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Stephen Austin establishes a colony in Texas
He made a saying to live in the colony“no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearing, and no idler”would be allowedColony’s capital in San Felipe -
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Mexican-American War
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Stephen Austin meets with Mexican President Santa Anna
Austin tried to start a petition to get Texas to be independantSanta Anna suspended the 1824 Mexican constitution, Austin was then thrown in jail. -
Mexico places restrictions on American immigration
Mexico sealed its borders and slapped a heavy tax on the importation of American goodsAgainst slavery -
Battle of the Alamo
Determined to force Texas to obey laws he had established, Santa Anna marched toward San Antonio at the head of a 4,000-member army. At the same time, Austin and his followers issued a call for Texans to arm themselvesSanta Anna swept north-ward and stormed and destroyed the small American garrison in the Alamo. All 187 U. S. defenders died, including the famous frontiersmen Jim Bowie, who had designed the razor-sharp Bowie knife, and Davy Crockett, who sported a raccoon cap with a long tai -
Battle of San Jacinto
He signed the peace treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent countryLed by General Sam Houston, the Texan Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican -
Treaty of Velasco grants Texas Independence
•Santa Anna agreed that all hostilities would cease; that he would not resume fighting in the future; that all Mexican troops in Texas would return home; that all Texan prisoners would be released; and that the treaty would be binding on General Vicente Filisola, then commanding Mexican soldiers in Texas -
U.S.A annexes Texas
• Admitted it to the Union as the 28th state. The U.S. thus inherited Texas's border dispute with Mexico; this quickly led to the Mexican-American War -
General Taylor marches troops across Rio Grande
• Polk then issued orders for General Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande and blockade the river. • Mexicans viewed this action as a violation of their rights. Many Americans shared Polk’s goals for expansion, but public opinion was split over resorting to military action. Slavery would soon emerge as the key issue complicating this debate -
Slidell's Rejection
First was to negotiate the Río Grande, (called the Río Bravo del Norte in Mexico) boundary. The second thing was to arrive at some kind of settlement over the claims issue — money that Mexico owed American citizens. Polk thought he could pair the two by writing off that debt in exchange for Mexican recognition of the Río Grande border. -
U.S.A declares war on Mexico
American forces invaded New Mexico, the California Republic, and parts of what is currently northern MexicoForced Mexico to agree to the cession of its northern territories to the U.S. -
Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill, California
First to find gold, started the Gold rush -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends war with Mexico
Is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States, ended Mexican-American War -
Zachary Taylor elected president
• Under Taylor's administration, the United States Department of the Interior was organized, although the legislation authorizing the Department had been approved on President Polk's last day in office. He appointed former Treasury Secretary Thomas Ewing the first Secretary of the Interior• Taylor advised the inhabitants of California and New Mexico, along with the Mormons near Salt Lake, to establish constitutions and apply for statehood, correctly predicting that these constitutions would sta -
California applies for statehood
• California's constitution outlawed slavery. Southern slave states didn't want California or any other state to be admitted to the Union as a free state because it would upset the balance of free states to slave states. The matter was settled by the Compromise of 1850 -
Gadsden Purchase
Region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico
