Thread: Happy Independence Day, Texas

Happy 175th Birthday, Texas
How well do you know the Lone Star state?
Copyright 2011 HOUSTON CHRONICLE
March 2, 2011, 1:15PM


Texas history for $200, Alex

University of Houston history professor Raul Ramos gives his take on 10 of the most important dates leading to the establishment of the Republic of Texas:

• May 17, 1718: Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivares established the mission San Antonio de Valero, which would later become the Alamo.

• Aug. 18, 1813: The Battle of Medina marked the end of José Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara and Augustus William Magee’s armed rebellion against Spain for Mexico’s independence.

• Jan. 3, 1823: Mexico passed general colonization laws under which Stephen F. Austin and other empresarios established legal immigrant settlements in Texas.

• Dec., 21, 1826: Haden 
Edwards organized the Fredonian Rebellion in an attempt to separate his colony from Mexico. Stephen F. Austin and Peter Ellis Bean aid Mexico in stifling the rebellion, but it causes scrutiny of the colonization program by Mexican government officials.

• Sept. 15, 1829: Mexico banned slavery but gave Texas a temporary exemption.

• April 30, 1830: Mexico stops American immigration into Texas after reports surfaced of Americans violating the colonization laws.

• January 1834: Stephen F. Austin traveled to Mexico City to advocate for Texas statehood and ask that the law of April 30, 1830, be rescinded. He was jailed for a year. Texans had already begun preparing for secession from Mexico.

• September 1835: The first shots are fired in the Texas war when American settlers in Gonzales refuse to return a cannon to Mexican military commander Domingo de Ugartechea.

• March 2, 1836: The Texas Declaration of Independence is signed, calling for Texas’ secession from Mexico. Fighting had already begun at the Alamo.

• Sept. 5, 1836: Texans voted for annexation to the United States, but the American government refused to annex the state because of the internal politics of slavery. Texas was finally admitted to the union in 1845.

-- AIMEE BURAS

• • •

The ‘Ma and Pa’ show

The Lone Star State has produced many quirky politicians, but it’s hard to top the Ferguson family:

• James “Paâ€

Saaah-loot!

Def

Happy Independence Day, Texas and Texans

Funny how there was not a mention of this here in Houston on our Media. I happen to hear about it on a radio station 94.5 FM. I guess our news stations don't want to make any Mexicans upset.

Don't feel bad bigtex, it is the same here in California. When I was a child it was celebrated and a day off from school (I remember because it falls on my birthday), now it is once again a holiday thanks to Arnold, but the only ones that don't work are government workers. In other words it is just an exuse for them to take a day off, while we work to pay their salaries.