Transcript First Two Presidents of the Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas
Review
Carrie Hunnicutt
2010 – 2011
We won, but now what?
• After gaining independence, Texans faced
the challenge of building a new nation.
The first election had the following results.
President Sam
Houston
Vice President
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Poor Sam
• When Sam Houston became president, the
debt was $1.25 million from the revolutionary
war effort
• At the end of his first term as president, the
debt for Texas was $2 million
• Congress took steps to raise money and
placed a tariff, or tax, on various
goods
– These taxes were difficult to collect
Houston’s Policies
• Houston tried to cut government
expenses by cutting back on the military
• Sam also supported peaceful
negotiations with the Native
Americans
• Houston tried to convince the
United States to annex Texas (to
make Texas as state within the
United States
What about the Indians?
• Indians resented the
newcomers and began a
series of raids that lasted
several years
• President Houston called on
the Texas Rangers to patrol
central Texas
• Lamar was not in favor of
negotiating with the Indians
Texas gets a new President
• Houston could not be reelected as President after
he served two years
because the Constitution
of 1836 forbid him from
doing so
Constitution of 1836
• Texans elected Mirabeau
B. Lamar in 1838
President Mirabeau B. Lamar
Lamar
• Opposed annexation
•
• Moved the capital to
Austin
• Reversed Houston’s
policy toward Native
Americans
– Ordered the Texas Army to
attack the Cherokees and
forced them out of Texas
into Indian Territory
(present-day Oklahoma)
• Rebuilt the Navy
Lamar is known as the
“Father of Education”
in Texas
– Congress set
aside land in each
Texas county for
public schools
– Congress
reserved public
land in central
Texas for 2
universities
Council House Fight
•
Comanche Indians attacked Texas
settlements as they moved further in
to Indian lands. They killed people
and took some captives.
• In 1840, Texans agreed to meet with
Comanche leaders, but after seeing
abused captives, they took the
Natives as hostages.
• Texans and Comanches fought
back and many deaths occurred on
both sides.
• As a result, Comanches distrusted the
Texans, refused to make treaties, and
continued to fight.
Santa Fe Expedition
• Lamar sent an expedition to
Santa Fe, New Mexico with
orders to control the region
and begin trade with New
Mexico
• The Mexican army forced
the Texans to surrender
and marched them 1,000
miles to Mexico City.
– Many died on the way or
died in the Mexican prison
– The few that survived were
eventually released
• This angered the Mexicans
Poor Lamar
• Lamar caused Texas to sink deeper in debt
– Spent $2.5 million on the Indian wars
– Bought several ships for the Navy
– Issued redbacks, but they shrank in value
• Redbacks: Additional money issued to help ease the
large public debt
• A paper dollar in Texas at the end of Lamar’s term was
only worth 15 cents
– Failed in attempts to borrow money from other
nations
– Public debt was now $7 million
Redbacks
Sam Houston is Re-elected
• Sam Houston replaced Lamar
as President
– During a message to Congress,
Houston stated, “there is not a
dollar in the treasury…we are
not only without money, but
without credit.”
– Eliminated several government
positions
– Cut the size of the army
– Tried to sell the navy ships (the
people of Galveston prevented
this from happening)
– Renewed peace with the Indians
Mier Expedition and the Black
Bean Incident
•
Texans chase after the Mexican
army into Mexican territory
• Texans get caught but
escape captivity
• Some Texans die in the desert
on the way back home
• Others are captured and the Mexican
army kills 17 men (one in ten) -- those
who pick a black bean from a jar
Archives War
• Mexican troops attack San
Antonio and threaten other areas
• Sam Houston orders the
government records to be moved
from Austin, the capital city, to a
place near Houston
• Austin residents fear that their city will
stop being the capital and die out if the
records go
• Austinite Angelina Eberly
tries to stop them and alerts
the city by shooting a cannon
• Soon after people recapture the
archives and return them to
Austin
Texas Annexation
• Leaders in the United States
were fearful of a war with
Mexico, but finally agreed to
bring Texas into the United
States in 1846
• Pro-Sam President Anson Jones
ushers in annexation in 1846
Manifest Destiny
• Many Americans believed it was God’s plan and their
destiny (fortune or fate) to conquer the American territory
and spread their civilization and culture
The Mexican-American War
• Both Mexico and the
United States claimed the
area between the Nueces
River and the Rio Grande
(called the Nueces Strip)
• Both countries sent troops
into the Nueces Strip to
patrol the area
• A shootout occurred and
both sides blamed the
other for starting the fight
• The United States, with James K. Polk as President and
Commander-in-Chief, declared war on Mexico
What caused the MexicanAmerican War? Why did the United
States risk a war with Mexico?
• Many people in the United
States wanted to continue to
expand land possessions for
Americans to settle into
• Pro-slavery Southerners, especially,
wanted land for the slave system to
continue making huge profits with
cotton production
• Some Americans, like
Abraham Lincoln, opposed
slavery and the war for that
reason