Texas
Storyboard Text
- I dream of starting a US colony is Texas.
- We grant you land!
- It starts with a man named Moses Austin who dreamed of starting a US Colony in Spanish Texas.
- I dream to start a US Colony in Texas!
- We gift you land!
- Stephen arrived in Texas as soon as Mexico declared its independence from Spain and took control of Texas.
- Austin's success sent a rush of settlers to Texas. By 1830, twenty-five thousand Americans lived in Texas compared to the four thousand Tejanos, but tensions between them soon began.
- In 1812, Spanish officials gave Austin a huge piece of land. But, Moses Austin sadly died that year, so his son, Stephen, took over his father's dream.
- Americans in Texas resented the action that the Mexicano government took. A group led by William Travis began to call for a revolution.
- Mexican officials let Austin start his colony under certain conditions such as making sure that he selected only hard working and moral settlers. The settles also had to promise to become Mexican citizens and to join the Catholic Church. Austin agreed and by 1827 he had attracted 297 families to Texas.
- In late February 1836, a large part of Santa Anna's army got to San Antonio. dom fighter. The Alamo's watched as General Santa Anna raised a black flag, meaning no mercy.
- The Americans complained about taking orders from Mexicans, that documents were in Spanish, and that Mexicans outlawed slavery in 1829. The Tejanos complained that American settlers had come to Texas without their permission and showed little respect to their culture. The Mexicano government resolved their issue by closing Texas off to US immigrants.
- For 12 days, the Mexicans fought the Alamo, until March 6, when the General ordered his troops to storm the fort.
- But, another group led by Austin asked the Mexican government to reopen Texas to immigration and to make it a separate Mexicano state. In 1833, Austin went to Mexico and presented the Texans' demand to the new head of the Mexican government, General Santa Anna. The power-hungry dictator had Austin arrested and jailed for promoting rebellion. When Austin was released in 1835, Texas began to revolt. Determined to crush the rebels, Santa Anna marched north with 6,000 troops.
- Only about 180 Texan volunteers, with 8 Tejanos, defended the town. The Texans had taken over an old mission, the Alamo. With them was Davy Crockett, the famous frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee. With William Travis, was James Bowie, a well-known Texas freedom fighter. The Alamo's watched as General Santa Anna raised a black flag, meaning no mercy. The General demanded the Texans surrender, but Travis answered with a cannon shot. Slowly, the army surrounded the Alamo. The Texans were outnumbered, but only one man fled. Meanwhile, Travis sent messengers to other places in Texas to ask for reinforcements. But, no one came.
- For 90 minutes, the battle was raging, and then it was over. By the end of the day, every one of the Alamo's defenders was dead, and those who had survived the battle were executed on the spot by the General. However, his decision to kill every man at the Alamo enraged the Texans.
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