United States History Student Edition

D A Tejano in Texas Juan Seguín was born and raised in San Antonio, where he later served as mayor. He fought for Texas independence at the Battle of San Jacinto. But when Texas won independence, Seguín and other Tejanos soon faced discrimination and mistreatment. PRIMARY SOURCE: MEMOIR “ I have been the object of the hatred and passionate attacks of some few disorganizers, who, for a time, ruled, as masters, over the poor and oppressed population of San Antonio. . . . They . . . leagued together to exasperate and ruin me; . . . and made use of odious machinations to sully my honor and tarnish my well earned reputation. . . . [A] foreigner in my native land. . . . I sought for a shelter amongst those against whom I had fought; I separated from my country, parents, family, relatives and friends, and what was more, from the institutions, on behalf of which I had drawn my sword, with an earnest wish to see Texas free and happy. ” — from Personal Memoirs of Juan Seguín, From the Year 1834 to the Retreat of General Woll from the City of San Antonio, 1842 odious hateful EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Explaining In the first paragraph, how does Seguín explain his situation and the motives of his enemies? 2. Analyzing Points of View How does Seguín react to being made to feel like “a foreigner in [his] native land”? machinations plotting sully to soil, make dirty

E “To Overspread the Continent”

The expression Manifest Destiny was first used by the journalist John O’Sullivan in the July-August 1845 issue of the New York Democratic Review . O’Sullivan argued in favor of annexing Texas. PRIMARY SOURCE: EDITORIAL “ [W]ere other reasoning wanting, in favor of now elevating this question of the reception of Texas into the Union, out of the lower region of our past party dissensions , up to its proper level of a high and broad nationality, it surely is to be found, found abundantly, in the manner in which other nations have undertaken to intrude themselves into it, between us and the proper parties to the case, in a spirit of hostile interference against us, for the avowed object of thwarting our policy and hampering our power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted

by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. ” — from John O’Sullivan, “Annexation” dissension disagreement avowed publicly stated, professed thwarting preventing

EXAMINE THE SOURCE 1. Analyzing Why does O’Sullivan believe there has been interference in the annexation of Texas? What does he think about those objections? 2. Inferring Based on the excerpt, how does O’Sullivan view Manifest Destiny? Cite his language in your answer.

(bl)SeguÍn, Juan. Personal memoirs of John N. Seguin : from the year 1834 to the retreat of General Woll from the City of San Antonio in 1842. San Antonio: Ledger Book and Job Office, 1858; (r)O’Sullivan, John. “Annexation.” The United States Magazine and Democratic Review. Vol. 17, No. 85, July and August, 1845.

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