*** Index * < Previous page * Next page > ***
Texas pledged to fight against Santa Anna and for the old Mexican constitution. On March 2. 1836, the Texans declared their independence. On April 21. 1836 after suffering from a defeat at Alamo, the Texans beat the Mexican army, and took Santa Anna prisoner, at San Jacinto. Santa Anna bought his freedom by signing a treaty recognizing Texas independence. Within the Texas revolution, all restrictions an slavery were removed. The response was a large influx mainly from the Gulf Coastal Plain states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. This influx got huge importance on the populating of Texas. The cotton plantation life, based on a large influx of slaves, characterized the southern region till the Civil War. By 1850 there were 58,161 slaves in the state. The total aggregate population was at this time 212,592.
Most of the western pioneers during the second quarter of the nineteenth century were American-born whites from the upper South and Midwest. Between 1841 and 1867, some 350,000 men, women and children made the arduous trek to California or Oregon, while hundreds of thousands of other settled along the way in Colorado, Texas, Arkansas and other areas. By 1840 the total population had doubled since 1835, till 70,000 settlers. After all, half of the state Texas was still not settled at the end of the Civil War. The South rested on slavery and agriculture, the area remained undeveloped, at least by North-American standards.
Political conditions in Mexico left the remote territory in near anarchy much of the time, as governors came and went in rapid succession. Some favored an independent state, perhaps under French or British protection. A larger group admired the balance of central and local authority in the United States and felt their interests might be best served by American annexation. Annexation efforts were made by Texas, but the central issue was Negro Slavery. Texas was rejected by the United States and then started trade and negotiations with Great Britain. This caused anxieties in USA, followed by secret negotiations between Texas and US.
The relationship to Mexico went rather bad. American troops took place along Rio Grande. Mexican recognized neither the American annexation or the Rio Grande boundary. President Polk signed the declaration of war on May 13. 1846. Santa Anna was soon again in command of the Mexican army and then named for president again. Instead of carrying out his pledge to Polk to negotiate, he prepared to fight. On September 13, 1847, American forces entered Mexico city. After the fall of Mexico City, Santa Anna resigned. By the treaty of Guadalope Hidalgo, signed on February 2., 1848, Mexico gave up all claims to Texas above Rio Grande and ceded California and New Mexico to the United States. In return the United States agreed to pay Mexico $15 million and assume the claims of American citizens against Mexico up to a total of $3 ¼ million
*** Index * < Previous page * Next page > ***