Contested Empire: Rethinking the Texas Revolution ed. by Sam W. Haynes and Gerald D. Saxon

Abstract

Reviewed by: Contested Empire: Rethinking the Texas Revolution ed. by Sam W. Haynes and Gerald D. Saxon Alex Mendoza Contested Empire: Rethinking the Texas Revolution. Edited by Sam W. Haynes and Gerald D. Saxon. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2015. Pp. 184. Photographs, maps, notes, index.) The Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures, sponsored by the University of Texas at Arlington, have long brought forth arguments that challenge accepted histories of the American Southwest and the Atlantic World. Contested Empire: Rethinking the Texas Revolution, edited by Sam W. Haynes and Gerald D. Saxon, is no exception to this trend. The editors have assembled a series of essays that challenge interpretations that place Anglo Americans at the focal point of the Texas revolutionary experience. Even though a broader, more sophisticated approach in studying the Texas rebellion has taken hold, old notions still persist. Gregg Cantrell, professor of history at TCU and past president of the Texas State Historical Association, outlines this somewhat frustrating process in his introduction to this anthology. Clearly, a transnational approach to the study of Texas has been employed before, by other historians in other works. Yet the beauty of Contested Empire is that the editors present studies that push different perspectives of the Texas Revolution directly to the forefront. Eric R. Schlereth’s essay launches the anthology by examining American colonists who served as the cornerstone of the Texas Revolution. Schlereth argues that the Anglo newcomers simply transferred their allegiance from Mexico to Texas without consternation because it was commonplace to do so both in the United States and in Mexico during the early to mid-1800s. While historians such as Andres Reséndez have highlighted such views before, Schlereth’s point resonates strongly as it places the focus on the events that led to the Texas rebellion and how the nation-states and Anglo settlers viewed the concept of loyalty and allegiance. Haynes follows with his interpretation of the Texas Revolution, arguing that it was memories of the American Revolution of 1776 that “shaped the behaviors of Anglo-Americans living west of the Sabine River” (45). In essence, Haynes convincingly argues that Americans rallied to the cause of Texas by viewing themselves through the prism of the legacy of George Washington and the Founding Fathers. While the first two chapters focus on the American perspective, the following two essays examine the Mexican perspective. Miguel Soto’s chapter, for instance, studies the impact of land sales and the demographic [End Page 115] makeup of Texas at the onset of the rebellion. He suggests that due to the overwhelming preponderance of Americans, Texas was won before the Battle of San Jacinto. Will Fowler’s essay explores another viewpoint: the role of Mexican nationalism in the period of the Texas Revolution. Contrary to many other scholars, Fowler maintains that Mexican identity developed before the war between the United States and Mexico. Instead, he finds that a strong undercurrent of Mexican nationalist ideology had begun to emerge prior to 1835. The anthology’s final essay, by Amy S. Greenberg, studies how artwork of the period factored into the annexationist debate of the 1830s and 1840s. Contested Empire lays the groundwork for historians delving into further study of the Texas Revolution through a broader, more-inclusive perspective. The authors of this slim volume accomplish their purpose by extensive research into the historiographies and archives of both Mexico and the United States to provide a truly transnational framework of the rebellion in Texas. Not only are the essays in this study well-written and persuasively argued, the ideas that emerge from this work add a new dimension to the Texas revolutionary experience by underscoring the complex structure of Texas and its people beyond the fighting at the Alamo. This important study will surely stimulate new works on the Texas Revolution for years to come. Alex Mendoza University of North Texas Copyright © 2015 The Texas State Historical Association