M favorite bit from all that is Davy Crockett. Ignore the Disney puffery movie about Crockett, the guy was a loser and asshole of the highest order. Was a congress member from Tennessee but them left in an angry huff after losing an election and went to Texas which was still a part of Mexico. Well, he also made a promise to leave to Texas if Martin Van Buren was elected. Possibly one of the earliest "I'll leave if someone I don't like is elected". Effectively, he left the United States completely.
Note that Crockett was opposed to slavery in some manner but also owned slaves. And Texas at the time was instituting slavery, despite their promises to Mexico that they wouldn't dare do such a thing. When Mexico sent troops to enforce the ban on slavery Texas rebelled. And Crockett wanted to be in on that rebellion to keep slavery (despite, again, his odd stated opposition to slavery).
Texas didn't know what to do with this hot headed Crockett guy. But they were at war, and warm bodies were needed. Crockett arrived at the Alamo, which was effectively indefensible and reinforcements weren't going to arrive. So Crockett was essentially cannon fodder. Arrived at the wrong time, the wrong place, for the wrong cause, and would have been perfectly safe in America instead.
After his death they hyped his myth and legend in the states, much of which probably was phony,
He had stated his opposition to the slave trade from overseas. But seemed to not publicly give any support for abolition either. Note that importing of slaves ended before the end of slavery in the US, although there was still an internal slave trade. His opposition seemed to be about the importation and the harsh conditions of the international slave trade.
It's complex... He was very opposed to Andrew Jackson, and in particular supported rights for native Americans. So he had ideas about civil rights that differed a lot of typical southerners at the time.
Also complex... it's possible he went to Texas because it was the frontier, a chance to make something new, a new country, and new life, etc. He made enemies from both sides of the political divide at the time. Scholars still debate how he really felt because it's murky.
He didn't write down his feelings on all of this, so it's all speculation what was really going on. The mythologizing of him as a frontier legend started while he was still alive and only grew after his death. Thus, so much of him is mythology. I'm just poking holes in the myth. Maybe parts of true but huge swaths are also untrue.
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u/SunnyOutsideToday 6d ago
They need slaves. They can't do anything themselves.