Road to the Revolution

Road to the Revolution

​Part 1

​Fredonian Rebellion

​In 1825 Haden Edwards, a businessman from Kentucky, received an empresario contract. He had been granted permission to settle families near Nacogdoches. When he arrived, he found that many people had been living on the land for years. 

Poll

How would you feel if you were given a land grant and you find out that there are people living on the land?

• Sad

• Angry

• Frustrated

​Fredonian Rebellion continued

​Edwards ordered the settlers to show their titles to the land. Many could not, and Edwards demanded that they pay him for a title or leave. The people protested to Mexican officials, who responded by canceling Edwards’s contract. Haden Edwards was very unpopular with many people living in the area who believed he was dishonest.

​The Rebellion Ends

​In 1826, Edwards and his brother, Benjamin, took action. They gathered a small band of settlers and claimed a part of East Texas as the Republic of Fredonia. Most Texans, including SFA, opposed the Fredonian Rebellion, which was quickly put down. The actions of Edwards and his brother, although unpopular with other settlers, made the Mexican government suspicious of Texans who had ties to the United States.

​The Mier y Terán Report

​The Fredonian Rebellion was a minor event, but it attracted a lot of attention.  Even newspapers in the United States carried stories about the revolt.  The American interest in rebellion greatly worried the Mexican government. As they had done before, the U.S. offered to buy Texas from Mexico in 1827.  Mexico was afraid that the U.S. had plans to take Texas away, possibly by encouraging Americans to settle there and stir up trouble with the Mexican government.

Mier y Terán

​In 1828, the Mexican government sent General Manuel de Mier y Terán to investigate conditions in Texas. Officially, his job was to examine the resources of Texas, learn about the Indians living there and to help the Mexican government determine the exact border between Texas and Mexico. But secretly, the general was asked to determine how many Americans lived in Texas and what their attitudes toward Mexico were. He found that U.S. settlers outnumbered Tejanos 10 to 1.

Multiple Choice

The Anglos outnumbered the Tejanos by

• 10 to 1

• 5 to 1

• 3  to 1

• 2 to 1

​The Mier y Terán Report, Continued

​In the Mier y Terán Report, he noted that Mexican influence in Texas decreased as one moved northward, away from the Rio Grande, and eastward from San Antonio. He recommended that trade between Texas and Mexico be increased in an effort to discourage trade with the United States. He also recommended that more soldiers be sent to Texas and that Mexicans and Catholic Europeans should be encouraged to settle in Texas to reduce the influence of settlers from the United States.

​Law of April 6, 1830

​The Mexican government created this law in response to the Mier y Teran report. Many of the Texans became angry. The new law would hurt their economy. They were also upset because their friends and family from the U.S. would not be able to join them. However many people still came anyway.

​Law of April 6, 1830

• ​Outlawed U.S. immigration to Texas, but encouraged European and Mexican immigration

• ​No more slaves could enter Texas

• ​Suspended unfilled empresario contracts

• ​Sent more Mexican troops & military posts in Texas

• ​Custom duties placed on all goods entering from the U.S. (tax)

Open Ended

The Law of April 6, 1830 stated that no new slaves could be brought into Texas. How do you think that the Texans will feel about this? Why is slavery important to them?

​SFA's reaction to the Law of April 6, 1830

​Austin disliked the new law, but tried to work with Mexican officials and encouraged colonist to respect the law.

​Turtle Bayou Resolutions

Juan David Bradburn, an American who worked for the Mexican government, began to enforce new laws. He treated people badly. Bradburn went into a new town, Liberty, and abolished their ayuntamiento (city council), and installed martial law (military law). When two Texan lawyers from San Felipe, William B. Travis and Patrick Jack showed up, Bradburn had them arrested.

​Turtle Bayou Resolutions continued

​Word spread throughout the colonies and the Texans sent 160 men from Brazoria and San Felipe to march on to Anahuac where Travis and Jack were being held. A battle broke out and the Texans exchanged gunfire with Mexican troops.

​

​The Mexican government saw this as a revolt, but the group wrote a resolution (a formal statement) claiming that they were simply defending the Constitution of 1824. They also expressed their support for Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who was trying to overthrow President Bustamante.

Multiple Choice

What is a resolution?

• a joke

• a poem

• a formal statement

• an informal statement

​Turtle Bayou Resolutions

• ​Declared that the events at Anahuac were not a rebellion

• ​That the people were defending their rights & the Constitution of 1824

• ​The expressed their support for General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (who was overthrowing President Bustamante)​

​

​The Texans asserted their agreement with the Federalists of Mexico (led by Santa Anna) who were fighting against the central government, saying the Constitution was the legitimate government. The Texans held the Convention of 1832 & the Convention of 1833 in order to write a resolution to deliver to Mexico City.