Hispanic Heritage

Events in Hispanic American History, 1826 – 1850

1492-1600 | 1601-1700 | 1701-1800 | 1801-1825 | 1826-1850 | 1851-1875 | 1876-1900 | 1901-1940
1941-1970 | 1971-

1829

Slavery in Mexico is abolished by the new republican government that emerges after independence.

1836

Anglo-Texans resist the military rule of Antonio López de Santa Anna, dictator of Mexico. Santa Anna leads a large army north to San Antonio, Texas, and surrounds the Texans at the Alamo mission. Eventually the Mexican army kills all the resisters. Six weeks later Anglo-Texan forces defeat the Mexican forces and declare the Republic of Texas independent of Mexico.

The Texas constitution stipulates that all residents living in Texas at the time of the rebellion will acquire all the rights of citizens of the new republic, but if they had been disloyal, these rights are forfeited. Numerically superior Anglos force Mexicans off their property, and many cross the border to Mexico.

1840

To meet the wage-labor demands, 125,000 Chinese are brought to Cuba between 1840 and 1870 to work as cane cutters, build railroads in rural areas, and serve as domestics in the cities. Also, the influx of European immigrants, primarily from Spain, increases during that period. Newly arrived Spaniards become concentrated in the retail trades and operate small general stores called bodegas.

1845

Texas is officially annexed to the United States. This angers the Mexican government and a conflict arises over the official border between Texas and Mexico.

1846

The United States invades Mexico under the banner of Manifest Destiny. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican War that same year. Under the treaty, half the land area of Mexico, including Texas, California, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, is ceded to the United States. The treaty gives Mexican nationals one year to choose U.S. or Mexican citizenship. Approximately 75,000 Hispanic people choose to remain in the United States and become citizens by conquest.

1848

The gold rush lures a flood of Anglo settlers to California, which becomes a state in 1850. Settlement in Arizona and New Mexico occurs at a slower pace, and they both become states in 1912.

1850

The Foreign Miners Tax, which levies a charge for anyone who is not a U.S. citizen, is enacted.

Source: Hispanic-American Almanac, Gale, 1997.