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Declared Independence
On this day in 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of a new United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually involve France’s intervention on behalf of the Americans. -
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tensions between Texas and Mexico
When Santa Anna repealed the Mexican Constitution of 1824 is when all heck broke out, American settlers were asked to move to North Mexico in order to settle the area and develop it under a federal republic. Instead they ended up with a dictator, so they rebelled. -
Battle of Gonzales
The Battle of Gonzales officially begins the Texas Revolution. The Texan settlers retained their cannon; Castañeda and his men retreated. -
The Alamo
In December 1835, during Texas’ war for independence from Mexico, a group of Texan volunteer soldiers occupied the Alamo, a former Franciscan mission located near the present-day city of San Antonio. -
The Republic of Texas
Antonio López de Santa Anna had established himself as a dictator in Mexico. Among Anglo-American colonists and Tejanos alike, the call for Texas independence grew louder. On March 2, 1836 a delegation at Washington-on-the-Brazos adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, and thus was born the Republic of Texas. -
Battle of San Jacinto and the Treaty of Velasco
On April 21, 1836, during Texas’ war for independence from Mexico, the Texas militia under Sam Houst launched a surprise attack against the forces of Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. -
Texan Annexation
U.S. President James K. Polk oversaw the greatest territorial expansion of the United States to date. Polk accomplished this through the annexation of Texas in 1845 the negotiation of the Oregon Treaty with Great Britain in 1846 and the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848, which ended with the signing and ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848. -
Battle of Goliad
Long accustomed to enjoying considerable autonomy from their Mexican rulers, many Anglo Texan settlers reacted with alarm when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna proclaimed himself dictator of Mexico in 1835. Santa Anna immediately imposed martial law and attempted to disarm the Texans. Yet, this move merely fed the flames of Texan resistance.