The Texas Revolution occurred because of a series of events that began long before the first shots fired at the Battle of Gonzales. In the summer of 1820 a 59 year-old Missourian named Moses Austin asked the Spanish Authorities for a large land tract which he wanted to use to attract American Pioneers. To manys surprise in early 1821 the Spanish government gave him permission to settle 300 families. Spain had welcomed Americans to help develop the land and to provide a buffer against the...

The historian Daniel Booriston has been quoted as referring to the revolution, specifically the American Revolution against Great Britain, as being a “conservative colonial rebellion.” However, one is engaged to ask exactly what defines a conservative colonial rebellion? For more than two-hundred-and twenty-five years Americans have been referring to the “conservative colonial rebellion” as the Revolutionary War; a war that claimed the lives of a plethora of citizens,...

Civil War Chronology 1808 January –Slave trade was stopped. 1810 7,240,000 Americans were counted in the census. 20% were black. 1787 Constitutional Convention convened in Philadelphia. They decided that one member of the lower house should be selected for every forty thousand inhabitants of a state. A slave was to be counted as three fifths of a freeman. 1811 Slaves revolted in Louisiana. 1819 Missouri compromise which, for a short while, solved the sectional debates. 1820 During the...

Oates, Stephen B. The Fires of Jubilee, New York: Harper & Row, 1975 Stephen Oates, in a riveting storytelling fashion, captures the desires and anxieties of the early to mid 19th century, with The Fires of Jubilee. Oates has performed rigorous study to present an accurate portrayal of a fascinating and mysterious man, who lived during an extraordinary period in American history. Oates begins the book with a thorough biography of Turner. He makes a real effort to show what lead a man to...

The Role of African Americans in the Civil War The foundation for black participation in the Civil War began more than a hundred years before the outbreak of the war. Blacks in America had been in bondage since early colonial times. In 1776, when Jefferson proclaimed mankind’s inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the institution of slavery had become firmly established in America. Blacks worked in the tobacco fields of Virginia, in the rice fields of South...

The War Between the States: The American Civil War The American Civil War is sometimes called the War Between the States, the War of Rebellion, or the War for Southern Independence. It began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, and lasted until May 26, 1865, when the last Confederate army surrendered. The war took more than 600,000 lives, destroyed property valued at $5 billion, brought freedom to 4...

In the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, there were numerous ideas and visions of what should become of America. Many of these ideas and visions, yet often contradicting and varying compared to one another, eventually led to an idea of unity and a identity among the majority of Americans. The time period of 1750 to 1776 displayed numerous events and actions relating to this general idea. During the early years of the 1740’s and 50’s, there was a great amount of unrest...

The Failure of Southern Civil War Reconstruction The time of Reconstruction for the South was wrought with many conflicting factors, which ultimately brought about the end, and noted failure, of the plan. Opposing elements in the political realm, coupled with economic hardships following the war, and the attempt to redesign the entire social structure of the South slowly but assuredly destroyed the plan of Reconstruction. Although the original design of the plan seem plausible, as...

The colonists living in America had enjoyed relative freedom from England since they arrived. They came to the New World, after all, to escape England, for whatever reasons they may have had—religious, economic, or social. So when England decided in the eighteenth century that they were going to crack down on the colonies, the announcement was not met with open arms. In fact, rebellion was inevitable. Parliamentary taxation was a main source of the colonists’ anger. With the Sugar Act...

Thomas Jefferson is a controversial figure in American history. He was instrumental in the formation of the American republic. Jefferson’s main contribution was the writing of the Declaration of Independence, the most important document in American history. He does what other people want of him, even if it does not follow his own beliefs. Thomas Jefferson was too liberal for his day and age, which resulted in only modest success for most of his ideas. Despite the lack of success...