Chapter 11 lesson 3 Texas and the Mexican war

The Texas revolution In 1821, the first settlers arrived in Texas looking for inexpensive land. Texas belonged to Mexico. Stephen Austin was the leader of the settlers. Within 10 years, there were more Americans than Mexicans in Texas. Mexico tried to stop American settlers from settling in Texas by passing laws—settlers still came.

Texas today Mexico U.S. & Territories

The new settlers did not always obey Mexico’s laws. Some settlers brought slaves with them, even though slavery was against the law in Mexico. Because of the differences over slavery and other issues, the settlers wanted to break away from Mexico.

The fighting begins The Mexicans who lived in Texas were called Tejanos (teh HAHN ohs). Many Tejanos wanted to break away from Mexico because they did not like the laws made by Mexico’s president Antonio López de Santa Anna. Tejanos and Texans rebelled against Mexico to win independence.

In 1836, Santa Anna led a large army to San Antonio to stop the rebellion. His goal was to capture the Alamo, an old mission that was used as a fort. Only 200 American Texans and Tejanos defended the fort. During the Battle of the Alamo, most of them were killed.

Texan leaders voted to officially declare independence from Mexico and form the Republic of Texas. Sam Houston was chosen to lead their army. Houston led a surprise attack on Santa Anna’s army at San Jacinto (sahn hah SEEN toh). During that battle, Texans shouted, “Remember the Alamo!” Texans defeated the Mexican army and captured Santa Anna. To gain his freedom, Santa Anna agreed to give Texas its independence.

The republic becomes a state The Republic of Texas held its first election in September 1836, they elected Sam Houston as their president. (Texas was a separate country.) They made slavery legal and were in favor of annexation by the United States. Annexation The U.S. President, Martin Van Buren, was against the annexation. He thought it would lead to a war with Mexico because Mexico still wanted Texas. He also did not want to add a new state that allowed slavery since many Americans were against it. is the act of joining two countries or pieces of land together.

People who wanted the annexation of Texas said that it was the nation’s destiny to expand west. (Manifest destiny) Manifest destiny Manifest means obvious and destiny is what will happen in the future. In 1845, when James Polk became president, Congress voted to annex Texas. is the belief that U.S. should expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean

war with Mexico When Texas joined United States, Mexico wanted the border between Texas and Mexico to be at the Nueces (NWEH shes) River. President Polk wanted the boundary to be the Rio Grande, a river that lay 150 miles south of the Nueces River. This boundary would give the United States more land. The Mexican government would not agree. Congress declared war with Mexico on May 13, 1846.

Nueces River, where Mexico wanted the boundary Rio Grande, where U. S. wanted the boundary

The Mexican War was fought on 3 fronts. A front The first front was in northern Mexico. is where fighting takes place in a war.

The second front was in New Mexico where American soldiers captured Santa Fe and then headed west to help the U.S. Navy take control of California.

The 3rd front was in southern Mexico. U.S. soldiers invaded Mexico by sea and marched inland to capture Mexico City in September 1847.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo After the U. S. captured Mexico City, Mexico’s leaders agreed to discuss a peace treaty. The United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (gwah dah LOO peh ee DAHL goh). Mexico agreed to the border of Texas being the Rio Grande. Mexico also had to turn over a large area of land called the Mexican Cession. A cession is something that is given up.

The United States paid Mexico $15 million for the cession. Mexicans living on the land were allowed to become citizens of the United States. Laws protected them from losing their property, but these laws were often broken. Many new American citizens lost their land. Can watch the Texas-Mexican War video: 25:39 min