Republic of Texas1836-1845

“The Burnett Flag”The first flag of the Republic of Texas

Texas Revolution• In early 1835, as the Mexican

government transitioned from a federalist model to centralism, wary colonists in Texas began forming Committees of Correspondence and Safety.

• The Texas Revolution officially began on October 2, 1835 in the Battle of Gonzales. Although the Texians originally fought for the reinstatement of the Constitution of 1824, by 1836 the aim of the war had changed. The Convention of 1836 declared independence on March 2, 1836 and officially formed the Republic of Texas.

Republic of Texas• The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March

6, 1836) is the most famous battle of the Texas Revolution.

• The Texans were outnumbered 6-1 by the Mexican Army led by Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna.

• Texans held off the Mexican Army in two attacks but the Mexican soldiers successfully gained entry into the Alamo on the third attack.

• All Texans taken prisoner were executed and the women and children were questioned and released.

• “Remember the Alamo” was the battle cry of the Texans at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Republic of Texas• The Battle of San Jacinto was the

decisive engagement of the Texas Revolution.

• April 21, 1836 In a battle starting about 4:30 p.m. and lasting 18 minutes, Texan troops led by Sam Houston defeat the Mexican army commanded by Santa Anna at San Jacinto near present-day Houston. Houston reports that 630 Mexican troops were killed and 730 were taken prisoner. Of the Texas troops, nine of a force of 910 were killed or mortally wounded, and 30 were less seriously wounded. San Jacinto

Monument

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• September 5, 1836 Voters of the new republic choose their first elected officials: Sam Houston becomes president and Lorenzo de Zavala, vice president.

Sam Houston

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• The voters also overwhelmingly approve a referendum requesting annexation by the United States. U.S. President Martin Van Buren refuses to consider it, however, citing fear of war with Mexico and constitutional scruples.

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• After gaining their independence, the Texas voters had elected a Congress of 14 senators and 29 representatives in September 1836.

• The first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened in October 1836 at Columbia (now West Columbia). Stephen F. Austin, sometimes called the "Father of Texas," died December 27, 1836, after serving two months as Secretary of State for the new Republic.

Republic of Texas• The court system inaugurated by Congress included a

Supreme Court consisting of a chief justice appointed by the president and four associate justices, elected by a joint ballot of both houses of Congress for four-year terms and eligible for reelection.

• The associates also presided over four judicial districts. Houston nominated James Collinsworth to be the first chief justice. The county-court system consisted of a chief justice and two associates, chosen by a majority of the justices of the peace in the county.

• Each county was also to have a sheriff, a coroner, justices of the peace, and constables to serve two-year terms.

• Congress formed 23 counties, whose boundaries generally coincided with the existing municipalities.

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• Due mainly to the ongoing war for independence, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas in 1836: (Washington on the Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia). The capital was moved to the new city of Houston in 1837. In 1839, the capital was moved to a tiny frontier settlement on the Colorado River named Waterloo. A new city was laid out, and Waterloo was renamed Austin.

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• Internal politics of the Republic were based on the conflict between two factions. The nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar, advocated the continued independence of Texas, the expulsion of the Native Americans, and the expansion of Texas to the Pacific Ocean. Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States and peaceful co-existence with Native Americans.

• In the late 1830s Sam Houston negotiated a peace between Texas and the Comanches.

• In 1838 Lamar replaced Houston as president and reversed the Indian policies. He launched a genocidal war against the Comanches and invaded Comancheria itself.

Republic of Texas• Under command of

Potsanaquahip (Buffalo Hump), 500-700 Comanche cavalry warriors swept down the Guadalupe River valley, killing and plundering all the way to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, where they sacked the towns of Victoria and Linnville.

• Houston became president again in 1841 and, with both Texans and Comanches exhausted by war, a new peace was established.

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• On March 3, 1837, US President Andrew Jackson appointed Alcee La Branche  as American  charge d’affaires to the Republic of Texas, thus officially recognizing Texas as an independent republic. France granted official recognition of Texas on September 25, 1839, appointing Alponse Dubois de Saligny to serve as chargé d'affaires.

• The Republic also received diplomatic recognition from Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Yucatan.

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• Mexico refused to recognize Texas as independent.• On March 5, 1842, a Mexican force of over 500 men, led by

Rafael Vásquez, invaded Texas for the first time since the revolution. They soon headed back to the Rio Grande after briefly occupying San Antonio. 1,400 Mexican troops, led by the French mercenary general Adrian Woll launched a second attack and captured San Antonio on September 11, 1842.

• The Texas Militia retaliated at the Battle of Salado Creek but were defeated by Mexican soldiers and Texas Cherokee Indians at the Dawson Massacre on September 18, 1842.

• The Mexican army would later retreat from the city of San Antonio.

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• The Mexican attacks intensified the conflicts between political factions within the Texas Government.

• Texas Archive War- Sam Houston removed the Texas National Archives from Austin. The archives were eventually returned to Austin and Houston was admonished by the Texas Congress.

• This incident re-established Austin as the capitol of The Republic of Texas.

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• On February 28, 1845, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would authorize the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. On March 1, U.S. President John Tyler signed the bill. The legislation set the date for annexation for December 29 of the same year.

• The Mexican Government also offered to recognize Texas as an independent country as part of the “Diplomatic Act”

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• Texas President Anson Jones forwarded both offers to a specially elected convention meeting at Austin, and the American proposal was accepted with only one dissenting vote.

• Following the previous decree of President Jones, the proposal was then put to a national vote.

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• On October 13, 1845 a large majority of voters in the Republic approved both the American offer and the proposed constitution that specifically endorsed slavery and the slave trade.

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•This constitution was later accepted by the U.S. Congress, making Texas a U.S. State on the same day annexation took effect, December 29, 1845 (therefore bypassing a territorial phase).

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• One of the motivations for annexation was that the Texas government had incurred huge debts which the United States agreed to assume upon annexation.

• In 1852, in return for this assumption of debt, a large portion of Texas-claimed territory, now parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming, was ceded to the Federal government.

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The Mexican government had long warned that annexation would mean war with the United States. When Texas was granted statehood, the Mexican government broke diplomatic relations with the United States. This led to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

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