The Texas Revolution was a conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836. However, a war at sea between Mexico and Texas would continue into the 1840s. Animosity between the Mexican government and the American settlers in Texas (who were called Texians) began with the Siete Leyes of 1835, when Mexican President and General Antonio López de Santa Anna abolished the Constitution of 1824 and proclaimed a new anti-federalist constitution in its place. The new laws were unpopular throughout Mexico, leading to violence in several states.
There were many causes of the tension that began building between Texas and Mexico. Texians were becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Mexican government. Many of the Mexican soldiers stationed in Texas were convicted criminals who were given the choice of prison or serving in the army in Texas. Some American immigrants and Mexican citizens were accustomed to the rights they had in the U.S. that they did not have in Mexico. Mexico, for example, did not protect Freedom of Religion, instead requiring colonists to pledge their acceptance of Roman Catholicism.
Despite the different rules in Mexico, the number of American immigrants entering Texas quickly escalated. Santa Anna believed that the increase of American immigrants to Texas was part of a plot by the United States to take over the region. In 1834, Santa Anna went through a process of dissolving state legislatures, disarming state militias, and abolishing the Constitution of 1824. These actions outraged much of Mexico.
War began in Texas on October 2, 1835, with the Battle of Gonzales. Early Texian successes at La Bahia and San Antonio were soon met with crushing defeat at the same locations a few months later. The war ended at the Battle of San Jacinto where General Sam Houston led the Texian Army to victory over a portion of the Mexican Army under Santa Anna, who was captured shortly after the battle. The conclusion of the war resulted in the creation of the Republic of Texas in 1836, until it later joined the United States as the 28th state.
The border between the United States and Mexico represents the greatest division between the standards of living in neighboring countries. Yet, what was once a relationship easily dominated by the United States has developed into a bilateral relationship of increasing importance to both countries.
Around the times of the World Wars, relations between Mexico and the US were very good. The good relations lasted until the late 1960s, but then Mexico began to re-create its nationalist image. In 1971 Richard M. Nixon imposed a 10 percent tax on all imports, hurting Mexico, which sold almost 70 percent of its exports to the United States. These acts caused President Alvarez Echeverría to doubt that there was anything beneficially special about Mexico's relationship with the United States. Echeverría tried to orient Mexico away from the United States both economically and politically, but despite significant drops during the mid-seventies, Mexico was again sending 70 percent of its exports to the United States within a few years.
In 1979, Mexico broke relations with Nicaragua's Somoza regime, sending a clear message of solidarity with the rebels against the U.S.-backed government. Mexico's expressed support of nationalist movements in Central America and the Caribbean led to increased tensions between the two countries in the 1980s. But the end of the decade saw an increased mutual effort to establish a constructive relationship in the areas of trade agreements, migration, the drug war, and peaceful foreign policies, although currently, immigration and the drug war still appear to be problems.
