The Second American Revolution: How Texas Became a Nation

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Search for the Our American Stories podcast. Go to the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Up next, a story about the only state in our nation to join us as a nation. I’m of course talking about Texas. Here to tell the story of how Texas gained its independence from Mexico is Monte Monroe, the Texas State Historian. Take it away, Monty.

I think it’s necessary to tell just a little bit about the first group of Europeans that came into this geographical space that we now call Texas: the Spanish Conquistadors. Prior to the discovery of the New World, Spain had suffered under an extended period of war from about 711 A.D. when the Moors from Africa invaded Spain. They pushed the inhabitants all the way back across the Iberian Peninsula to the vicinity of what is today France. Ultimately, a small group of Spanish Christians defeated the Muslims at the famous Battle of Covadonga, and this marked the beginning of the so-called Reconquista, or reconquest period of Spain, which lasted over 774 years. That struggle took place. It ended, basically, in 1492, when Isabella and Ferdinand, who had unified the Iberian Peninsula to a large extent, forced the Muslims out of Granada following a ten-year siege. It’s in this atmosphere of this general nationalistic expansion that Columbus made his great discovery of the so-called New World, and his discoveries started this period of maritime reconnaissance and inland conquests that brought great wealth to Spain and, of course, led to what would ultimately become Texas. And the conquerors of the Indies, known as the Idel and Pados, are the ones out front. Were also driven by medieval tales about the Seven Cities of Cibola—Seven Cities. Goal. Ponce de León explored Florida looking for the Fountain of Youth, another one of these mythical stories that had been passed down during the period of the Reconquista. Balboa, of course, searched for gold in Central America. Other great explorers, Spanish explorers, moved into the interior. Cortés, as we well know, conquered the Aztecs by 1521. Francisco Pizarro in 1513 discovered the Great Inca Empire and its fabulous wealth. And just to give you an idea of what we were talking about when we say “fabulous wealth,” Pizarro, with literally 150 to 170 men, neutralized an Inca force of some 80,000, and they reaped the benefit of roughly 13,500 pounds of gold. Okay, that’s a lot, and over 26,000 pounds of silver. The thing remarkable about this whole period is: within twenty years, Spain had conquered an empire larger than Rome’s had ever been. By 1618, we start to see the establishment of San Antonio de Valero. What we call today the Alamo is established. The Indians in that region didn’t necessarily get along with each other, so there were various missions that were established amongst various groups. They flourished for a while, became ranching centers in the center part of what would become Texas. The Spanish brought in huge herds of cattle and horses that would ultimately be important after the Civil War for more modern-day Texans. By 1731, you literally have Spanish colonists from the Canary Islands that come to Texas, and they’re the ones that founded the first civil jurisdiction within Texas, and it’s called the Villa of San Fernando de Béjar, which becomes San Antonio. Ultimately, Spanish interest in Texas starts to wane. There are problems in Spain itself. But by 1760 or 1759, Charles the Third, who was the King of England, part of the Bourbon Dynasty. He was a reformist, and he wanted to reform Spanish colonial institutions. To do that, he wanted to undermine the existing bureaucracies, to economize things, and, of course, have more money come back to Spain than stay in the New World. Ultimately, these reforms only had limited success, and that would lead to the Spanish government looking to change the situation. By around 1800, what happened was, at the same time, you literally have what we call filibusters coming in from Louisiana and other places. Like Philip Nolan was an American filibuster. He was coming in trying to find wild mustangs, to capture these horses to sell in the United States. He even attempted, or was perceived by the Spanish to attempt, insurrection. He was ultimately killed near present-day Waco. His people were taken captive, and they wound up working the mines in northern Mexico. And so Spanish officials realized that Texas had economic potential, but they had to have the right kind of folks in there. Okay. And so, even those Spain’s many-century role in what would be the history of Texas was coming to its nator, they felt like they had to do something.

And you’re listening to Texas State Historian Monte Monroe telling the story of how Texas became an independent nation, and, of course, it began with the Spanish exploration of the Americas, and from there, well, so much more. This story is not just the story of U.S. history and Texas history. In the end, it’s a world geography course as well. When we come back, more of this remarkable story of how Texas became an independent nation. Here on Our American Stories, folks, if you love the stories we tell about this great country, and especially the stories of America’s rich past, know that all of our stories about American history—from war to innovation, culture, and faith—are brought to us by the great folks at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the things that are beautiful in life and all the things that are good in life. And if you can’t get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale.edu to learn more. And we returned to Our American Stories and the story of Texas. When we last left off, Monty Monroe, the Texas State Historian, was telling us about the empresario system, a land-grant policy by the Spanish and then Mexican governments, which brought Americans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston to Texas. This policy would eventually come to haunt the Mexican government as some Americans began to revolt. In response, Mexico would issue a law that would infringe upon the rights of many. This led to Texans attempting to consult with the Mexican government, and the first attempt would fail. Nevertheless, they decided to try again. Let’s return to the story.

At this consultation there were new leaders, and these were leaders that would start to have a prominent role in Texas politics. For instance, one of the new leaders of the Consultation of 1833 was Sam Houston, a name that virtually everybody is familiar with. He was a protégé of Andrew Jackson. He had been former governor of Tennessee in 1827. He had been a U.S. Indian agent living in the so-called Indian Nations in what is today Oklahoma. Among the Cherokee, these guys became vocal, and they had different opinions from Stephen F. Austin. They opposed the authoritarian government that had existed in Spain and Mexico, believing that Mexico, like Spain, was governed by something called the unholy alliance of the Church and Army and the large landowners who tended to dominate. This consultation ultimately sent Stephen F. Austin to Mexico City to present the grievances. Just bypassed the authorities in San Antonio, and by January 1833, Santa Anna was elected the new president, and initially he embraced federalist principles, and so everything seemed fine. He immediately retired. He went to his home. He installed one of the preeminent liberal federalists, Valentín Gómez Farías, as the interim president, and Gómez actually worked to weaken the power and privileges of the Unholy Alliance. Even Santa Anna met with Austin, agreed to revoke the Law of April 6, 1830, but refused to separate Texas and Coahuila, you know, fearing that if you separate those Texans out there, they’re going to drift toward the United States. Well, prior to this breakthrough, Austin had become frustrated down in Mexico. He couldn’t seem to get answers to his questions, and he sent a letter back to the Texans telling them to prepare to seek independence on their own. Well, that letter would ultimately haunt him, because by May 1834, Santa Anna came out of his self-imposed retirement. He returned to power not as a federalist but as a conservative centralist supporter of the Church in the Military, and he removed Gómez from office, and Austin’s letter was intercepted; Santa Anna had him arrested for treason. He was imprisoned for a year. Following his return to power as a centralist, Santa Anna called for new congressional elections that brought a centralist conservative majority into the National Congress. He replaced the Constitution of 1824 with something called the Siete Leyes, or the Seven Laws, which dissolved the state legislatures and replaced them with military departments led by presidential appointees. Of what do you have a military dictatorship that is going to be ruling Texas. Coahuila and Texas State Legislature rejected these centralist orders, but Texans were divided over this call for independence at first. But Austin was released from prison; he made his way back to Texas. When he got there, he threw his support behind the War Party. He’s had enough. This former person who was willing to work to achieve the status quo and work within the Mexican government now no longer saw that well. Santa Anna and his brother-in-law, Martín Perfecto de Cos, to Texas as the new Commandant General under these Siete Leyes. General Cos arrived on the Gulf of Mexico. He marched in from the bay to Goliad. He reinforced the garrison there, then he headed toward San Antonio, and that leads us to what we call, generally in Texas history, the first phase of the Texas Revolution. In September, the commander of the San Antonio garrison dispatches up troops to Gonzales to retrieve a cannon that had been given to