Stephen Austin's Influence In North America

The United States had its eye on expand its territory and started with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Then, Mexico gained its independence from Spain in the year of 1821. As a new country, Mexico’s government realized that there was an unacceptably small population in Northern Mexico. Therefore, Mexican officials decided to invite Americans to Texas by offering non-taxed land in the hope of increasing the population. Americans could only move to Texas if they became Mexican citizens, joined the Catholic church, and bring no slaves. (Roden, 317)

In the early-mid 1800’s Manifest Destiny occurred. Manifest Destiny is a term for the United States expanding from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican territory. During this time, the United States obtained all the areas west of the original thirteen states. Many Americans had moved west because of personal economic problems. All throughout Manifest Destiny, the United States ran into problems with the Native Americans, faced a battle against Mexico, and obtained new land through battles with Mexico.

Anglo-American colonization in Mexican Texas took place between 1821 and 1835. Because Spain had first opened Texas to Anglo Americans in 1820, less than one year before Mexico achieved its independence. Its traditional policy forbade foreigners in its territory, but Spain was unable to persuade its own citizens to move to remote and sparsely populated Texas. There were only three settlements in the province, small towns with outlying ranches. The missions near the latter two, once expected to be nucleus communities, because they had been or were being secularized, while those near Nacogdoches had been closed since the 1770s. Recruiting foreigners to develop the Spanish frontier was not new.

The big debate across the growing United States was the debate of slavery and which states would come in as free or slavery states. The Mexican-American War was a major turning point in this debate because it settled the debate over which states would become free or slavery states. This war lasted a little over a year and 9 months long on the border of the United States and Mexico (Texas and Mexico City). This war would helped settle many disputes, but the main debate it would settle would be the huge slavery debate.

Unlike the viewpoint of Americans, Mexicans did not view the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War justifiable. Americans did not have the right to invade in Mexico. Many politicians in the United States proclaimed that they should expand their territory by the annexation of Texas and Mexico. Americans justified the annexation with the idea of “Manifest Destiny”, an expression of idealized justification on the part of Americans that they have the God-given right to civilize all the nations.

Walking through the streets of San Antonio, you can tell that the Mexican Culture has had a big influence on Texas. The aroma of Mexican food fills your nose as you walk down the streets of the city. Tortillas, Tacos, Burritos, Enchiladas, Tamales, Fajitas, Chalupas, Flautas, Guacamole, Salsa, the list just goes on and on. But we would never have these foods if Mexico had never influenced Texas.

Manifest destiny also affected the relationship with Mexico. Several factors led to the Mexican- American War in 1846. The factors were that the U.S citizens were moving into California and Mexico. Since there were many revolutions happening in Mexico throughout this time period the Mexican government was not able to protect the U.S citizens in this region. Another factor was that Mexico was upset that Texas declared independence from them and then the U. S annexed Texas in 1845. The way they claimed annexed was by saying the Rio Grande was the southern boundary of Texas but Mexico said it was the Nueces River. In regards to the war, Americans were greatly divided. The northerners hated it because of the fact that Texas favored slavery. Those in the south liked the idea of a war because it would help expand to the west. This expansion would provide more land and opportunity. The war was one-sided due to the fact that the United States won most of the battles. The problem with this was that México refused to negotiate after every loss, so the war had to go on for longer than it had to be. Since Mexico refused to negotiate

“it was God’s plan that America extend its territory.” (Roden 317) God wants America to take Texas. The Mexicans are “limiting our greatness checking the fulfillment of our Manifest Destiny” (O’Sullivan 323) People are wrongly stopping God’s plan. Later America got Texas, California, and Oregon Territory.(Roden 317) The Manifest Destiny was fulfilled. Polk was a strong supporter of the Manifest Destiny. (Roden 317) The president convinced us. This evidence shows the US was justified in going in war because it was the Manifest Destiny. God wanted the US to expand.

The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic among many people because of its background. The Mexican-American war was a fight between Mexico and America for land. America’s belief at the time was Manifest Destiny, which meant that they believed that America should extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. In the end, America benefited from the war and got the land. The United States expanded its size, achieving their dream of Manifest Destiny. Although the United States war against Mexico resulted in the gaining of America’s most valuable land, the war itself wasn’t legitimate because of the revolution in Texas, motivation for superiority, and the U.S. government’s actions.

The US did not not have solid reasons to do so besides their own greed, so the US hid behind the idea of Manifest Destiny and tried to justify their actions. John O’Sullivan was the New York City journalist who coined the term Manifest Destiny. He said, “Imbecile and distracted, Mexico never can exert any real government authority over such a country…’’ (O’Sullivan, 8). O’Sullivan and the US suggested that Mexico “needed” the US to come and take over, because otherwise Mexico was going to fall apart. Although this was somewhat true, the US did not try to help Mexico through this difficult time; instead, the US took advantage of Mexico’s weakness and tried to take over completely. The idea of Manifest Destiny was centered around the idea that God wanted the US to expand as much as possible because the US had a superior way of life. The US justified their cruel actions towards Mexico because they were “destined” to act accordingly. If Americans truly believed that all people were created equal, then Manifest Destiny was not a plausible idea. Manifest Destiny created a hierarchy system in which the US was on top; a hierarchy was the opposite of a society or world where all people were created equal. Therefore, the US did not have such superiority to Mexico that God thought it was acceptable for Americans to act like they were allowed to trample on Mexico’s government

During the 19th century, the people of the United States of America had a belief that they had a justifiable right to expand its territory; otherwise known as manifest destiny. This belief of inevitable conquering land in North America led to conflicts with the indigenous people already occupying the land. One of the conflicts the Americans had with the indigenous people of North America was the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) in which Mexico fought for their territory that the Americans thought was rightfully theirs in the attempt to expand west. There may be several reasons to the cause of the Mexican-American war, however, the two major causes of the war were consequences resulting from the Texas War of Independence and the American’s desire

From 1820-1860 Manifest Destiny played a major role in American Politics. Manifest Destiny was the expansion of American settlement onto Western land, and the belief that it is God-given land. Manifest Destiny impacted America politically because Americans felt they had a right to all Western land, so this resulted in the creation of the Missouri Compromise of 1820,and the Mexican American War of 1846. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 created a border line between free-soil states, and slave States in Western territories. The Mexican American War of 1846 was a war between the Mexicans, and Americans for Western land.

Manifest Destiny is the belief created by John O'Sullivan in 1845. This means the United States was meant to expand from coast to coast. There were many factors and events that supported this belief and made it happen. These include the Louisiana purchase on April 30th, 1803. The Louisiana purchase helped the united states double its size by purchasing current day Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and part of Colorado, South Dakota, Minnesota, Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The Lewis and Clark expedition also helped the United States work towards manifest destiny. This expedition was led by Meriwether Lewis and his partner William Clark from 1804 to 1806. It helped the United States gain knowledge of

Texas joining the union and became a 28th state in the United States has 6 diffident flags which have flown over it. Spanish, French, Mexican, Republic of Texas, United States, and Confederate States of American and from all these counties form a melting pot of all different types of people who have come to Texas. Texas expands North and South nearly 1,000 miles and also East to west. Some of the largest densest areas in the cities such as Houston, Dallas, Waco, Austin, and San Antonio, where Houston at 2.3 million, Dallas at 1.4 Million, and Austin at 0.9 million make up 3 of the largest cities in the United States. Texas also comes in at 14th largest economy in the World with 6 of the Fortune 500 companies. Texas has so much going for it

Texas is unique in the fact that not only has it been its own country but it has been ruled over by six different flags. The first country to rule over Texas was the Kingdom of Spain. In 1519 Cortez decided that Spain should establish their colonies in the new world it was a 100 years until there was a settlement in Texas. Spain gradually expands from Mexico building forts and settlements until Spain lost its hold on Texas in 1685. France had already had claimed land in Louisiana so they planted their flag in the eastern part of Texas. Even though Spain had already claimed that part of Texas there were no settlers in that area. France sent Rene Robert Cavelier and Sieur de la Salle to establish a colony called Fort St. Louis. It did not take