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==Republic of Texas==
[[File:Flag_of_the_Republic_of_Texas_(1835-1839).svg.png|thumbnail|250px|Flag for the Republic of Texas (1835-39)]]Americans, always on the lookout for a good fight against tyranny, had fought on the side of Mexico against Spain. After the winning of independence for Mexico many of those Americans began settling in Mexican land, most notably Stephen F. Austin who crossed the Brazos River and set up a colony that came to be known as Mexican Texas. So many farmers were staking out land that alarms went up in Mexico City and President Anastasio Bustamante banned all immigration of United States citizens to Texas in 1830. <ref>Long, Christopher, “Old Three Hundred,” Handbook of Texas Online published by the Texas State Historical Association, June 15, 2010</ref>Mexico was also deeply concerned with the expansion of slavery by these Americans into Mexico.
The colonists fought back - first with words and then with rifle shots when Texas insurgents stormed the walls of Fort Velasco on the Gulf of Mexico on June 25, 1832. <ref>“Velasco, Battle of” Handbook of Texas Online published by the Texas State Historical Association, June 15, 2010</ref> By 1835 there was open warfare and after delegates meeting along the Brazos River in an unincorporated area called "Washington" on March 2, 1836 issued the Texas Declaration of Independence a new nation was launched. <ref>“Texas Declaration of Independence," The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, website, uploaded 2013</ref> Just over a year later General Sam Houston led the Texian Army in a rout of President Santa Anna and his men in the Battle of San Jacinto, avenging the defeat at the Alamo mission and forcing a peace treaty that recognized the Republic of Texas as an independent country.
