through a joint agreement between the United States and Texas. Some people contend that the Anglo-American settlers were simply looking for a way to improve their own opportunities when they settled in Texas. Other people, however, viewed such settlement as a part of a coordinated and organized effort to bring Texas under the control of the United States. This paper examines this issue, with a focus on the period from 1819 through 1836. The research question investigated in this paper is as follows:
Was the Anglo-American settlement in Texas from 1819 though 1836 an effort by individuals to create new opportunities for themselves or was such settlement an integral part of the effort of the American government to wrest control of Texas from New Spain and Mexico?
James Long's Republic of Texas, the Republic of Fredonia, and Other Steps toward Anglo-American Settlement in Texas
To most modern day Americans, the independent Republic of Fredonia is perceived somewhat vaguely as the setting for an old Groucho Marx film. In fact, the Republic of Fredonia was one of the first serious American challenges to Mexican sovereignty over Texas, and, historically, probably of greater significance than the first such challenge, James Long's Republic of Texas proclaimed following his filibustering expedition into Texas from Louisiana during which his small army of adventurers captured the then Mexican border town of Nacogdoches (Tijerina 30).
Most histories of Texas portray the early American settlers in the region as near saints and certain heroes. What these settlements are not usually characterized as are as components of the broader American expansionist movement of Manifest Destiny. Rather, the creation of the Republic of Texas in 1836 is more often characterized as the outcome of the fight of freedom loving people against oppression. Of the later period when the issue of Texas statehood came to the forefront, historical assessm...