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In the nineteenth century, the area known as Texas went through many changes in both control and population demographics.
Spain continued to govern Texas during the years from 1800-1820. By 1803, the Spanish government was very concerned with border issues between
Spanish Texas and Louisiana; Louisiana was now part of the United States. The Neutral Ground Agreement of 1806 designated the Sabine River and
Arroyo Hondo as borders between Texas and Louisiana. The boundary issue was finally resolved with the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819. The Spanish
were troubled by the possibility of Anglo American intruders creating political discord and participating in illicit trade in their land. The
struggle for Mexican independence proved to be the greatest of Spanish problems in maintaining control of Spanish Texas. The Spanish period ends
when Mexico was finally successful in its fight for independence.
Between the years of 1821 through 1836, Texas was under Mexican rule. The Mexican populations during these years are referred to as Tejano.
The word Tejano is defined in the Handbook of Texas Online as “a Texan of Mexican descent, thus a Mexican Texan or a Texas Mexican.”
Two main elements defined Tejano life and culture during this period of time. First, “[a]ll Tejanos shared a military background which developed
into a strong sense of mission to defend Mexico's northern frontera” (Tejano Origins in Mexican Texas), and secondly, by the distinct racial mixture
that set Tejano people apart from the Anglo American colonists who arrived in 1821. In 1821 there were three distinct and separate Tejano settlements:
the Nacogdoches region, the Béxar-Goliad region and the Río Grande ranching frontier.
Political unrest and the United States' desire to annex Texas led to the confrontations and battles that resulted in, first, Texas' independence from
Mexico and then the United States' annexation of Texas.
1821 marks the official beginning of Anglo colonization of Mexican Texas. Moses Austin was granted the first empresario contract to bring 300 settlers
to Spanish Texas less than a year before Mexico won its battle for independence. Moses Austin's son, Stephen F. Austin, took over the empresario
grant after his father's death. Stephen F. Austin helped many more settlers make their home in Texas and became the founder of Anglo American Texas.
The nineteenth century was a period of great change. Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836 and became the Republic of Texas (1836-1846).
In 1846 Texas was annexed by the United States and became the 28th state. Along with other southern states, Texas seceded from the Union and became a
member of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War (1861-1865). “For nine years following the Civil War, Texas was in turmoil, as its
people attempted to solve political, social, and economic problems produced by the war” ('Reconstruction', the Handbook of Texas Online).
Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1870. The nineteenth century brought many advances in technology, agriculture and transportation to Texas,
increasing its population from many diverse cultures.
The arrival of Anglo Americans in 1821 brought additional African Americans to what was Mexican Texas. In addition to increasing the African American
population in Mexican Texas, the Anglo colonists reinforced the institution of slavery. Because the Mexican government tolerated slavery, due to the
necessity the new Anglo colonists placed on the institution as essential to provide the labor needed to continue their agricultural endeavors,
the institution of slavery grew slowly until the Texas revolution in 1836. When Texas won its independence, the institution of slavery grew rapidly
in size and strength until the close of the Civil War. On June 19, 1865 African Americans were finally awarded their freedom. “The Reconstruction era
presented black Texans another challenge. Many had to rebuild their lives, locate lost family members, and begin to live their lives as self-sufficient,
free men and women” ('African Americans,' the Handbook of Texas Online). The end of Reconstruction brought many obstacles for African American Texans and
they lost ground on many of the civil rights they gained during the Reconstruction era.
The steady encroachment of Anglo American settlers on Native American land and clashes among various Native American populations, and amongst Native
populations and frontiersmen and women, prompted the Texas government to establish separate Indian lands or reservations.
During the Mexican period in Texas, the government decided to award land titles to “civilized tribes.” Despite the intentions to award land to Native
American people, not all groups were treated equally. Various Native American groups were offered hollow promises that fed hostilities between the Native
populations and Mexican and Anglo American settlers. Mexico offered little assistance in the protection of Anglo frontiersmen and women from hostile Indians.
Indian relations during the Mexican periods and the Republic period in Texas involved aggressive pursuit of peace treaties and trade agreements by the Anglo
American residents of Texas. With the annexation of Texas, sentiments shifted from granting Native American populations land within Texas to moving them out
of Texas and into Indian Territory. The Civil War hurt Indian-Anglo relations and many Native people rebelled against returning to reservations. Following
the Civil War, Native Americans were once again living on reservations in Indian Territory.
“Federal Indian policy during the period from 1870 to 1900 marked a departure from earlier policies that were dominated by removal, treaties, reservations,
and even war. The new policy focused specifically on breaking up reservations by granting land allotments to individual Native Americans. Very sincere individuals
reasoned that if a person adopted white clothing and ways, and was responsible for his own farm, he would gradually drop his Indianess and be assimilated into the
population. Then there would be no more necessity for the government to oversee Indian welfare in the paternalistic way it had been obligated to do, or provide
meager annuities that seemed to keep the Indian in a subservient and poverty stricken position.” (NARA, Digital Classroom: Maps of Indian Territory, the Dawes
Act, and Will Rogers' Enrollment Case File).
- 1810 Miguel Hidalgo, a Mexican Priest, begins a movement that ultimately leads to Mexico's independence form Spain.
- 1810 Juan Bautista de las Casas led an insurrection in San Antonio; initially successful
- 1811 Loyalists regain power in San Antonio
- 1812 Gutiérrez and Magee capture Nacogdoches, La Bahía and San Antonio
- 1813 Battle of Medina; final seven years of Spanish control over Texas
- 1821 The Spanish Government grants Moses Austin permission to bring 300 Anglo American colonists to settle in Spanish Texas;
Mexico wins their fight for independence; Texas is under the Mexican control
- 1823 Austin led an expedition against the Karankawas. They reached an agreement that they would not move east of the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers
- 1824 Shawnee Indians were awarded one square mile of land for each warrior;
Treaty with the Tonkawas, Karankawas, Wacos, and Tawakonis
- 1826 Fredonia Rebellion
- 1832 Battle of Nacogdoches
- 1833 Santa Anna establishes a dictatorship in Mexico
- 1835 Siege of Béxar, first major campaign of the Texas Revolution;
Goliad Declaration of Independence;
Texas Rangers formally organized
- 1836 Texas Declaration of Independence is adopted at Washington-on-the-Brazos;
The Battle of the Alamo; Texas wins its independence from Mexico;
Goliad Massacre;
The Battle of San Jacinto;
Treaties of Velasco;
Sam Houston elected President;
Treaty with the Cherokee sought to provide peace;
The northern Comanches and their Kiowa allies raided Fort Parker, Cynthia Ann Parker and others taken captive
- 1837 Treaty with the Tonkawas at Bexar
- 1838 Treaty with the Lipan Apaches at Live Oak Point;
Treaty with the Tonkawas at Houston;
Treaty with the Comanches at Houston;
Treaties with the Kichais, Tawakonis, Wacos, and Taovayas near the mouth of the Washita at Shawnee Village in what is now Fannin County
- 1838 Córdova Rebellion
- 1839 Cherokee Indians driven from Texas
- 1842 Mexican Invasions of Texas
- 1843 Tehuahana Creek Councils - Permanent Treaty the Delawares, Chickasaws, Wacos, Tawakonis, Kichais, Anadarkos, Hainais, Biloxis, and Cherokees, participating
- 1845 Treaty with the Comanche;
Treaty with the Wichitas
- 1845 United States annexes Texas
- 1846 Beginning of Mexican war
- 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican War
- 1850 First Railroad begins operation in Texas;
Texas Compromise of 1850 signed
- 1852 The state decided to provide land for two reservations
- 1854 Bill passed to allocate twelve leagues of land for Indian reservations;
Randolph B. Marcy, in conjunction with Indian agent Robert S. Neighbors, began to locate and survey land for the Indian reservations in unsettled territory;
Alabama and Coushatta Indians were allotted land in Polk Texas
- 1856 Most Indians from eastern Texas were relocated to reservations
- 1859 Announced that reserve Indians would be moved out of Texas and into Indian Territory
- 1861 The Secession Convention approves an ordinance removing Texas from the Union;
Texas is accepted as a state by the provisional government of the Confederate States of America;
Sam Houston resigns as governor in protest against secession;
The Beginning of the Civil War
- 1865 The End of the Civil War;
The Battle of Palmito Ranch;
Slavery is abolished;
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen's Bureau) begins operating in Texas
- 1866 Eleventh Legislature of Texas creates the Black Codes
- 1867 Black Codes eliminated;
Black men registered to vote
- 1868-1900 Forty-three African Americans served in the state legislature
- 1869 Texas approves a new State Constitution
- 1876 The present State Constitution is adopted
- 1887 Dawes Act Passed
The Portal to Texas History
Neutral Ground in The Handbook of Texas
Adam-Onís Treaty in The Handbook of Texas
Gutiérrez and Magee Expedition in The Handbook of Texas
Battle of Medina in The Handbook of Texas
Moses Austin in The Handbook of Texas
Tejanos Origins
Tejano in The Handbook of Texas
Mexican Government of Texas in The Handbook of Texas
Nacogdoches, Texas in The Handbook of Texas
Goliad, Texas in The Handbook of Texas
Brazos Bend State Park
The Republic of Texas, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
Early Statehood, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
The Texas Constitution of 1836, Texas State Library and Archives Commission
History of Texas Public Lands, Texas General Land Office
Slavery, Texas State Library and Archives
African Americans in The Handbook of Texas
Slavery in The Handbook of Texas
Civil War in The Handbook of Texas
Buffalo Soldiers in The Handbook of Texas
Black Seminole Indians in The Handbook of Texas
Juneteenth in The Handbook of Texas
Freedmen's Bureau in The Handbook of Texas
Black Codes in The Handbook of Texas
Black Cowboys in The Handbook of Texas
Indian Reservations in The Handbook of Texas
Indian Relations in The Handbook of Texas
Fredonia Rebellion in The Handbook of Texas
Cynthia Ann Parker in The Handbook of Texas
Córdova Rebellion in The Handbook of Texas
Caddo Indians in The Handbook of Texas
Apaches in The Handbook of Texas
Jumanos in The Handbook of Texas
Tonkawas in The Handbook of Texas
Coahuiltecans in The Handbook of Texas
Atakapans in The Handbook of Texas
Patarabueyes in The Handbook of Texas
Karankawas in The Handbook of Texas
NARA, Digital Classroom, Lesson Plan: Maps of Indian Territory, the Dawes Act, and Will Rogers' Enrollment Case File
PBS, Perspectives on the West, Map of Indian Territory
Civil War Currency Specimens
Texas History Timeline
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