¶ … History of Texas
questions, (2-3 sentences each question), one page.
Explain the Empresario system. What is it? And what is the purpose of it?
After the successful Mexican War of Independence liberated Mexico from Spanish rule in 1821, the 1824 Constitution of Mexico joined Texas with the state of Coahuila to form the new state of Tejas y Coahuila. In order to increase the population within this unsettled frontier, and protect it from roving bands of Indians and American encroachment, the fledgling government of the Mexican Republic instituted the Empresario system. This system authorized immigration anglo agents like Stephen F. Austin to relocate large groups of colonist families to the state in exchange for land grants and settlement rights. The Empresario system granted settlers a league of land for only $100, provided the newcomers adopt Mexican citizenship, learn the Spanish language, and convert to Catholicism.
How does the Mexican Secretary of War offer a rebuttal to the Texan Declaration of Independence?
The Declaration of Independence which was adopted by Texan delegates on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the following day, came during a time of intense military maneuvering by Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his Secretary of War, Jose Maria de Tornel. As Secretary of War during this tumultuous period, Tornel responded to the Texas Declaration of Independence by publically asserting the superiority of his Mexican soldiers, who were veterans of several campaigns, over the ragtag militias being formed by the Texans. Tornel offered a stark warning to his fellow Mexican officials, stating that "the loss of Texas will inevitably result in the loss of New Mexico and the Californias. Little by little our territory will be absorbed, until only an insignificant part is left to us."
3.) Give some examples demonstrating how Anglos think the Texas Revolution is like the American Revolution?
For the majority of Anglo settlers living...
Only a generation removed from the struggles of the American Revolution, many of the Anglo settlers viewed their situation as being similar to the British monarchy's oppression of the original colonies. The Texans modeled their Declaration of Independence after the American version, and when William Barrett Travis' famously proclaimed "Victory of Death" in his letter, To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World, he deliberately echoed the words of American revolutionary Patrick Henry, who said "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!"
Part 2: 3 long essay questions, (2 pages).
1.) Tell about slavery in Texas. What effect did slavery have on Texas' revolution against Mexico?
The flood of Southern Anglos into the newly formed state of Tejas y Coahuila resulting from the Empresario program meant that many settler families brought their African slaves along with them. The most productive of the empresarios, Stephen F. Austin, originally awarded additional acres of land to settlers who were accompanied by slaves, believing that a plentiful population of slave labor would lead to the rapid development of Anglo colonies in Texas. As more and more settlers moved into Tejas y Coahuila during the years between 1821 and 1829, they began to engage in cotton and sugar cane cultivation, as they had when living in the American South, and these efforts required an abundance of slave labor. Officials within the Mexican Republic, on the other hand, were opposed to the use of slaves within their borders, and over the years they passed a number of laws designed to limit the spread of slavery, such as the 1827 decree that no new slaves could be introduced and children of slaves would be granted their freedom. The growing frustration between Anglo settlers and the Mexican government culminated in 1829, when Vicente Guerrero declared all slaves in…
