The Texas Revolution took place in 1835-1836 when the United States had already been established as an independent, democratic country. Starting from 1820s, when Texas was a part of Mexico, the new Mexican government started bringing Americans to settle Texas territories. The country struggled from Indian tribes, and with the help of American settlements the government hoped to control them. By the year 1834 the population of Anglos in Texas had been about 40,000, while the number of Mexicans had been limited to 3,500 (Americanaction.us).
Americans could not assimilate with the Mexican culture; they refused to become Catholic, did not find it necessary to learn Spanish, and had different political views. Americans were civilized by the Declaration of Independence, with its dogmas of religious freedom, justice and other basics of American Law, which scarcely existed in Mexico. Although the Mexican law rejected slavery, Americans were persistent to bring slaves to Texas(Americanaction.us).
The differences in traditions and mentality became one of the causes of the Mexican Revolution; at the same time, cultural diversity was not an issue to cause the American Revolution, as the Thirteen Colonies and colonial government, namely British Crown, shared the same language and traditions (History.com).
At the same time, both revolutions had one important precedent in common, which served as the outbreak of the uprising. In 1765 the British Parliament issued the Stamp Act in the Thirteen Colonies. The Act meant that all paper documents were subject to taxation. That was the first time the colonists were obliged to pay taxes directly to the British Crown. The new law became a bone of contention between the colonists and the British government, which in ten years resulted in the American Revolutionary War (History.com).
While the Thirteen Colonies had suffered from the restrictions of the British Monarchy in the 18th century, the Texans were forced to obey to the dictatorship of the Mexican government, whose policies and actions contradicted to the Mexican Constitution of 1824.
First they had imposed taxes on import of goods from the United States; then, in 1830, any immigration from the United States to Texas was banned (Americanaction.us).
If the British Empire was historically characterized as a civilized, mighty force, the same could not be said about Mexican government, whose politics were anarchic and unable to control the citizens.
In 1833, Stephen Austin, the ‘Father of Texas’, went to Mexico City in order to present and defend the position of Texans; however, the trip resulted in sudden imprisonment. Austin was left in jail with no charges for one year. Only in 1835 he was able to come back home to start the rebellion against Mexico (Americanaction.us).
The war lasted for seven months approximately, which cannot be compared to the long lasting American Revolution of 1775-1783 with the thousands of defeated (History.com).
The Texas Revolution was a logical outcome of inappropriate and unconstitutional policies of the Mexican government. Texas was not the only state who rebelled. For instance, in 1823 five states in the Central America segregated from Mexico and declared independence (Americanaction.us). This proved the unpreparedness of Mexico to govern its states, which eventually resulted in territorial losses.
Works cited
History.com,. 'American Revolution History'. N.p., 2015. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.
Americanaction.us,. "Origins Of The Texas Revolution Of 1835". N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.
Americanaction.us,. "Texas War For Independence - 1835-1836". N.p., 2016. Web. 25 Jan. 2016.
