Question

For a medal! I don't understand why the Texans were stuck at the Alamo? If they were on Mexican territory were they not the invaders instead of the other way around? can anyone give me their thoughts

Answer 1

@wwhitlock

Answer 2

The Mexican government invited people to live in Texas after independence from Spain. The area was largely unpopulated. Mexico promised to give land to anyone who would improve it, become Mexican citizens, convert to Catholicism and obey the law.

Stephen Austin and others formed groups of Americans to go take the offer from the Mexican government. Things seemed to be going OK with this plan. But a few years in Mexico had a regime change. A guy named Santa Ana took over and started consolidating power to become a dictator. This was the rub.
Santa Ana didn't like these Americans who didn't quite convert to Catholicism and still holding slaves (slavery was already abolished in Mexico.) And the the Texians who had enjoyed American style liberty didn't like living under a dictator. They had farms and ranches that had put work into and legally owned.
Santa Ana wanted them gone. The Texans, both tejano and american, wanted him gone.
So they did a war.
The Alamo was one of the battles. Texas eventually declared independence and was its own country for about 8 years.
The boundiries of Texas were never quite settled. The Texans asked to be part of the US when they realized being a country is hard.
The US annexed Texas and the War with Mexico began. One notable objector to the war with Mexico was a congressman named Abraham Lincoln. He became very unpopular because, you know, rah rah let's do a war.
Lincoln was not reelected and never won anything again until the Presidency.