ican711nm wrote:Setanta wrote:The United States was not, of course, involved on either side of the seige of the Alamo--which just goes to demonstrate your superior familiarity, from personal experience, with ignorance.
Texas conquered the Mexican army to win its independence from Mexico. It then formed an independent republic that subsequently agreed to be annexed by the USA.
In brief, Texans conquered Texas. That is, they gained the ownership of their territory by conquering it and not by some other means.
Your buddy MM was asking whether or not "we" (meaning the United States) had illegally seized Texas--to which i pointed out that we annexed Texas, and did not seize it in war.
You have marvelously demonstrated your ignorance of history, however. Stephen Fuller Austin is generally held to be the "father of Texas independence" (which explains why the state capital is named for him). His father, Moses Austin, contracted with the Mexican government to bring settlers into the region. Basically, the Mexicans saw the "Anglos" as a potential buffer between them and the Commanche, who were given to raiding deep into the Mexican territory. The elder Austin died, however, before the contract was fulfilled, and Stephen took over.
Each and every one of the legal settlers (the Mexicans made a marked distinction between legal immigrants and illegals, the filibusters, such as James Bowie, who was heartily despised and mistrusted by the authorities in the city of Mexico) were considered to be, and considered themselves to be Mexican citizens. However, they considered that they had been betrayed by the government in the city of Mexico, and denied their rights under the constitution of 1824. That's why the original "Texican" flag was the Mexican tri-color of red, white and green, with "1824" in the center panel.
(That image is no fluke, when i did a google image search for "Alamo+flag+1824," i got more than 2,700 results.)
That also explains why long-time Spanish-speaking residents of the state of Texas y Coalinga (the official name of that state of
los Estados Unidos de Mexico) such as Juan Seguin fought for Texas independence at the side of the "Anglos." After the war, when English-speaking Texicans began to drive Spanish-speakers off their land, and to generally abuse them, and especially after annexation by the United States, Seguin and many other "Tejanos" became disillusioned, and emmigrated to Mexico. Nevertheless, initially, the movement for Texas independence encompassed English-speakers and Spanish-speakers, Protestants and Catholics.
By now, it should surprise no one that you don't know squat about history. However, you might educate yourself--look up the Mexican constitution of 1824, look up Bustamente, look up Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (the man most responsible for the Texas rebellion), look up Moses Austin and Stephen Austin, look up Juan Seguin. Hell, even that old crook James Bowie spoke Spanish (and eagerly forged land-title documents in Spanish) and married the daughter of the
Alcalde (Mayor) of San Antonio de Bexar. (San Antonio de Bexar is the city outside of which the Alamo was located--now we just call it San Antonio.)
Your ignorance is no surprise, but it is welcome, because i enjoy pointing it out in detail.
