Sam Houston: An Authentic American Hero

Improved Essays
While Sam Houston is one of the most widely known individuals throughout history, many do not know his bitter rivalries in the creation of the Republic of Texas. Houston was born on March 2nd, 1863 in Rockbridge County Virginia. As a product of his era, Houston embraced Westward expansion and moved to Tennessee. While the true intentions for Houston’s arrival in Texas are unknown, it is evident he quickly rose within the hierarchy of Texas politics as he was elected to President at two separate times. However, as Williams suggests in his book, Sam Houston: The Life and Times of the Liberator of Texas, an Authentic American Hero that Houston 's temper and a fondness for confidentiality blocked his top political ambitions . Not having a stable childhood, Houston ran away from home during his teenage years, as this was the likely period when his abandonment and trust issues began. This forced him to developed strong family bonds with the Cherokee Indians. Moreover, Houston mentioned Chief Jolly as a father. Later in 1830, in Indian Territory, Houston was …show more content…
This however does not work for a Navy and knowing he would need to find a solution he believed in developing a strong coastal defense with citizen manned forts, preventing an amphibious landing. This was the start of the volatile relationship between President Sam Houston and Commodore Moore. Moore understood the reality that sea power was both expensive and essential to the projection of power on a world stage. Additionally, he understood that for Texas to be truly a Republic it had to be able to compete with the newly formed America and its symbiotic Parent, Great Britain. Subsequently the United States during this period was a maritime power, openly anti-military but also questioning military

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    David Crockett was clearly an outstanding frontiersman, a successful Tennessee politician, and a colorful congressman, but these attributes alone would not have earned him lasting fame. Davy Crockett was one of the most celebrated and mythologized figures in American history. David Crockett was born in 1786 to a pioneer family living on the Nolichucky River in east Tennessee. Davy Crockett was the fifth of nine children born to parents John and Rebecca (Hawkins) Crockett. Crockett's father taught him to shoot a rifle when he was just 8 years old.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    But sam houston appointed that stephen F austin would be the secretary of state for the new republic. He served two months as the secretary of state then died on december 27 1836 Stephen austin had a lot of achievements throughout his lifetime. Some of his achievements include that he was the first secretary of state. Stephen f austin arranged armed forces to protect the colonist. He was also one the first empresarios to settle families in texas.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Civil War was the biggest battle in World History between the Union and the Confederate. It was a bloody battle for what they thought was right and what they thought was better for them, but why did Texas fight? Texas fought for the love of the Confederate, States’ Rights, and to preserve slavery. First off, Texas fought for love. Texans loved the way of life they had and all the ways of the south.…

    • 404 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Texans voted for secession and war in the American Civil War because of their loyalty to their state, state’s rights, and slavery. Many Texans felt a strong devotion towards their state, and wished to fight for their pride in Texas. A confirmation of this is seen in…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Alamo Battle Analysis

    • 2598 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The Battle of the Alamo was a significant turning point in the war for Texas Independence. This battlefield analysis will briefly explore the reasons behind why the battle took place, the strategic significance of the Alamo, who the participants were on both sides, what actions took place, and the failures that occurred both strategic and tactically. We will present an alternate outcome of this battle and explore what may have happened if the Texan defenders would have won the battle. The failure of the Texans to defend the Alamo concentrated around their lack of accurate and timely intelligence collection, the non-reporting of actionable intelligence as it pertained to the enemy’s composition and courses of action, and failure of higher command to supply the outpost with proper logistic support.…

    • 2598 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When it first became a state, land and cattle were a large portion of the economy, but when Pattillo Higgins and Anthony Lucas found oil, oil became what outsiders associate the state with. Texas’s government takes up the next portion of her book. When Texas was established, Texans wanted very little to do with the government. Because of this, the Texas legislature only meets one-hundred and forty days every two years. Texas also went through quite a few constitutions and finally landed on one that greatly limits the government. The political party of Texas has also been changing.…

    • 996 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Houston's father died and his family had to move to another state. “He emigrated with his mother, five brothers, and three sisters to Blount County in Eastern Tennessee, where the family established a farm near Maryville on a tributary of Baker's Creek.” (www.tshaonline.org). Nonetheless, this will only be the beginning of the greatest changes that Houston is going to experience throughout…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The power is divided among statewide elected officials of other states (Braden: 1977). These and other factors stress the need to rewrite the Texas Constitution. This leads the executive branch members to enviously protect their jurisdiction and power and undermines the group effort to govern Texas. PART II:…

    • 1023 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We can clearly see that the Texas governor is not near to being a powerful government official. And that the governor is no where near to being treated like a ‘mini president’ when it comes to governing the state. If the governor were to have more power, the governor would surely become more effective when it comes to certain bills or policies. However, for the kind of political culture that Texas has, the governor should not be able to have full on control and suddenly become the strongest governor in the nation. But as for now, we will next examine some of the historical reasons that will tell us why the Texas governor is so weak and how the governor’s position became to be so…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a young armadillo growing up in Texas during the 1820s, my life was peaceful and happy. The Federalists who held power in Mexico left me, my fellow armadillos, and the Anglo Americans alone to enjoy and work the land. However, in 1829, the Centralists gained control of the Mexican government and the freedom we enjoyed gradually eroded. As the Mexican government imposed more regulations on the Anglo Americans, the tension which had existed between the two groups due to the Nacogdoches land grant, become even more palpable.…

    • 1368 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Molly Ivins’s essay, “Is Texas America?” states various points in her essay about Texas politics, demographics, geography, and education. The “Is Texas America?” essay is according to the author’s perspective about Texas. There are various statements within Ivins’s essay that are supporting and contradictory to the modern-day Texas. The reason there is a difference in the number of supporting and contradicting statements about Texas within Ivins’s essay is because Texas is changing over time where the contradicting statements may have been true in the past.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bibliography Randolph B. Campbell. Sam Houston and the American Southwest, Third Edition. New York: Pearson, 2006. “Sam Houston and the American Southwest” is a book authored by Campbell Randolph and is a biographical account of the life of Sam Houston, and the important role he played in the development of Southwest (Randolph, 2006). The topic and theme of study for the book is the role and the impact of Sam Houston, who was the President of an independent republic, the governor for two different states, and a US senator for thirteen years.…

    • 1131 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This was extremely aggressive. He was inspired from Alfred T. Mahan's The Interest of America in Sea Power that claims the United States needed to exand for military and economic reasons (Doc C).…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Secession

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the past century, states’ rights has become an idea more than an actual right given to the people. The Central Government has gradually gathered more power for itself and, as a consequence, leaving states wanting. In December of 1860, South Carolina tried to solve this problem by seceding from the union. While it would be unfair to say that this caused the civil war, it defiantly was a factor. But since then, the problem has only grown worse.…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his book, Sleuthing The Alamo, James E. Crisp goes beyond the mere description of the historical events that took place during the Texas Revolution. Crisp’s passion to uncover why certain events of the Texas Revolution were remembered in a specific way, propelled him to closely examine and critically analyze the motive behind a number of writers and historians. It was this determination that forced Crisp to take no for an answer and to “attempt to separate Texas myth from Texas history”. What makes Crisp’s book Sleuthing The Alamo so unique, in contrast with most historical books, is that Crisp involves himself in his text in such a way that it becomes very personal to him. Additionally, Crisp doesn’t conceal his own personal biases as…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays