Mexican Independence and the
Texas Revolution
HIST/CS 136: 10.18.2011
Unit Three: Bordering the Southwest
• What did the formation of nation-states in the
Southwest (Mexico and the United States) in
the 19th century mean for individuals already
living here? What new immigrants came to
the region and why?
• How did the regional economy—and the way
people people made a living, change as a
result of incorporation into the United States?
Identity
• I am…
Identity
• I am…
• What kinds of identity existed in the
Southwest before the 1800s?
– Family or kinship-based
Identity
• I am…
• What kinds of identity existed in the
Southwest before the 1800s?
– Family or kinship-based
– Local or place-based
Identity
• I am…
• What kinds of identity existed in the
Southwest before the 1800s?
– Family or kinship-based
– Local or place-based
– Racial, ethnic, or cultural
Central Themes for Today
• What does Mexican independence mean for
the Southwest?
• In what ways do people come to identify with
the new Mexican nation?
Mexican Independence
• New Spain in 1800
– Wealthiest kingdom in the Spanish empire
– Divided by race and class
– Emerging sense of “creole” identity
The Crisis of Sovereignty
Mexican Independence
• New Spain in 1800
– Wealthiest kingdom in the Spanish empire
– Divided by race and class
– Emerging sense of “creole” identity
• War for Independence (1810-1821)
– Goal of complete independence emerges gradually
(From Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s spontaneous
uprising on 16 September 1810 to José Maria
Morelos y Pavón’s organized army)
– War devastates the economy by the time independent
is solidified, September 1821
Mexican Independence
• New Spain in 1800
– Wealthiest kingdom in the Spanish empire
– Divided by race and class
– Emerging sense of “creole” identity
• War for Independence (1810-1821)
– Goal of complete independence emerges gradually (From Father
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s spontaneous uprising on 16
September 1810 to José Maria Morelos y Pavón’s organized
army)
– War devastates the economy by the time independent Mexico
emerges, 27 September 1821
• Inherited and New Dilemmas (Post-1821)
– How to integrate the Northern states?
The Far Northern Frontier
Hispanic Population,
c. 1821
• New Mexico: 40,000
• California: 3,200
• Texas: 2,500
Anglo-American Immigration to Texas
• 1825 Colonization Law
– 4,500 acres of grazing land, 177 acres of farm land, to
anyone willing to pay a nominal fee.
• Empresario System
– Contractors appointed to recruit a specific number of
families to settle in Texas. The “empresarios,” as these
contractors were known received no compensation
upfront, but rather five leagues of range land (22,142
acres) and five cultivable labors (886 acres) of farm
land per every 100 families up to a maximum of 800
families
Empresario Grants in Coahuila y Texas, 1825-1832
Mexican Independence
• New Spain in 1800
– Wealthiest kingdom in the Spanish empire
– Divided by race and class
– Emerging sense of “creole” identity
• War for Independence (1810-1821)
– Goal of complete independence emerges gradually (From Father
Miguel Hidalgo’s spontaneous uprising to José Maria Morelos y
Pavón’s organized army)
– War devastates the economy by the time independent Mexico
emerges, 27 September 1821
• Inherited and New Dilemmas (Post-1821)
– How to integrate the Northern states?
– What form would the government take? Centralists v. Federalists
Mexican heads of State, 1821-1840
Emperor Augstin de Iturbide, 1822-23
Guadalupe Victoria, 1824-29
Vicente Guerrero 1829
José María Bocanegra 1829
Pedro Velez, Luis Quintanar and Lucas Alaman, triumvirate 1829
Anastasio Bustamante, 1830-32, 1837-39
Melchor Muzquiz 1832
Manuel Gomez Pedraza 1833
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, variously from 1833 to 1855
Valentin Gomez Farías, 1833, 1834, and 1847
Miguel Barragán, 1835-36
José Justo Corro
Nicolás Bravo, variously from 1839 to 1846
Federalists vs. Centralists
Roots of the Texas Revolution
• Constitution of 1824
– Grants significant autonomy to the states
• 1829 Abolition of Slavery
– Threat to slaveholding Anglo-Americans
• 1830 Restriction on Anglo-American immigration
– Later eased, but generates hostility to Mexican
government
• Part of broader struggle against Santa Ana’s 1834
turn to centralism
Key points
• Newly independent Mexico’s efforts to
incorporate its northern states backfire
• Men like Stephen F. Austin and Lorenzo Zavala
make strategic choices regarding national
identity and loyalty
• Texas independence would eventually help
spark the U.S.-Mexico War