Passionate Nation, Page51-64; Book Major Problems, Page

¶ … Passionate Nation, page51-64; book Major Problems, page 79-82, 91-93 Reaction Paper the purpose a the readings for this assignment were highly interesting, and presented a number of different facts regarding the history of Texas and the United States in general that are not commonly known. Spain's history with Texas in particular was a little surprising. Most accounts of U.S. history document Spain's presence in Florida and its involvement with France in the Louisiana Purchase. It was surprising to learn that Spain was the original colonizer of the Texas area. When one considers Spain's history of colonizing Mexico this fact appears to make a little more sense, and of course most people are aware of the fact that the borders of Mexico originally extended well into the continental U.S., incorporating parts of California and other western states. Still, Spain's history as the first colonizing/governing body in Texas had escaped my previous knowledge.

As such it was also enlightening to learn of the animosity that extended between the Spanish Texas and the U.S. during the 18th century. It says a lot that the governors in Spain had a relatively low regard for the American colonists, and considered them subversive trouble makers. However, it is also interesting to note that the British American colonizers were taking every measure possible to rid their new land of foreign influences. The Louisiana Purchase definitely aided them in this endeavor, as was their means of attempting to infiltrate Texas and to secure trade in the area. The untimely demise of Philip Nolan helps to emphasize the state of relations between these two countries at the time, and is not surprising considering the fact that both nations were contesting what in effect amounted to stolen land.

It was also extremely interesting to note that the Spanish were a lot more tolerant of Native Americans on Texas grounds than they were British colonizers. This is probably due to the fact that they did not view Native Americans as posing as much of a threat as they regarded their European competitors.

Most people are probably largely unaware of the impact that developments in Europe had on the U.S., particularly in Texas. I was not aware of how much influence that Napoleon and the French Revolution had on the history of this state. Napoleon was the one who violated the terms of the France's purchase of the Louisiana by selling it to the U.S. This was a particularly curious move -- but one which I suppose merely attests to the effects of capitalism and the tenuous state of affairs that was existent between the colonial powers at the time. However, what was particularly fascinating was Napoleon's influence on Spain and the way in which that directly affected the history of Texas.