Chapter 9: Section 2 Flashcards
What area was under Mexican control after the country achieved independence from Spain in 1821?
Texas
Tejanos
Spanish-speaking inhabitants of Texas (Two main people groups in Mexico- Mestizos and Amerindians)
Spanish-speaking inhabitants of Texas (Two main people groups in Mexico- Mestizos and Amerindians)
Tejanos
Empresarios
People who arranged for the settlement of Texas in the 1800s, granted land to have others promise to bring settlers
People who arranged for the settlement of Texas in the 1800s, granted land to have others promise to bring settlers
Empresarios
Texian
An Amerian living in Mexico-owned Texas
An American living in Mexico-owned Texas
Texian
Stephen F. Austin
1st and most successful empresario (Austin, TX was named after him)
1st and most successful empresario (Austin, TX was named after him)
Stephen F. Austin
Sam Houston
Military leader of Texas, most remembered as a military leader but also had a political career, will serve in the fight against Mexico for the independence of Texas (would go on to be a US senator of Texas after it obtains statehood)
Military leader of Texas and US senator of Texas; served in the fight against Mexico for the independence of Texas
Sam Houston
Santa Anna
Dictator and military leader of Mexico during the Mexican-American War
Dictator and military leader of Mexico during the Mexican-American War
Santa Anna
Annexation
Becoming a part of the United States; before obtaining statehood, Texas was owned by Mexico
Becoming a part of the United States; before obtaining statehood, Texas was owned by Mexico
Annexation
What were some of the settlements established by Tejanos in the southern part of the area?
San Antonio de Bexar and Hidalgo
Who lived north of the aforementioned settlements?
The Apache, Comanche, and other Native American groups
What did Mexicans do when they couldn’t persuade people to move closer to Native American groups?
They decided to continue Spanish policy and invite Americans and other foreigners to settle there
Mexico passed three colonization laws between 1823 and 1825. What did they do/say?
These laws offered cheap land to anyone willing to come and granted immigrants a 10-year exemption from paying taxes but required them to become Mexican citizens, live under Mexican law, and convert to Roman Catholicism
What encouraged most American emigrants to head to Texas?
Empresarios (A Spanish word meaning agents or contractors)
What did the National Colonization Act do?
It had Mexico give 26 empresarios large grants of Texas land. In exchange, the empresarios promised to fill the land with a certain number of settlers. The empresarios assigned a plot to each family and governed the colonies they established.
Who founded the town of Washington-on-the-Brazos, and by the mid-1830s, had persuaded some 1,500 American families to immigrate?
Stephen F. Austin
What did the government assume of the Americans that emigrated to Texas?
They assumed that the Americans would adopt Mexican customs and come to see Mexico as their own country
The Spanish Catholic Church was alien to the
traditions of most American settlers…
…and only a few bothered to learn Spanish.
Why did many Mexicans, in turn, distrust the new settlers?
Because of their American lifestyle and dismissal of Mexican ways
What empresario increased Mexico’s unease in 1826 and what did he do?
Haden Edwards’s brother Benjamin; led a rebellion against Mexican authority
Angry over disagreements about whether
the Mexican government or the empresario controlled the region…
…Edwards declared that the settlements of Americans in Texas now constituted the independent nation of Fredonia.
What did Mexico do in 1830 that infuriated the settlers?
Closed its borders to further immigration by Americans and banned the import of enslaved labor as well. Mexico also placed taxes on goods imported from foreign countries, hoping to discourage trade with the U.S
What did the import tax mean?
Higher prices for goods they were accustomed to purchasing from the United States
What was worst of all for the settlers?
The Mexican government was telling them what they could and could not do. They saw no reason to follow the order of a government they hardly considered their own
What did Mexico’s colonization laws offer people willing to settle in northern Texas, and what did the laws require of these settlers?
Mexico’s colonization laws offered people land but the laws required settlers to become Mexican citizens, live under Mexican law, and convert to Roman Catholicism
Where did settlers meet in 1832 and 1833?
They met at two conventions in the Texas town of San Felipe
Who did they choose to be president of the first convention and what did this convention do?
Stephen F. Austin; Asked Mexico to reopen Texas to American immigrants and to loosen taxes on imports
What happened at the second convention in 1833 while Texas was a part of Coahuila?
The convention recommended separating Texas from Coahuila and creating a new Mexican state. It also created a constitution for the new state and designated Austin to travel to Mexico City to negotiate with the Mexican government.
What happened in the fall of 1833?
Negotiations about the new Mexican state stalled and an irritated Austin sent a letter to Tejano leaders
What did the letter say?
Texas should start peacefully organizing its own state government
After sending the letter, Austin managed to persuade President Antonio López de Santa Anna to…
…agree to several demands, including lifting the hated immigration ban.
What happened at the military post of Gonzalez, 75 miles east of San Antonio?
Mexican soldiers ordered the Texans to surrender their arms. Having no orders to attack, the
Mexicans retreated to San Antonio, and the Texans
followed them.
Why did some American leaders oppose the admission of Texas?
Texas was a slave state
Why were Santa Anna and his troops surprised by Houston’s attack?
Santa Anna was confident that Houston would not attack in the afternoon so he let his troops sleep.
