to Mexico the Texans also adopt a constitution that protected the free of slavery, which had been banned by Mexican law. Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa’s siege of the Alamo continued and fort 185 waited for the final Mexican assault. In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain. In October 1835, Anglo residents of Gonzales, 50 miles east of San Antonio, responded Santa Anna and they demanded that they returned the cannon loaded from defense. On February 23, Santa Anna and some 3,000 Mexican troops surrounded the Alamo. On March 1st the last Texan broke through enemy lines and into the Alamo bringing the total defenders to approximately 185. On March 2nd Texas’ revolutionary government declared its freedom from Mexico. On April 25, 1846 along the southern border of Texas Mexico began an attack on the American troops. At the time of the War Mexico had an unstable government. During the time of 1835 to December 1844 centralists were in control of the
This book by Otis A. Singletary deals with different aspects of the Mexican war. It is a compelling description and concise history of the first successful offensive war in United States military history. The work examines two countries that were unprepared for war. The political intrigues and quarrels in appointing the military commanders, as well as the military operations of the war, are presented and analyzed in detail. The author also analyzes the role that the Mexican War played in bringing on the U.S. Civil War.
Many factors led to the Texicans’ decision to declare their independence. The declaration was due to a lack of tolerance for religion, the repealing of the constitution of 1824, an unstable government with an unstable president, and the closure of the Mexican legislature, a congress of nine declared Texas independent from Mexico, followed by a formal declaration on March 2, 1836. After the declaration, General Samuel Houston was appointed commander-in-chief for the Texican government. Immediately after the declaration, hostilities between Mexico and Texas began. Santa Anna sent back up to Texas, but the Texicans fought them off with bows and spears (Mckeehan). Santa Anna’s first mistake was his decision to go to Texas with 10,000 men behind him with no intention of mercy.
"After Mexico gained it's independence from Spain in 1821, it faced internal power struggles that left it in a volatile state of rebellion and instability for years." In 1846, the Mexican government, under the dictator Santa Anna, went to war with the United States. As an outcome of that war, Mexico lost a large amount of land--the land we now know as Texas. In 1854, Juan Alvarez and his troops led a successful revolt to drive Santa Anna out of power. One of Alvarez's strongest supporters was a man by the name of Benito Juarez, a Zapotec Indian leader. In 1855, Juarez became the minister of Justice under the new regime and issued two new controversial laws. One denied the right of the church and military courts to try civilian cases and the other made the sale and distribution of church lands legal. Many people disagreed with these laws and for three years a civil war raged between the two sides. In 1861 Juarez took control of the capital, Mexico City, and put his new Constitution into effect. Not only had Juarez's laws split the country, they had caused the civil war that left Juarez in debt to Spain, England, and France. The three countries were concerned about the debt, so they held a meeting in London, at which Spain and Britain decided to waive the debt in exchange for military control of the Custom House in Vera Cruz. France did not agree to these terms and invaded Mexico in 1861 in hopes of defeating the country and disposing of Juarez. The French troops--deemed among the best trained and equipped in the world--marched into the city of Puebla on May 5, 1862, expecting no resistance. The French army consisted of 6,000 men under the command of Marshal Lorencz. The French were met by an armed force of 2,000 peasants under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza. The Mexican guerilla forces successfully defended their positions and attacked and drove back the French forces. Victory, however, was short lived. Within a year, France had successfully conquered Puebla and the rest of Mexico, and went on ruling there until 1867 when Juarez was once again restored to power. He ruled the country until his death in 1872. Cinco de Mayo, therefore, does not celebrate Mexico's independence, rather it symbolizes "the right of the people to self determination and national sovereignty, and the ability of non-Europeans to defend those rights against modern military organizations.
believed Mexico could not govern their territory properly, Mexico still owned and had authority over California. The U.S. was not justified in going to war with Mexico because they ignored Mexican authority by settling in California, Mexico’s territory, and established slavery in disputed territory when it was against Mexican law. According to John L. O’Sullivan’s “Annexation”, “The Angelo-Saxon foot is already on [California’s] borders...armed with the plough and the rifle…” (Doc A). The U.S. believed that Mexico “never can exert any real governmental authority over such a country” (Doc A), so they set up towns along the borders of California with armed soldiers in line. These actions were used to pressure Mexico into an attack, so the U.S. could annex California. Charles Sumner states in “Objections to the Mexican-American War”, “Slaveholders crossed the Sabine [river between Louisiana and Texas] with their slaves, in defiance of the Mexican Ordinance of freedom.” (Doc D). Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, and one of their founding laws was the ban of slavery. In spite of this, the U.S. broke Mexican law and established slavery in disputed territory.The U.S. used tactics such as angering and pressuring the Mexicans, which helped provoke a war that was
Later they wanted to annex it but Mexico said that any attempts to annex Texas would be an act of war. The Mexican War started in 1846, when Mexicans attacked a group of United States soldiers, under the command of Zachary Taylor, in a disputed zone on the border of United States and Mexico, killing about a dozen American soldiers. President Polk told the U.S. Congress that the “cup of forbearance has been exhausted” which means the Mexicans hit the last straw and it is time for war. President Polk sent General Zachary Taylor to Nueces River vs. Rio Grande to poke the Mexicans to shoot and they did. The Mexicans have shed “American blood upon American soil.” The United States wanted war with Mexico now they have a reason to declare war ( History.com
San Antonio, Texas-- The Battle of the Alamo, a battle in San Antonio, against the Mexicans broke out, marks the most important of the battles so far during the Texas fight for independence. The battle began on February 23, 1836 and ended two days ago on March 6, 1836, lasting for 13 days. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, leader of the Mexican force, planned to seize the fort with an army of thousands. Unprepared, the Texans had an army of around 200 men, including well- known congressman David Crockett and James Bowie and not so well-known William Barret Travis.
Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836. In the year 1844, James K. Polk was elected president. He was a strong believer in manifest destiny. Congress decided to annex Texas into the United States. Mexico felt that America stole Texas from them.
On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.
Now, the Mexican Revolution was just a small beginning for the eventual state of Texas. Back in 1809, Texas was just a provenance in the Spanish Empire and its inhabitants were mostly converted Native Americans and people of Spanish descent, but not native born of Spain. The Spanish born people had more rights and were, according to the law, superior to all others. This and more oppression by the Spanish against the Mexicans (i.e. the Native Americans and non-Spanish born), caused an uprising by the common people that was started by a Catholic priest in 1809. It would take 16 more years before Mexico had won its independence from Spain like the US had from Great Britain.
Santa Anna’s hubris gained from early victories and political posturing would come back to haunt him. The month following the siege of the Alamo, Santa Anna would meet his fate. On 21 April 1836, Sam Houston’s vengeful soldiers attack and rout Santa Anna’s isolated detachment at San Jacinto in 20 minutes. The Texans slaughter 650 enemy troops and capture 700 more. Santa Anna escaped; however, he was captured the following day.
13 October 1834 was the first revolutionary meeting of the American citizens who’d settled in Mexico, in the area soon to be known as Texas. The people attempted a movement that soon was laid to rest by the Mexican Congress. Attempts at independence were silenced for the time being and the elections of 1835 proceeded forward. With Santa Anna moving to control Mexico, and taxes increasing, Texans grew restless and rowdy.
Military troops–first Spanish, then rebel and later Mexican engaged the Alamo during and after Mexico’s success at war for independence from Spain in the early 1820s. In the summer of 1821, Stephen Austin entered San Antonio along with some 300 U.S. families that the Spanish soldiers had allowed to settle in Texas. The migration of U.S. people to Texas went up over the next 10 years etc, setting a revolutionary moment that would turn into a battle by the mid-1830s. On February 23, a Mexican force comprising somewhere between 1,800 and 6,000 men (this is not exact btw) and led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began an attack of the fort. The Texans held their ground for 13 days, but on the morning of March 6 Mexican forces broke through the outer wall of the courtyard and overpowered them.
The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and claimed by both the United States and Mexico. Hostilities started on April 24th, 1846, 2000 Mexican cavalry crossed the Rio Grande and attacked an American troop of 63 men.
The United States and Spanish government did sign the treaty and the Spanish-American War of 1898 was over. The regulations of the treaty gave Cuba their independence that they had been wishing for, but also forced Spain to give Guam and Puerto Rice over the the United States. Spain additionally agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for twenty million dollars. The United States Senate ratified the treaty and everything went into effect soon
“The war... was an unnecessary condition of affairs, and might have been avoided if forbearance and wisdom had been practiced on both sides.” - Robert E. Lee The Mexican-American War was a battle fought between the United States government under president James Polk, who believed it was their “manifest destiny” to conquer and claim the land across the continent to the Pacific,1 and the divided unprepared government of Mexico. After Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836, Texas requested to become part of the United States Union twice, however both cases were denied. One of the main causes of this rejection being that the northern states opposed the idea of adding another slave state to the Union.2 And let's not forget the other