Title: The Mexican-American War | The California Frontier Project
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Content: By 1835, there were 20,000 Americans (including Cherokee Indians) in Texas, with roughly 5,000 Mexicans. Although Mexico had originally seen American immigrants as a way to shore up its control of the Texas territory, it eventually began to doubt their allegiance and view them with suspicion. Texans, in turn, became resentful at their small amount of representation in Mexican politics. Texas Independence
The tensions in Texas reached a tipping point when General Antonio López de Santa Anna took office as president of Mexico in 1834. Soon after coming to power, he revoked the constitution, set about centralizing governmental authority in Mexico City, and reduced the autonomy of the individual states. This caused a great deal of unrest in some of the territories. In September of 1835, Texans began a war of secession. In November, a group met in San Felipe de Austin and established a provisional state government . After months of fighting with Santa Anna’s army, on March 2 of 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico . For several weeks, Mexican army forces fought the insurgents, including at the famous battle of the Alamo, where Santa Anna’s troops defeated a group of Texas fighters holed up in the old mission.