JUNE 2016
The Alamo Messenger
Greetings and welcome to the June 2016 edition of The Alamo Messenger.  Last Month we looked the rise and fall of Santa Anna.  This month we explore the decline of the first federalist republic of Mexico and the imprisonment of Stephen F. Austin in 1834-35.

Feature Article: The End of the First Federalist Republic of Mexico
Reaction to the centralist plan to reverse federalist reforms and revoke the Constitution of 1824 was mixed. States in close proximity to Mexico City tended to accept the changes. States further away from the capital, especial those on the frontier and still developing, issued resolutions opposing centralization and prepared to do so by force if necessary. Federalism allowed these states a large amount of local control, which they desired because they faced problems and issues very different from the central, more heavily populated core of the nation. Essentially, the new centralist policy outlined in the Las Siete Leyes, announced on December 15, 1835, striped all Mexican states of their statehood and converted them into departments whose officials were to be appointed by the newly centralized national government. Statehood, as originally envisioned by the republic's founders, ceased to exist.

Artifact of the Month















This letter was written by Stephen F. Austin while in prison in Monterrey.  The letter is part of the Phil Collins Texana Collection at the Alamo.


Monterrey January 21, 1834
 
D. W. Smith Esq.
Matamoros
 
                Dr Sir,
 
I have been disappointed in receiving two hundred dollar on a draft from Mr. W.S. Parrott on Doctor Grant.  I was arrested immediately on my arrival in Saltillo, and Grant was absent so that I did not receive the money.  I sent the draft to him by Mr. John Erwin, but presume that he did not see him as I have not heard anything more of the draft.  Under these circumstances I am without money for my expenses to Mexico, and have drawn on you for One Hundred Dollars in favor of Mr. Vigers, who has done me the kindness to advance me that sum, and I request the favor of you to pay my draft and deduct it out of the money that Mr. Hobenstriker is to pay you for me.  Respectfully your most obt.
                Stephen F. Austin
 
Monterrey, January 21, 1834
D.W. Smith Esq.

Please pay to Mr. Vigers one hundred dollars value received of him, as per letter of advice of date and charge Stephen F. Austin $100.00.

Colonial Texas: The Imprisonment of Stephen F. Austin
1834 opened with the arrest of Stephen F. Austin for treason as a result of an inflammatory letter he had written in October 1833 while in Mexico City petitioning the federal government on behalf of the Texan colonists. Arrested in Saltillo, Austin was then transported back to Mexico City where he was imprisoned in an old Spanish Inquisition prison. Although originally placed in solitary confinement with limited access to the outside world, Stephen F. Austin's prison correspondence and journals reveal much about the political climate in Mexico and the state of Texas in the year leading up to the revolution. By the time Austin returned to Texas in September 1835 the political situation in Mexico had changed dramatically and Texas was on the brink of war.  Keep Reading

In Their Own Words: Col. Juan Almonte
 In January 1834 Colonel Juan Nepomuceno Almonte was sent to Texas by Mexican Vice President Valent�n G�mez Far�as in order to inspect
General Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, half-length portrait, seated, facing front. between 1850 and 1869. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA 
the territory and assess the situation there. Almonte was also to act as an  emissary to the Anglo colonists and hear their complaints. Almonte entered Texas through Nacogdoches in May 1834 and spent several months traveling the various departments of
Texas before returning to Mexico's interior in November 1834. In addition to official correspondence regarding his inspection tour, in January 1835 Almonte published his detailed Statistical Report on Texas describing the territory and its inhabitants.   
Educator's Resource
This lesson plan, appropriate for both 4th & 7th grade, allows students to use primary sources to learn about the Texas Revolution.  This specific lesson utilizes a letter written by William B. Travis in 1835, but the Document Analysis Worksheet can be used to analyze any primary source.

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