The Republic of Texas and the Mexican-American War
TEXAS: A STATE of MIND
The history of Texas is among the most colorful histories of all American states and territories. With its diverse population of Mexican, Mexican-American, Native American and Anglo-Saxon inhabitants, its culture is rich and varied. Spain first arrived in Mexico in 1519, and Nueva Mexico was part the vast territory known as New Spain. Spanish rule in Central and South America was very different from that of British rule in North America. Where the British saw each colony as a separate political entity to be governed more or less independently, Spain tended to govern its entire empire from the center. That tradition was passed on to the Mexican government once the Mexican revolution against Spain was complete, and virtually all of Mexico was governed from Mexico City. The individual provinces of Mexico, which included the province of Coahuila, of which Tejas—Texas—was a part, had very little self-determination. That situation was challenged by the arrival of an immigrant American population who came to obtain land grants being generously offered by the Mexican government.
Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Americans began to look hungrily at the land just across their southwest border, and the Mexican government, following the lead of Spanish authorities, granted colonization rights to the American Moses Austin in hopes of creating a buffer territory against unilateral encroachment by the land-hungry Americans. The Mexican government, in other words, decided to fight fire with fire. By allowing a limited number of American immigrants into Mexico under certain restrictions, they could prevent land hungry Americans from simply seizing the territory.
Moses Austin died before his colonization project became a reality, but the mission was taken over by his son, Stephen F. Austin. In 1821, with permission from the Mexican government, Stephen Austin brought 300 families across Sabine River to the region along the Brazos River, where the first American colony in Texas was established. In exchange for generous land grants, the Mexican government attached certain conditions to those grants as part of its plan to use Texas as a buffer. Each settler had to agree to become a Mexican citizen, to adopt the Roman Catholic religion, and to give up the practice of slavery.
Since the Texas colony was governed very loosely, much as the American colonies had been only loosely controlled by Great Britain during the century and a half before the American Revolution, the Mexican government turned a blind eye to violations of the agreements. The status of Mexican citizenship changed very little in terms of the loyalties of the American settlers; they were Americans first, Mexicans second. And so far as the Catholic religion was concerned, there were no Catholic priests in the province, and therefore attendance at confession and mass could not be demanded nor controlled in any way. As to slavery, the Mexican government was willing to accept a compromise in authorizing the practice of lifetime indentured servitude. The difference between that status and slavery was, of course, only technical, but it satisfied both sides. The Texans were also obliged to pay taxes to the Mexican government, but there were also no tax collectors in the Texas province, so that point was also moot.
In other words, the situation of the Americans in Texas was similar to that of the American colonists on the east coast of North America in 1760. They were treated with benign neglect, and the Texans possessed a de facto sense of self rule if not outright independence. The men and women who came to Texas tended to be a rough and ready lot. Many who emigrated were of Scots-Irish descent from the Shenandoah and other regions west of the Appalachians. Adventurous American women learned that if they came to Mexico and married a Mexican citizen they could gain very generous land grants and have significant rights to the titles. Thus a complex society emerged, a mixture of Mexican and American along with Comanche, Apache, Kiowa and other Indian tribes on the edges of the Texas colony. They developed a small but robust society.
President John Quincy Adams tried in 1825 to purchase Texas from Mexico, without success. Henry Clay also worked on the issue, and President Jackson continued negotiations with Mexico in 1829. Jackson’s minister, Anthony Butler, tried to bribe the Mexican government. Jackson called Butler a “scamp” but left him there. Mexico was insulted, and the negotiations went nowhere.
Stephen F. Austin: A True Statesman
Under Stephen Austin the community thrived. Austin spoke fluent Spanish, played by the rules, and developed good relations with the central government in Mexico City. He insisted that the Americans who came to Mexico understand and abide by the rules under which they were granted land. Between 1824 and 1835 the Texas population grew from 2,000 to 35,000 settlers. Some of the immigrants were renegades, “one step ahead of the sheriff.” Some were men like Jim Bowie, a fighter and gambler whose brother invented the Bowie knife, and others who fled the U.S. because of various legal difficulties, both major and minor. The Mexican government eventually came to consider them “a horde of infamous bandits.”
Texas was, however, subject to the political affairs of greater Mexico. Mexico had adopted a constitution in 1824 under which the Texans believed that their rights were more or less assured. And as long as they were left alone, they were free to create a society according to their own designs. When revolution began in Mexico, however, things began to change for the Texans. In 1830 the Mexican government reversed itself and prohibited further immigration into Texas. Mexican dictator Antônio Lopez de Santa Anna, somewhat after the fashion of his counterpart, King George III, decided that it was time to make the Texans toe the line. What happened in Texas is typical of situations in which people get used to doing things their own way and are suddenly forced to obey the dictates of others. The Texans rebelled.
As mentioned above, Texas was something of a refuge for Americans who had reason to leave home. One such emigrant was Sam Houston, a colorful figure whom some historians believe was the most significant figure in American history between 1840 and 1860. A colleague of Andrew Jackson who had fought with the general during the War of 1812 Houston was elected governor of Tennessee in 1828. He married a woman of a prominent Tennessee family and it ended quickly and badly; details have remained murky. In any case, Houston gave up his governorship and left Tennessee and for a time dwelt among the Cherokee Indians who adopted him as a son. He was known as “the Raven” because of his jet black hair.
Houston eventually made his way to Texas, where he overcame drinking problems and attempted to rise above his overly colorful past. (He once bet a friend on New Year’s Day that he could quit drinking for a year, and he almost made it to February.) The rebellious Texans formed an army and named Houston to lead it because of his military background. They also created the rudiments of a national government, using the American Declaration of independence and Constitution as models, although they also had their own peculiar issues.
The Texans’ task was as difficult as that of the patriots on 1776, and their resources were, if anything, ever scarcer. But they were willing to fight, and after a few brief skirmishes, Mexican dictator Santa Anna personally led an army of several thousand well trained troops into Texas to put down the insurrection. The Texas army, which never numbered more than 700 and had little experience in war, faced a daunting task. Santa Anna, however, unwittingly aided the Texan cause by branding the revolutionaries as outlaws and criminals and treating them as such. While the Texans were deciding on their Declaration of Independence and considering the political future of Texas, Santa Anna was slaughtering Texans and giving them no quarter.
The most famous clash took place at an old Spanish mission at San Antonio de Bexar known as the Alamo early in 1836, the last year of the administration of Andrew Jackson, who was a close friend of Sam Houston. At the Alamo fewer than 200 Texans under Colonel William Travis held off thousands of Mexicans for 12 days. All died, including Travis, Jim Bowie, and former Congressman Davy Crockett. Santa Anna then had their bodies burned rather than giving them a Christian burial. Weeks later, at Goliad 400 Texans surrendered to Santa Anna, and 300 were murdered. The Texans’ war cry became “Remember the Alamo!” and “Remember Goliad!”
In the recent film, The Alamo, with Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton, a lot of verbal sparring preceded and followed the standoff at the Alamo itself. Some critics would have preferred to see less talk and more action, but the political machinations going on off the battlefield were in many ways just as important as what happened at the Alamo, if not more so. The situation between Texas and Mexico was in certain respects more complex than that of the American colonies; for the inhabitants of Texas, the Americans, had voluntarily sworn allegiance to Mexico, and actually had moved into Mexican territory to make their homes.
Santa Anna’s overconfidence and arrogance led him to carelessness, and Sam Houston, who had been sharply criticized for failing to go to the relief of the Alamo or to attack the Mexican Army, bided his time, waited for the opportunity, and when it came, he struck with startling swiftness. He caught up with Santa Anna on the San Jacinto River, near the present-day city of Houston, found the Mexicans unprepared, and the Texans swept over the Mexican army and won a stunning victory in 18 minutes, suffering few casualties themselves.
Santa Anna was captured, and though there were many who wanted to execute him on the spot for what they saw as his crimes against prisoners at Goliad, Houston instead forced Santa Anna under considerable duress to grant Texas independence. Although Santa Anna later rescinded his agreement unilaterally, the genie could not be put back into the bottle, and Texas remained free.
At that juncture the future of Texas turned on the issue of whether or not Texas would be annexed to the United States. Given America’s propensity to gather up land wherever it was available, the outcome seemed to a certain extent foreordained. But Presidents Jackson, Van Buren and Tyler wanted to avoid war with Mexico, and it was likely that if Texas were annexed, that would be the result. The issue of slavery in Texas was also an issue. Nevertheless Texas pursued her goal of annexation, actually using a veiled threat to perhaps join Great Britain or France if the United States continued to spurn her approaches, and finally, when James K. Polk won the 1844 election on an expansionist platform, Texas was annexed in 1845 as the last significant act done by outgoing President John Tyler.
The lone Star Republic lasted ten years and gained a further identity, so that when Texas finally did join the union they came in with a history of their own, and Texans have held that history in high regard ever since. The Alamo remains a Texas shrine, as does the San Jacinto battlefield. The capital is named for Stephen Austin, the largest city for Sam Houston, and other places in Texas also recall the names of heroes of the Texas Revolution. As feared, the annexation of next Texas led more or less directly to war with Mexico in 1846.
Sam Houston’s colorful career would continue through the beginning of the Civil War. He served as governor of two states, Tennessee and Texas, as President of the Republic of Texas, which remained independent for about ten years, and at one point during his interesting life he served as Cherokee Indian ambassador to the United States. His political career finally came to an end when as governor of Texas he refused to support secession and was ousted from office and burned in effigy in 1863. Nevertheless he remains an American and Texan hero.
Manifest Destiny and Mexico
Having rejected the annexation of Texas in the 1830s, the United States stood by as the Republic of Texas sought to create favorable foreign relations on their own. Texas signed treaties with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Great Britain and was able to secure loans for commercial development. Mexico continued to threaten the lone Star Republic, and in 1843 President Santa Anna declared that any act to annexed Texas to the United States would be considered an “equivalent to a declaration of war against the Mexican Republic.” Despite its good relations and favorable treatment from Great Britain Houston still desired annexation but only on the condition that the United States would provide military protection in case of a Mexican attack. President Tyler submitted and at annexation Treaty to the Senate but it was rejected, but President Tyler kept his promise to provide protection and sent ships to the Gulf of Mexico in troops to the Texas border.
Congressmen John Quincy Adams, by now an open advocate of the abolition of slavery, and others maintained that no one had the power to annex a foreign nation to the United States. The issue was slavery—a free Texas would hem in slavery in the South and prevent expansion to territories west of Texas; a slave Texas would expand the scope of slavery enormously because of the size of the state. There was even talk of dividing it into several slave states. Great Britain was interested in Texas and was considering an offer to buy out all the slaves in exchange for other concessions.
The 1844 Election. The presidential campaign of 1844 turned on the issue of expansion, both in Texas and in the Oregon territory. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay for president and the Democrats James K. Polk of Tennessee along with George M. Dallas of Pennsylvania as the vice presidential candidate. A third party, the Liberty Party, whose chief issue was anti-slavery, nominated James Birney. Henry Clay took a stance against the annexation of Texas and his anti-expansion position cost him the election, although it was very close. In fact, the outcome in the electoral college turned on the results in New York State, where Birney took enough votes away from Clay to throw the election to James K. Polk, “Young Hickory.”
With the election results clearly favoring the annexation of Texas, President Tyler recommended that Texas be annexed to the United States by a joint resolution of Congress. He cited the lectern results as one reason and possible intervention by Great Britain as justification. The joint resolution was used to get around the necessity of a two thirds vote in the Senate required for ratification, a ploy which was later used in other similar cases. The resolution was eventually passed and provided that Texas might be divided into as many as five additional states and that Texas would immediately become a state, bypassing territorial status.
The phrase “manifest destiny” appeared during a time when the annexation of Texas was still fresh and the Oregon boundary dispute was still undecided. The phrase meant in a sense that it was the destiny of the United States to eventually occupy all of the North American continent from the Isthmus of Panama to the Arctic Circle.
President Polk and Mexico. When Congress passed a joint resolution for the annexation of Texas Mexico sever diplomatic relations with the United States furthermore, Mexico claimed the legitimate boundary between Texas and Mexico was the Nueces River, north of the Rio Grande. In May 1845 President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor, commander of United States forces in the Southwest, to move his troops into Texas and position himself “on or near the Rio Grande River.” Initially General Taylor positioned himself just south of the Nueces River near Corpus Christi, but in early 1846 he built Fort Texas near Matamoros and blockaded the Rio Grande.
Meanwhile president Polk, who had as a goal of his administration the acquisition of California, sent John Slidell on a secret mission to Mexico with an offer to purchase California and New Mexico. Polk was prepared to offer between 50 and $40 million for the territory. Although the Mexican government had initially agreed to meet with Slidell, when they found out that his mission was not only about the Texas boundary but also about the western territories, the Mexican government refused to receive him.
By April 1846 a Mexican force had positioned itself opposite Taylor's troops on the Rio Grande. The Mexican general sent a cavalry force across the Rio Grande above Matamoros, which precipitated a clash with American troops, resulting in 11 American deaths. President Polk then sent a message to Congress, citing “the readiness of this Government to regulate and adjust our boundary … on … fair and equitable principles” with Mexico. After reviewing the events leading to the crisis, including the rejection of the Slidell mission, he stated:
Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are now at war.
Abolitionists claimed that Polk’s provocative action in sending Taylor to the Rio Grande was itself an act of war, and an antiwar movement grew. Henry Thoreau’s wrote an essay on “Civil Disobedience” and refused to pay his taxes, Congressman John Quincy Adams opposed the war in the House of representatives, and Whig Congressman Abraham Lincoln introduced his “Spot Resolutions,” demanding that the president reveal the exact spot on which blood had been shed, meaning on Mexican or American soil. This very unpopular war became known as “Mr. Polk’s War” primarily because of the fear of the extension of slavery. The vote for war was 174-14 (House) and 40-2 (Senate), but sentiment against the war soon developed.
The Wilmot Proviso
As soon as the United States declared war against Mexico in 1846, antislavery groups wanted to make sure that slavery would not expand in the case of an American victory. Congressman David Wilmot opened the debate by introducing a bill in Congress, the “Wilmot Proviso,” that would have banned all African-Americans, slave or free, from whatever land the United States took from Mexico, thus preserving the area for white small farmers. It passed the House, but failed in the Senate where John C. Calhoun argued that Congress had no right to bar slavery from any territory. Others tried to find compromise ground between Wilmot and Calhoun. Polk suggested extending the 36-30 line of the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific coast. In 1848 Lewis Cass proposed to settle the issue by “popular sovereignty”—organizing the territories without mention of slavery and letting local settlers decide whether theirs would be a free or slave territory. It seemed a democratic way to solve the problem and it got Congress off the hook. This blend of racism and antislavery won great support in the North, but although it was debated frequently, it never passed. The battle over the Proviso foreshadowed an even more urgent controversy once the peace treaty with Mexico was signed. It would be debated again in the years ahead.
President Polk had additional political problems with the war, not the least of which was the fact that both senior generals—Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott—were Whigs, and the nation had already shown a propensity to raise successful generals to high office. But the demands of war outweighed the political issue and both generals led American troops in the conflict.
General Taylor’s Campaigns. General Zachary Taylor, known as “Old Rough and Ready,” moved to relieve the besieged Americans at Fort Texas, and along the way he fought two successful battles against numerically superior Mexican forces at Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, then crossed the Rio Grande and waited while he trained volunteers who had recently joined his army.
With his army increased by several thousand volunteers, Taylor moved up the Rio Grande and established a base for a march on the city of Monterey. The city was well fortified, but Taylor divided his army and attacked it from two directions. Fighting within the city was heavy, but during a four day-siege the enemy retreated into a fortress called the Citadel and eventually surrendered. Although Taylor had been successful since the beginning of his campaign, he was still a long way from Mexico City, so president Polk ordered General Winfield Scott to proceed with an expedition against Veracruz.
Several thousand of Taylor's troops were transferred to Scott's command just as Santa Anna brought a large army north with the intention of driving Taylor out of Mexico. Taylor withdrew to a strong defensive position near Buena Vista with his force of less than 5,000 men, awaiting the attack of Santa Anna's 15,000 soldiers. Santa Anna ordered an unconditional surrender, but Taylor refused and defeated Santa Anna's forces and ended the war in northern Mexico. Santa Anna withdrew to Mexico City and Taylor's forces remained essentially idle for the rest of the war.
General Scott’s Vera Cruz Campaign. In February 1847 General Scott landed his force of about 10,000 men at a position south of Vera Cruz in a landing that was essentially unopposed. Assisted by naval batteries that shelled the city, Scott’s army achieved the surrender of Vera Cruz with only light American losses. On April 8 Scott set off along the National Road toward Mexico City. Santa Anna had assembled a force of about 13,000 to block Scott’s advance, but using the skillful reconnaissance information gained by Captains Robert E. Lee and George B. McClellan, Scott flanked the Mexican force and routed Santa Anna. By 15 May Scott was 80 miles from Mexico City, where he paused awaiting fresh troops. Once reinforced, Scott continued his well-organized advance and defeated the Mexican army once more at the battles of Contreras and Churubusco, driving to within 5 miles of the capital.
President Polk, meanwhile, had sent representative Nicholas Trist, the chief clerk of the State Department, to accompany Scott’s army with authorization to negotiate peace terms with the Mexican government. Scott was not especially welcoming to Trist, feeling that as commander on the ground, he himself was responsible for negotiations. Nevertheless, after some negotiation, Trist was allowed by Scott to negotiate an armistice with the Mexican government. When the offer was rejected, Scott proceeded to march on the capital.
In their final assault on Mexico City Scott’s soldiers and Marines attacked the fortress of Chapultepec and eventually scaled the rocky walls and arrived at the summit. The Americans moved into the city, raised their flag over the National Palace, and a battalion of Marines occupied the “Halls of Montezuma.”
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Following the occupation of Mexico City Santa Anna retreated to the suburb of Guadalupe Hidalgo and stepped down from the presidency. An interim government notified Nicholas Trist that it was prepared to negotiate a peace settlement, and although Trist had received orders for his recall from President Polk, he took Scott's advice and decided that since he was on the spot, he would go ahead and negotiate a settlement. Although Trist was acting in an unauthorized position, he nevertheless settled on excellent terms. Mexico gave up all claims to Texas above the Rio Grande and ceded New Mexico and California, which included parts of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming to the United States. The United States agreed to pay $15 million to the Mexican government and assume over $3 million of American citizens’ claims against Mexico. The Rio Grande was settled as the boundary of Texas and then westward to the Pacific.
Although Polk was reluctant to submit the treaty to the Senate, he wanted to avoid what was becoming known as the “all Mexico” movement, the feeling many had that the United States should take over the entire Mexican nation. Amendments to that effect were never passed, and the Senate finally ratified the treaty by a vote of 38 to 14. The Mexican war was over. The territory which eventually comprised the lower 48 states of the United States was complete except for a small strip along the southern border of New Mexico and Arizona, which was purchased on behalf of the United States by James Gadsden in 1853. The area was considered a favorable route for a transcontinental railroad from New Orleans to Southern California.
Victory in Mexico: The Superiority of American Arms.
The Regular Army numbered only about 5,000 at the outbreak—one fourth the size of the Mexican Army. American volunteers from the West were a raunchy crew—ill disciplined and dirty—but they fought well. Mexico was also poorly prepared., and their artillery was so outdated that American soldiers were able to dodge Mexican cannon balls.
The war was also a training ground for future Civil War generals: U.S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, William T. Sherman, George G. Meade, George B. McClellan, Thomas J. Jackson, James Longstreet, Braxton Bragg, Joseph Johnston, and many others got their first taste of war. Note: Friendships formed and knowledge of the compatriots’ military skills played a part in the Civil War, 1861-1865.
Winfield Scott’s Campaign against the Mexican capital was one of the most brilliant in American history. He avoided direct assaults and used engineers and reconnaissance to flank defended positions. At the outset of the campaign, the Duke of Wellington made a dire prediction: “Scott is lost.” For once the Iron Duke was wrong.
Controversy over the Mexican-American War did not subside with the cessation of hostilities. Many claimed that the treaty was forced on Mexico and that $15 was a small price to pay for half a million square miles. By contrast U.S. later paid Texas $10 million for eastern New Mexico. On the other hand, the U.S. could have taken any or all of Mexico without payment, but chose not to. Among those who criticized the war was Captain Ulysses Grant, who saw the was as a political move, though he acknowledge that war and politics often went hand in hand.
The California Campaigns. While generals Taylor and Scott were busy in Mexico the situation in California was one of confusion. Americans had begun to settle in California in the 1840s, and though the population remained heavily Mexican and Native American. In that age of faulty communication an American naval officer landed a force in Monterey in 1842 and raised the American flag. President Tyler disowned the action and apologized to the Mexican government.
In 1846 Captain John C. Frémont led an expedition into Northern California had found himself in the midst of a controversy involving Mexican authorities in California that stemmed from the Revolution in Mexico. American settlers in California attacked a Mexican detachment and proclaimed the “Bear Flag Republic,” declaring the American settlements in California to be independent. Frémont joined himself to the rebellion, and the rebels were soon joined by a force under Navy Commodore John D. Sloat who raised the flag over Monterey and proclaimed that California was part of the United States.
Mexican citizens rebelled against the American authorities, and Americans were driven out of Southern California. Meanwhile an expedition led by Colonel Steven W. Kearny left Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, marched to New Mexico, where he proclaimed the region to be part of the United States, and proceeded on to California. Once in California Kearny joined forces with Commodore Robert Stockton, who had replaced the ailing Commodore Sloat. The combined American units soon defeated the remaining Mexican forces in California.
When the fighting ceased a complicated quarrel Iraq did among Kearny, Frémont and Stockton over the establishment of a government. Frémont was eventually court-martialed for failing to obey the orders of Colonel Kearny and found guilty, but president Polk ordered him restored to duty. Frémont resigned from the Army and his case was taken up by his father-in-law Senator Thomas Hart Benton. Frémont's career was far from over.
The victory settlement made California part of the United States, and the discovery of gold in Sutter's mill in 1848 would soon lead to the well-known gold rush, which by 1850 would make California ready for statehood. The final treaty signed between Frémont and the Mexican leaders granted generous terms to all Mexican living in California.
Legacy of the Conflict. The cost of the Mexican-American War to the American government was $100 million. In the course of the fighting 1721 were killed in action, 4102 were wounded in action, and 11,500 died of disease. The Mexican session brought in over 500,000 square miles of land, and with Texas well over one million square miles. The idea of “manifest destiny” was partially realized, and the military victories brought the two Whig generals into public favor, both of whom ran for president. Zachary Taylor was elected in 1848, and Winfield Scott was defeated by Franklin Pierce in 1852. Scott was the last Whig to run for high public office as the party disintegrated and was soon replaced by the Republicans.