mexico was very vulnerable and its provinces mostly had to fend for themselves

el norte was deprived of supplies and money, and being in a position of power cost more than most people had

• because of this, el norte’s leaders looked to the US to trade supplies and suppliers

• even though this wasn’t technically allowed by mexican laws, they needed to do it in order to survive

louisiana and arkansas were overcrowded due to a new wave of immigration and were desperate to put people somewhere

• el norte saw this and although it was illegal, they allowed around three thousand americans to stay in the texas territory

• these americans (e.g. Moses and Stephen) respected the culture they had been welcomed into by learning Spanish and assimilating into it

authorities in that region then legalized immigration

• authorities hoped that the americans would adapt to el norte’s ways and made sure that would happen by banning slavery and requiring them to convert to roman catholicism

• this wave of immigration started becoming a problem when americans made up a large majority of the population in el norte and refused to adapt to their ways

• they were mostly settling away from the el norte people and making it completely their own land

• the nacogdoches area in particular was granted to Haden Edwards, an appalachian slave owner and planter with the goal of removing all nortenos (people of el norte) in order for there to be room for other deep southern planters

• when authorities took away Edwards’ grant, he declared freedom to no avail when he was eventually transported back into the US

this event alarmed Mexico and made them paranoid about American intrusion

• in order to prevent any regions belonging to the US like texas almost had, mexico banned american immigration

• nortenos didn’t approve of this and many protested against it

• the ban did nothing to stop american immigration, it increased even more in mexico

el norte had always been considered more of an entity individual from central mexico

• never approved of mexico’s first military dictator (Santa Anna)

• fought for the texas territory to be independent during the war against Santa Anna

  • many americans also crossed the border to fight for their freedom

• Santa Anna eventually agreed to withdraw land beyond the Rio Grande when she was captured

americans did not plan on giving tejanos (people of the texas territory) any power over the newly gained land

• they already had a deep prejudice against latin americans

• in a lot of america, people saw texas’ war for independence as a fight against civilization

• appalachian and deep southerners began settling into texas and saw nortenos as inferiors and enemies

• nortenos were denied citizenship and property rights unless they could prove that they helped in the fight for texas’ independence

• americans had completely taken over northeast, north-central, and east texas

in 1845, congress began considering the annexation of texas as a slave state

• northern americans (yankeedom and midlands) didn’t want this while southerners did

• eventually, texas was annexed

• mexico refused to acknowledge the border and so there was some territory in the Rio Grande Valley that technically belonged to no one

• US military forces were sent to that territory to blockade river access

the US house then declared a war with a vote during which only yankeedom opposed

• yankees said that the war would be a betrayal of republican and christian values and that it would not gain the US anything, would extend slavery and cause the murder of a bunch of people unnecessarily

different parts of the US were divided on how much of mexico they should take

• yankees wanted none of it because they were scared it would be annexed as more slave states while southerners wanted it for that reason

in the end, the US seized the northern half of mexico which was sparsely populated

• further annexation was opposed by southerners because the territory left was fully populated by racially mixed citizens who they saw as harder to assimilate and not good enough for the Union

in result, el norte was divided between the US and mexico

• nortenos living in US territory were heavily discriminated against

• nortenos living in the mexican territory continued living as their own individualistic entity as always and would even embrace the influences of their american neighbors