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
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didn’t believe would be subject to land auctions. Edwards, “by previous notices, required of his colonists to pay him a certain price for the lands they received; some of whom, after they came to the colony, refused to do so, alleging that Edwards had no right to require this, for the fees for the land were established by law, and beyond this he could not go, and that he was speculating on them.” (McKeehan, 1997-2001) Edwards left to recruit more settlers from the United States, leaving his younger brother Benjamin Edwards, in charge of the colony. Complaints that Edwards was selling the land soon traveled to local authorities. As the complaints and discontent increased, Benjamin Edwards made several grievances to state authorities in what he thought was a faithful statement of facts but the governor took offence. (McKeehan, 1997-2001) Unhappy with Benjamin's tone and the increasing tension in the colony, the “Mexican government revoked Edwards’ charter in October and instructed the Edwards brothers to leave Mexico.” (DeShields, 1993) Rumors that Haden Edwards had returned to the United States to raise an army and not just to recruit settlers likely influenced the government action. (Everett, 1995) In late December 1826, a group of Edwards's supporters took control of the region by arresting and removing from office several municipality officials.
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,
1995) As soon as Mexican authorities heard of the incident, 110 infantrymen were ordered to the area. The Mexican officers and militia neared Nacogdoches on January 31, 1827. (Ericson, 2003) When the revolt failed to produce any effect on the arriving Mexican forces, Edwards and his supporters fled across the Sabine River into the United States, ending the rebellion. (McDonald, 2010) Relations between Mexico and the United States were greatly strained by the rebellion, as Mexico suspected the insurrection to come from within the United States government. The Fredonian Rebellion was the initial spark that would eventually lead to the independence of Texas from Mexico. No more than a decade later, in 1835, other Texans followed in Edwards' footsteps and staged the far more successful revolution that established the independent Republic of Texas.
Juan Seguin was born into a politically prominent family in 1806 to Juan Jose Maria Erasmo de Jesus and Maria Josefa Becerra. From an early age Seguin was entrusted by his father to handle certain business and political affairs. “During the time his father served as Texas deputy of the Constituent Congress, Juan handled the postmaster’s duties, helped his mother tend to the fields, and to some degree acted as intermediary between Erasmo and Austin.” Seguin’s father, Erasmo, worked with St...
settlers. His aim was for all of the tribes to agree on selling any piece of land to the white settlers
Panfio de Narvaez led the expedition in 1528 to the Mississippi River mouth. Years had passed and Hernando de Soto did something similar, traveling to the north and the western states of Mississippi then migrated to the Mississippi River traveling to the Gulf of Mexico where they begin to experience great interest in Louisiana. In the 17th century, French and French Canadians were in search of the ability to rule and control the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, also looking for religion and commercial operations. France claimed many states on both sides of the Mississippi river in order to trade wi...
From the early days of pioneers and settlers, thousands of Americans began to move into what would become Texas. The Mexican government was wanting to populate the Texas area to increase the economy. For a long period of time the Mexican government had placed many laws on the territory, but none that were deeply inforced. Finally when a new dictatorship came into power, they began to enforce the laws. Slavery among other issues
J.R. Edmonson, The Alamo Story, From Early History to Current Conflicts (Plano, TX. Republic of Texas Press 2000)
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.
During the 1600s to 1700s, the Spanish were settling Texas. They did this by building missions and presidios throughout the land. The purpose was to keep the French out and to change the Indians' ways of life. Some of these missions failed and some succeeded. All in all they were closed after years of trying to change the Indians.
In 1803, during the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase was conducted as history’s greatest real-estate deals. The United States paid 15 million for the vast territory ranging from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Because Jefferson believed that artisans and farmers were the backbone of the economy he advocated for the western expansion. Thomas Jefferson envisioned what he termed as the “Empire of Liberty,” the uniting of territories as states, each having equal political rights. The western expansion was met with a number of controversies. There was controversy over the expansion of slavery into the Western territories entered political debates. What about the Indians
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In the year 1826 Fredrick Douglass realized that he would eventually escape slavery. He would recount this thought four times in his life when he has to become most rebellious in order to survive slaveholders attempting to establish control and dominance in different ways. Each time one comes along Douglass responds using a different form of retaliation or rebellion to show his masters that they don’t own as much control over him as they think they do. All of these attempts to resist his masters control, slavery, and what slavery stood for were detrimental to Fredrick’s escape but the most influential one, the resistive act that started, and kept, the ball rolling was Fredrick’s determination to become literate. Knowledge is power and without his ability to read and write Douglass would have never escaped slavery or written a Narrative of his life.
Throughout the nineteenth century, Americans advanced westward at an unparalleled pace. Motivated by greed, these pioneers plundered through the previously plush territory, believing the nation’s resources to be inexhaustible and failing to contemplate possible consequences. In particular, anxious lumbermen and ranchers rapaciously ravaged the land in pursuit of instant profits. Fortunately, a few prudent people recognized the need for protective legislation. This nascent environmentalist movement was officially recognized when the federal government claimed responsibility over the preservation of the nation’s natural resources in 1877, with the passage of the Desert Land Act. Though this legislation was insignificant in itself, its creation
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After reading several documents written by Gardiner, Campbell, Sita Ram, Sayyid Khan, and Coohill, the main cause of the Sepoy Rebellion was that many Indians felt suspicious that the British were trying to undermine Indian traditions/society and replace it with their own.
Kurashigue argued that what contributed to the social and political factors that caused the 1967 Rebellion is the same factors that are being applied today. The policies and conditions that led to the 1967 Rebellion is very similar in what Black Detroiters are experiencing today through discrimination, urban renewal and police terror. Once you reflect on the events that led up to the Rebellion, there were two distinct perspectives from Whites and Blacks during this era. There was a conveying mix of sadness, tragedy, anger and regret that provide a deep sense of what White America felt it lost in the Detroit Rebellion of 1967. This deep sense of loss, in turn, informs what ex-Detroiters would like to bring back or take back. Today’s impulse
Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty. "Homestead Act." The Reader's Companion to American History. Dec. 1 1991: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.