American Expansion 1815-1850
Come to Texas!
Mexico had only won their war of independence in 1821. At the time, California and New Mexico had thousands of Mexican citizens living there but Texas only had about 2,000. All of these together were outnumbered by the native Americans.
Neither colonial Mexico nor the newly sovereign Mexican state effectively controlled Mexico's far north and west. It was vulnerable to attacks by Comanche, Apache, and Navajo Native Americans. The Comanche, in particular, took advantage of the weakness of the Mexican state to undertake large-scale raids hundreds of miles into the country to acquire livestock for their own use and to supply an expanding market in Texas and the U.S.
To improve conditions in these far off territories and to improve their defense against native tribes, the Mexican government invited in Americans to live in Texas.
The rules were-
Learn Spanish
Convert to Catholicism
Don't have a criminal record
Mexico allowed them to practice slavery eventhough it had been outlawed in the rest if the country 21 years earlier. The Mexican government sold a large peice of land to an American named Steven AUSTIN. Austin then sold a thousand lots to American Americans. Soon there were 7,000 Americans to 2,000 Mexicans living in Mexican Texas.
Don’t come to Texas!
Hardly any of these Americans learned Spanish, very few converted to Catholicism and many had criminal pasts. On top of all this they now outnumbered the Mexican citizens. This worried the Mexican government who wanted to restrict anymore Americans immigrating to Mexico. However, Americans would continue to cross the Mexican border illegally. The Mexican government then banned slavery for the Americans. They expected this to slow the American immigration and possibly convince a few to go back to the US where slavery was legal.
Texas Declaration of Independence
"SEC. 9. All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude, provide the said slave shall be the bona fide property of the person so holding said slave as aforesaid. Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from the United States of America from bringing their slaves into the Republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall Congress have power to emancipate slaves; nor shall any slave-holder be allowed to emancipate his or her slave or slaves, without the consent of Congress, unless he or she shall send his or her slave or slaves without the limits of the Republic. No free person of African descent, either in whole or in part, shall be permitted to reside permanently in the Republic, without the consent of Congress, and the importation or admission of Africans or negroes into this Republic, excepting from the United States of America, is forever prohibited, and declared to be piracy."
Instead, Austin, the white settlers and some of the Mexicans responded by demanding greater autonomy and self governance. They considered Texas home They defeated the local Mexican militia and taunted the Mexican President. So Mexican president, Santa Anna decided to subdue the uprising himself. Santa Ana marched his troops into Texas. His aim was to restore law and order. He was brutal to his enemies but freed their slaves wherever he went. His initial aim was to police the situation, not outright war. The Mexican government had given a cannon to the now rebelling town of Gonzales for them to fend of Native American attacks. Now that the town was rebelling, the Mexican government asked for it back. The rebelling town of Gonzalez refused to return it, feeling hostile and vulnerable to the Mexican government, they raised a flag with a picture of the cannon on it and the words, “Come and Take It”
(In 2000, the Dallas Stars Hockey team were the defending champions of the Stanley cup. A fan made a replica flag with the trophy on it.)
Only 100 Mexican troops were sent to reclaim the cannon against 150 militiamen (minimally trained civilian soldiers) The battle was more of a brief skirmish where 2 Mexican soldiers were killed and the only injury on the Texan side was a man falling off his horse and breaking his nose.
After this retreat by the Mexican army, the Mexican government decided it was now fighting a war. In the winter of 1835, the Mexican army attempted to besiege the town of San Antonio. The Mexicans tried to break into the city but failed. 150 Mexican soldiers were killed, wounded or captured to only 35 Texas Rebels.
Perceptive of History
Texan view
The evil Santa Anna is a tyrant dictator. He abolished the Mexican parliament and put himself in charge. He's sending troops to take away our property and livelihood, making us poor, losing all that we've worked for. He's oppressing us Texans and taking away our ability to make our own laws. We fight for liberty and freedom!
Mexican View
Americans have illegally been entering the country. For years we've tolerated their refusal to pay taxes and obey our laws. Above all, they continue the barbaric practices of slavery. We Mexicans know the wrongs of oppressing another human being. We fight for liberty and freedom!
The Alamo - 1836
The next target was the Texan Rebel garrison that was stationed in a hundred year old Catholic missionary church. The Texan Rebels were made up of daring risk takers and desperate vagabonds. Some were slave smugglers, some were escaping debts. Popular Ex-Tennessee Senator Davy Crockett was escaping political failure. At the Alamo they found a mutual cause.
Davy Crockett
https://youtu.be/QsqpFuI6aQQ
https://youtu.be/4g6ITFTtHZQ
https://youtu.be/ceaToIwi-Qk
https://youtu.be/c0o2ndaLtbM
https://youtu.be/AAZNROTU9Hc
Watch video
Survivors Susanna Dickinson, her daughter Angelina, Travis' slave Joe, and Almonte's cook Ben were spared by Santa Anna and sent to Gonzales, where Texian volunteers had been assembling.
The Myth
The drama of the whole affair inspired many at the time. It lives in the culture of America even now, specifically Texas. As of 2002, the Alamo welcomed over four million visitors each year, making it one of the most popular historic sites in the United States.
What do you think the defenders of the Alamo were defending?
The Washington Post
“Yet, the legend of the Alamo is a Texas tall tale run amok. The actual story is one of White American immigrants to Texas revolting in large part over Mexican attempts to end slavery. Far from heroically fighting for a noble cause, they fought to defend the most odious of practices. Our newfound understanding of this history presents Americans with a long-overlooked opportunity to correct a racist myth surrounding this monument.
The problem, according to Stephen F. Austin, known as the “Father of Texas,” was that the new government, which took power on a racial equality agenda, would not abide slavery. The Mexican government’s efforts to write a new federal constitution got bogged down. One of the sticking points was the question of slavery. The new government wanted slavery gone, but ending the practice would ruin the settlers. Austin, “talked to each individual member of the junta of the necessity which existed in Texas … for the new colonists to bring their slaves.”
Texas State Governor
“As I said, Texans want a restoration of the battlefield that will stand for generations so their grandchildren will know that in 1836 a few hundred Texians gave up their lives for Texas, for liberty and freedom. That story of heroism and bravery continues to inspire us today, and we must stand up to those who believe it is all “bunk” and “a lie.” We cannot allow them to erase our history.”
White people
The Alamo represents the beginning of Texas-American history. Americans settled in the area, seeking economic freedom and opportunity. They were violently oppressed and the Alamo represents the sacrifice of the early frontiersmen.
Latino View
The Alamo represents early Spanish Colonialism. The first European settlers brought catholicism to the Native Americans. Latinos fought in the Mexican army but also on the side of the white Texans.
African American view
The Alamo represents the black battle for freedom. Mexico freed their slaves 7 years before Texas independence placed them back in chains. In addition, the Woolworth lunch-counter opposite the Alamo is a civil rights landmark.
Native American view
The Alamo represents Native American contact with Spanish Europeans. Their indigenous religions were repressed and Catholism forced upon them. They lived in the grounds of the Alamo for 75 years before Texas independence. The Alamo square was built over the top of an American Indan cemetery.
Historical Accounts give insight into the possible truth:
Discussion that the government might actually enforce the 1827 laws, though, brought talk of war. “Many have announced to me that there will be a revolution if the law takes effect,” a Mexican military commander in East Texas wrote a superior. “Austin’s colony would be the first to think along these lines. It was formed for slavery, and without it her inhabitants would be nothing.”
Founder of Texas, Steven Austin said, “Nothing is wanted but money,” Austin wrote in one letter, adding in another, “and negros are necessary to make it.” “Texas must be a slave country,” he wrote a friend, “circumstances and unavoidable necessity compels it.”
“The war now raging in Texas,” charged former president and Rep. John Quincy Adams (Mass.), was “a war for the reestablishment of Slavery where it was abolished. It is not a servile war, but a war between Slavery and Emancipation, and every possible effort has been made to drive us into this war, on the side of slavery.”
Questions:
If you do think the Alamo’s defenders were defending slavery, does that mean they weren’t brave?
Whose opinion do you trust the most and why?
The Mexican Government were trying to abolish slavery, does that make them the good guys?
Battle of San Jacinto - 1836
Both Mexico and Texas had scouts and spies out in the countryside. They monitored troop movements and
“Deaf” Smith and Henry Karnes, Texan Spies captured a Mexican courier carrying intelligence on the locations and future plans of all of the Mexican troops in Texas. Realizing that Santa Anna had only a small force and was not far away, Sam HOUSTON gave a rousing speech to his men, exhorting them to "Remember the Alamo". His army then raced towards Lynchburg. Out of concern that his men might not differentiate between Mexican soldiers and the Hispanic Troops on their side, Houston originally ordered his Hispanic troops to remain in Harrisburgh to guard those who were too ill to travel quickly. After loud protests, the order was rescinded, provided the Hispanics wear playing cards in their hats to identify them as Texian soldiers.
Using the captured intelligence, Sam Houston’s troops ambushed Santa Anna’s troops camping in the swamp. Within 18 minutes, Mexican soldiers abandoned their campsite and fled for their lives. The killing lasted for hours.
Many Mexican soldiers retreated through the marsh to Peggy Lake. Texian riflemen stationed themselves on the banks and shot at anything that moved. Many Texian officers, including Houston and Rusk, attempted to stop the slaughter, but they were unable to gain control of the men, incensed and vengeful for the massacres at the Alamo while frightened Mexican infantry yelled "Me no Alamo!" and begged for mercy to no avail. In what historian Davis calls "one of the most one-sided victories in history", 650 Mexican soldiers were killed and 300 captured. Eleven Texians died, with 30 others, including Houston, wounded.
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was coined by a journalist in 1845 before the American war with Mexico. America had long been disapproving of British Imperialism. Their rebellion in 1776 had been a struggle for self-rule and independence. They saw the British Empire as a global bully and one that took advantage of people half-way across the globe. However, when the US itself decided that expansion was necessary for their own strength and survival, the idea of claiming new lands became more idealized. The US government had paid for Florida but Spain didn’t have much choice in the matter. The Louisiana purchase was fair and square between the US and France but much of the lands in the Louisiana territory were still effectively governed by native peoples. Taking land from native peoples in the wars of Tippecanoe and the Great Plains Wars became a just cause. The American people needed a view of land conquering that was more favorable to their moral and liberty loving view of themselves.
The idea of Manifest Destiny was coined, a belief that God had given dominion, ownership and rights to the American people over the land on the continent.
"the right of our manifest destiny to overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty and federated self-government entrusted to us."
It was merely the latest invocation of a concept that had been born at the very beginning of the Judeo-Christian tradition, on the first page of the Bible, in the Book of Genesis. This concept had, long before John Marshall, been used by the Jews, the Catholics and the Protestants to justify the dispossession of indigenous peoples. The reason, according to the Bible, was that God had given the land to Abraham’s people, the Canaanites notwithstanding. As God said through Joshua, "I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you dwell therein." (Joshua 24:13)
In the Bible, wars of extermination were sanctioned against local inhabitants who stood in the way of the "chosen people." Speaking of Joshua’s war with the city of Hazor, the Bible tells us: "They smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword utterly destroying them. There was not any left to breathe and he burnt Hazor with fire."
(Joshua 11:11)
The Independent Republic of Texas
Now that the Texans had captured Santa Anna, they threatened to kill him unless he signed an agreement that Texas was no longer part of Mexico. The Mexican government refused to recognize the agreement and the United States didn’t recognize it until a year later. The Republic of Texas was very interested in joining the United States, however, the perpetual question of slavery complicated matters. Southern slave states were eager to have the additional slave state but northern free states rejected the idea. If Texas were to be added to the Union then there would be more slave states than free states and so Texas had to wait until a free state was ready to be admitted.
James K Polk gets elected as President of the United States under Jacksonian policies in 1845. Polk was the first acting President to have his photograph taken. During his presidency, the first photo of the White House was also taken. He promised to fulfill all of his goals and all in one term. Part of his goals was to obtain new lands in the Oregon territory and Texas. Once sworn into the office of the President March 4th, 1845.
Polk aimed to obtain Texas and California from Mexico and the Oregon territory from Britain. Originally, Polk had demanded that the British give the United States, the modern-day Canadian Providence of British Columbia. The British said no and negotiations got heated. Ultimately, the war with Mexico made the US government fearful of fighting two wars on two borders at the same time so they compromised and agreed on the present-day borders.
In December 29, 1845 Texas becomes a US State. The State of Iowa was added a year later to balance out the slave states and the non-slave states. Despite now including Texas in the Union, Polk wanted more. He wanted California, New Mexico and Arizona which all still belonged to Mexico. He offered to buy them but Mexico kept saying no. How was Polk going to fulfil his promises to the American people? The only other option after buying the land from them willingly was to win the land against Mexico’s will. However, Polk and the US couldn’t just start a war just because they wanted another countries land…
Mexican-American war - 1846
There were many small territorial disputes between the Mexicans and the Texans. Sometimes these disputes would end with the Texans slaughtering the Mexicans and sometimes the Mexicans slaughtered the Texans. However, the American newspapers only reported the times Texans were killed. Mexicans were often seen as other, speaking a different language and being Catholics.
So instead, using the stories of attacks of Mexicans on Americans, Polk ordered troops to cross the Mexican border to provoke the Mexican army to attack. To the public he claimed to be protecting American citizens. Zachary Taylor marched his troops across the River Neuse and started building forts on Mexican land. Imagine if today Mexican troops crossed the river and started building forts in Texas. It was nothing short of an act of provocation into war.
Many now-famous names were present. Future presidents Zachary Taylor and Ulysses S Grant. Civil War Generals Robert E Lee, Winifred Scott, many of whom would fight against each other in the coming civil war.
Can you identify Logos, Ethos and Pathos in these arguments?
James K Polk
“The Mexican Government not only refused to receive him, or listen to his propositions to buy their land peacefully, but after a long-continued series of menaces, have at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil... As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon, by every consideration of duty and patriotism, to vindicate, with decision, the honor, the rights, and the interests of our country.”
Congressman Joshua Giddings
“I regard the message as having been put forth to divert public attention from the outrage committed by the President upon our own Constitution, and the abuse of powers, of which he has been guilty in ordering our army to invade a country with which we are at peace, and of provoking and bringing on this war. I am led to this inevitable conclusion from the fact that he dare not rest his justification upon truth. He reminds us of the grievous wrongs perpetrated (as he says) by Mexico upon our people in former years, and alludes to the delay of that government in the payment of debts due our people, and mourns over the loss of our commerce with Mexico; all for the purpose of justifying himself in sending the army to the Rio Grande, and commencing the work of human butchery!
If the country be ours, why does he seek to justify the taking possession of it by reference to the fact that Mexico is indebted to some of our people? If it be not ours, and he has taken possession of it in order to compel Mexico to pay those debts, why not say so? The fact that Mexico has not paid the debts due to our citizens can have no legitimate connection with taking possession of our own soil.
What aggressive acts toward a foreign power could our army commit while on our own territory? While the army was within the United States they could not commit violence upon Mexico. The order was also to abstain from all aggressive acts toward “Mexican citizens.” It seems that the President expected General Taylor to find Mexican citizens located within the United States . . . The President obviously intended to involve us in war with Mexico. That truth will stand on the page of history in all coming time, to the disgrace of this nation and of the age in which we live . . .Sir, no man regards this war as just. We know, the country knows, and the civilized world are conscious, that it has resulted from a desire to extend and sustain an institution on which the curse of the Almighty most visibly rests [Slavery]. Mexico has long since abolished slavery. She has purified herself from its crimes and its guilt. That institution is now circumscribed on the southwest by Mexico, where the slaves of Texas find an asylum . . . It has therefore become necessary to extend our dominions into Mexico in order to render slavery secure in Texas.”
Conrad Cherry
“America is a nation called to a special destiny by God. Just as Moses and the Israelites were given Canaan, Polk and American will govern north America from sea to shining sea. Let the bible be our guide. It is providence!”
Abraham Lincoln
“I am now through the whole of the President’s evidence. My way of living leads me to be about the courts of justice; and there, I have sometimes seen a good lawyer, struggling for his client, in a desperate case, employing every work around, confuse, and cover up. In my experience, President Polk appears to be struggling the same way in this case. As a nation we should not let him cloud our judgment because the Almighty can not, be evaded, so let him attempt no evasion—no equivocation. And if, so answering, he can show that the soil was ours, where the first blood of the war was shed—that it was not within an inhabited country, or, if within such, that the inhabitants had submitted themselves to the civil authority of Texas. But if he cannot, or will not do this—if he shall refuse or omit it, then I shall be fully convinced, of what I more than suspect already, that he is deeply conscious of being in the wrong that he feels the blood of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven against him.
Answers
Pathos - emotional language meant to spark an emotional response. (We're in danger, your duty is to your county)
Negative- emotions can cloud reasonable decisions.
Ethos - presenting credible expertise in a relevant field. (Our conquest is God's destiny for us, manifest) (Even Ulysses S Grant thinks it's wrong)
Negative- not everyone qualified agrees, qualifications don't make someone correct
Logos- logic and reason. Analogies, examples, data and syntax. (If we wouldn't want to be invaded, then it's wrong to invade others.)
Negative- fallacies can muddy the water. Bad data too.
Nothing is wrong with these persuasions in themselves. Ethos, Pathos and Logos can all communicate truths. They can all be used to sell a lie.
Border Incident
US troops crossed the Neuces river into Mexico. Mexico sent troops to meet them and the fighting began.
Polk declared to the American people, "American blood has been spilled on American spoil." Lincoln famously challenged “Show me the spot where American blood was shed,” Future president Ulysses S Grant wrote, "We were sent to provoke a fight, but it was essential that Mexico should commence it." Polk was criticized by some in Congress. "a war unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States."
Once the war had begun, the American Army fought in Northern Mexico for a few months until landing a force at the Mexican port of Veracruz, the biggest amphibius landing in history at the time. They fought their way to Mexico City after only 15 months of war.
"For myself," Grant wrote later about the United States war against Mexico, "I was bitterly opposed to the measure, and to this day regard the war, which resulted, as one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."
St Patrick's Battalion
Some of the American solid were Catholics and didn't like fighting against the Mexicans because they were predominantly catholic also.
Some of these Catholic Americans abandoned the US Army and defected to the Mexican army. They then fought against the US Army. One man named John O'Reilly was born in Ireland, fought for the British Army but then moved to the US, joined the US Army for a year before joining the Mexican army and dying at the age of 33. His unit was known as the Batallón de San Patricio, or Saint Patrick's Battalion.
Battle for Mexico City
In Mexico City, Winifred Scott and his troops dominated the battle inside the capital. Santa Anna enlisted everyone and anyone he could to fill his ranks including Mexican Boy Scouts aged between 19 and 12 years old. These Ninos Heroes are remembered as national heroes. They are said to have fought the American army to the death on the rocky outcrop at Chapultepec palace. One of the boys is said to have jumped off a cliff with the Mexican flag just so the Americans couldn’t capture it.
Once America had won the war, Mexico ceded 55% of their territory. The land gained from Mexico today makes up land in the States of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. The United States did pay $15 million for this land, drastically less than it was worth. Before the war the US was prepared to pay $45 million for this land.
Why US won?
Historian Peter Guardino states that in the war "the greatest advantage the United States had was its prosperity." Economic prosperity contributed to political stability in the U.S. Unlike Mexico's financial precariousness, the U.S. was a prosperous country with major resource endowments that Mexico lacked. Its war of independence had taken place generations earlier and was a relatively short conflict that ended with French intervention on the side of the 13 colonies. Mexico on the other hand had 25 different presidents in the 9 years between 1839 and 1848. That's an average of 4.3 months in office. The United States had been an independent nation for 70 years already whereas Mexico had only been independent for 25 years. This had allowed the United States to industrialize sooner resulting in a stronger military with more cannons than the Mexican army.
https://youtu.be/26raYPP4n7Q
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.history.com/.amp/news/6-things-you-may-not-know-about-santa-anna
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