Chapter 14 Cornell Notes

Section 1A New Constitution • Texas patterned their basic governing document after

the constitutions of other states• Constitution of 1845:

• Governor: 2 year term• Legislature:

• House of Representatives – elected every 2 years

• Senate – elected every 4 years• Supreme Court, district court, country courts

• Amended: change to the constitution• Constitution protected slavery and did not allow

women to vote

Section 1Texas Legislature at Work

First Government Officials

Governor of Texas J. Pickney HendersonUS Senators Sam Houston

Thomas J. RuskUS Representatives David Kaufman

Timothy Pillsbury

Section 1Political Parties • 1850s: Strongest political party was the Democratic

Party because the Democratic Party had favored annexation and was very strong in the South

• Whig Party: The other major party in US – represented business men and commercial interests

• Know-Nothing Party (American Party): popular in 1854-55. Tried to keep new immigrants from voting or holding public office• Known as Know Nothing because when asked

about their organization they would say they know nothing

• Texas Democrats patterned their own party organizations after the American Party, nominating candidates at political meetings called conventions

• No major political party represented African Americans

Section 1Federal Aid for Reservations

• Federal government stationed troops in western Texas to prevent clashes between settlers and Native Americans

• However, settlers continued to push west and clashes between the 2 groups continued

• Federal government created reservations • Wacos and Tonkawas reservation new present

day Graham• Comanches reservation near Clear Fork and

Brazos • Texans were mad about reservations, because they

believed raids were happening by the Native Americans on reservations. Federal government moved all reservations North of Red River in 1859

Section 2War Declared • Mexico never considered the Republic of Texas as an

independent nation and considered the annexation of Texas as an insult to Mexico

• Mexico also saw the boundary as the Nueces River, instead of the Rio Grande

• Commerce: American commerce had spread to the Pacific, and they wanted to acquire a Pacific port in Mexican California. James K. Polk was determined to get that port

• US was willing to pay for the war damages from Texas Revolution, give Mexico 30 million, and in return cede California to US, but when Slidell in Mexico (fall 1845) to discuss, Mexico refused to talk to him

• President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to move his troops across the Nueces River to the Rio Grande

Section 2Causes of the War • May 1846, American and Mexican soldiers clashed

just North of the Rio Grande• Polk said Mexico shed American blood upon

American soil, but Mexican leaders could have claimed Mexican blood was spilled on Mexican soil

• May 13 Congress declared war• Abolitionists, people wanting to end slavery,

considered it a scheme to get more slave areas• Texans answered the call and 5,000 joined the Texas

army

Section 2US Victory • American troops were better equipped than Mexican

• General Winfield Scott: Captured Mexico City in Sept. 1847• Women, like Sarah Borginnis, took active role in war: cooking,

washing, loading cartidges, and dressing wounds• Feb 2, 1848: representatives of both governments signed a peace

treaty at Guadalupe Hildalgo, small town near MX city• Treaty of Guadalupe Hildalgo

• Mexico abandoned all claims to Texas and accepted Rio Grande as the boundary

• Mexico surrendered all territory west of Texas to the Pacific to US – land known as the Mexican Cession (present day California, Nevada, and Utah and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming

• US paid mexico 15 million for land• Mexicans living in new uS territory were granted US citizenship

and had a year to decide if they wanted to stay

Section 2New Mexico Boundary Dispute

• Santa Fe becoming part of Texas became a political issue

• Santa Fe did nto want to be part of Texas• Compromise of 1850: Texas agreed to surrender its

claims to a portion of the disputed area in return for 10 million from the US allowing Texas to pay of its war debt

Section 3Texas Population Boom

• 1850: 212,592 Texans which as a 50% increase from 1847

• Next 10 years, population nearly tripled to 604,215• Attraction to Texas: Lure of cheap land, annexation,

and legal slavery• Most new arrivals came from southern US• 1860 new counties had to be created because of

population increase, including Dallas, Tyler, Upshur, Polk

Section 3Mexican Texans • Mexicans moved North into Texas

• Most lived in the wedge shape between the Nueces River and Rio Grande, in the San Antonio-Goliad area, and along the Rio Grande from Del Rio to El Paso

• Most of the people living in South Texas were Tejanos, but most political leaders were Anglos

• Most were farmers and ranchers that owned their own lands, but most worked as cowhands, sheepherders, and ranch laborers

Section 3Politics and Bias • Jose Antonio Navarro: Mexican American who signed

the Texas Declaration of Independence• Santos Benavides: Mexican who was a prosperous

merchant and became mayor of Laredo0 and chief Justice of Webb County

• Juan Cortina: Protector of Mexican and Tejanos rights• Bitter feelings towards Mexicans and Tejanos in Texas

lasted a long time, mainly because of Goliad and the Alamo

• Despite prejudice and discrimination, many Mexicans retained their cultural heritage which has mixed in a lot with our culture in Texas today

Section 3German Texans • German Communities in central Texas: New

Braunsfels and Fredericksburg• By 1860, 1/5 of residents of Houston, Galveston, and

San Antonio were Germans• Why did Germans come to Texas?

• Potato blight that struck Ireland in the mid-1840s also effected Germany

Section 3Other European Arrivals

• Immigrants came from• Ireland• England • France• Poland• Czech • Norway

• These arrivals from other countries brought with them art, languages, music, literature, and traditions that create a more diverse Texas culture

Section 3The Alabama – Coushettas

The Tiguas and the Kickapoos

• Settled along Trinity in East Texas• Texas legislature purchased the land for them to make

a reservation

• Texas recognized the Tiguas and the Kickapoos as Native Tribes to Texas• Tiguas were thought to be descendents of the

Pueblos in New Mexico• Kickapoos were recognized in 1989 as a

sovereign nation