Elaine Landau - The Alamo. Would You Join the Fight?

In 1835, a small group of rebels inside the Alamo stood up against a Mexican army. The rebelsincluding Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Traviswere fighting for Texas independence. Would you or would you not join the rebels? What would you do?

This is a map of New Spain showing the borders from 17861821. Most of New Spain eventually became Mexico.

The early 1800s was an exciting time. The United States was still a very new country. There were large areas of unsettled land to the west. Some Americans longed to claim and tame those areas.

The land we know today as Texas was fertile, large, and open. Yet back then it didnt belong to the United States. It belonged to Spain. Texas and the area we know today as Mexico were part of a Spanish settlement called New Spain. Most of the Spanish settlers made their home in Mexico. Only a small number of them lived to the north in Texas.

There werent just Spanish settlers living in what would later be Texas. There were also some American Indian tribes. Among these were the Comanche and the Apache. These Indians did not stay in one place for long. They roamed the land following the buffalo.

Although seemingly empty to the first white settlers, Texas was home to American Indian tribes and plenty of wildlife. The vast land held many dangers for the settlers.

Spain also allowed some Americans into New Spain. Those who came had to obey the colonys laws. As there were few settlers, there were also few roads or stores. A doctor or dentist might be hundreds of miles or more away.

Yet some Americans still wanted to be there. They wanted to build homes, plant crops, and raise cattle. There was plenty of timber and grazing land too. The Americans felt that anything might be possible there.

The Comanche were wanderers who lived off the land. Warriors on horseback hunted the plentiful game using bow and arrow skillfully.

A present-day map of Texas shows the position of the Alamo.

Some people from the United States settled in New Spain. They might have been an especially adventurous bunch. Others chose not to go.

Most of the Spanish settlers in New Spain lived south of where the Americans settled. As of 1810, the Spanish settlers went to war against Spain. The colony of New Spain wanted its independence. It was a long and bloody struggle. New Spain did not win until 1821. Then the entire area was known as Mexico.

For years, Mexico was in an uproar due to the war. The new government had paid little attention to the few American settlers in Texas or the northern part of New Spain. Yet a Missouri banker named Moses Austin and his son Stephen changed things. They did a lot to bring more people from the United States there. They felt that developing the area would benefit everyone. From 1821 on, Stephen Austin brought over 1,500 Americans into New Spain.

Yet going to Texas wasnt easy. The American settlers had to follow strict rules. They had to become Catholics. They also had to give up being American citizens. They could not bring slaves. New settlers had to become Spanish citizens before the Mexicans won the war for independence. After the war, they had to become Mexican citizens. There were also rules for proper behavior. Heavy drinking, swearing, and gambling were not permitted. Yet most of the settlers were hearty pioneers who did not mind the rules. They were glad they came.

Moses Austin, a Missouri banker, asked the Spanish government in San Antonio to allow him to bring Americans to settle there.

Stephen Austin followed through on his fathers dream of leading Americans to colonize Texas.

Some settlers traveled to Texas by covered wagon.

Some Americans became Mexican citizens to get prime land. They hoped to do well and were just there for profit. For a while, this was fine.

By 1835, things changed. A brutal man named General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna had become Mexicos president in 1833. Santa Anna cared little about the freedoms the American settlers had enjoyed in the United States. Under Santa Anna, the settlers didnt have the right to elect their own officials. They also werent promised fair and open jury trials.

Santa Anna did not want streams of Americans coming to Texas. He was afraid they might become too powerful. Many American settlers had already begun to think that Texas should be free of Mexico. They spoke about rebelling. If they won the rebellion, Texas would not be part of Mexico any longer. It would not be part of the United States either. It would be a separate nation.

General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna was president of Mexico eleven times. He led the Mexican Army in its attack of the Alamo.

The first armed conflict between the rebels and the Mexicans broke out in 1835. The town of Gonzales in Texas had a small cannon. Sometimes the settlers used it to scare off American Indians.