Nickelodeon says battle of the Alamo was over slavery

I found a link to this article on another site I like to browse. Apparently the Nickelodeon network is running a short piece in which watchers are told that the whole battle for Texan independence was fought over slavery. I am not an expert on Texas history, nor do I claim to be, but that can't be the whole story. Here's a link to the article:
www.worldnetdaily.com...
Hopefully someone with more knowledge of this part of history can sound off on this topic.

I don't let my kids watch Nickelodeon anymore anyway because of the incredibly bad speech patterns some of the kids' shows' characters use. For example, "Dora" on "Dora the Explorer" can't pronounce words correctly, always saying things like "bu-in" instead of button. Call me a snob if you like, but it seems to me that as badly as many of the kids in this country speak English (and that goes across ethnic and economic lines equally) that a channel which claims it's programming to be "educational" should be a little more responsible about it content.

Was the Civil War about slavery? I think it was, some don't. Same with Texas independence. It's true, Mexico wanted to free the slaves, and the Texans wanted to keep them, but was that the only factor? I think if it wasn't the biggest reason, it was definitely close to the top.

I don't think the Cicil War was completely over slavery, economics and social differences were just as important, but the idea that people should be allowed to own other people is an example of how deep the divide was. I think it's irresponsible of a network that pretends to show educational programming to present history as something two-dimensional. I forgot to state in my first post also that it bothers me that the Texans were presented as being entirely wrong. Once again, I'm not well-versed in Texas history, but there has to have been much more to the story than Nickelodeon is reporting.

Neither the American Civil War or the War for Texas' Independance were about slavery. Slavery being abolished in those wars were just pluses. The Civil War was mainly about the South wanting independence from the Northern Union and Texas wanting Independence from Mexico. The Nickelodean Network needs to do a little bit more research and get rid of the idea that all the southern states stood for was slavery!

[edit on 5/12/2005 by hatchedcross]

Slavery and States Rights were intertwined to such a degree, one could easily confuse the two. The issue of States Rights was at the forefront, but the debate over slavery was what crystalized the arguments for and against. One could reasonably argue that the civil war was fought for states rights, one could just as eaily argue that it was fought for slavery, or for both slavery and states rights. The core issue was, and still is, the degree to which federal institutions can influence the actions and policies of the individual states.

I think it would be ludicrous to claim that neither states rights nor slavery were major factors, and if they are as inseparable as they appear to me, I don't think the Nickelodeon program was entirely off base. They certainly simplified the situation, but what do you expect from children's programming?

I think the channel is trash, personally, pretty much without redeeming qualities. I wouldn't encourage my children to watch it, I'd rather they watched discovery channel, or TLC, but that's just my opinion.

Let's not forget unequal representation and unfair taxation issues, as well.




seekerof

I am not a historian, but I have read a few books about texas independence. One thing you can find in the books is.....confusion. Some books make a case suggesting that slavery played an important part of the war, others make the case that is had no imact on starting the war.

I did a little search of the history pages on some of the Texas colleges websites. I found alot of links to old documents and articles of the era, where popular opinion was stated.

What did I find? Well, for better or worse, slavery wasn't a major factor, it did play a role, but there were alot of other things aggitating the situation to a higher degree.

Well, here is a link to some historical info of popular opinion during the war, it is from Texas A&M
www.tamu.edu...

The truth is, so far as one may judge from the absence of discussion of the subject in Texas, that slavery played no part in precipitating the revolution; while it is certain that land speculation, of which there was unquestionably a great deal, tended rather to retard than to hasten the outbreak.

Another interesting quote from the article, the author states he could find only three references to slavery in minutes of town meetings and in newspapers.

Author Barker footnotes that: I have found but three contemporary references which might indicate a potential connection between the slavery question and the revolution: (1) In a Fourth of July address intended to stir the colonists to resistance R. M. Williamson, a prominent radical, declared that the Mexicans were coming to Texas to compel the Texans, among other things, to give up their slaves (a broadside in the Bexar archives; "Publications" of So. Hist. Assn., VIII, 7-18). (2) Ina letter of August 21,1835, Stephen F. Austin said "Texas must be a slave country. It is no longer a matter of doubt" (Quarterly of Tex. State Hist. Assn., XIII, 271). (3) On August 28 the radicals issued a circular in which they quoted H. A. Alsberry, who had recently returned from Mexico, as saying that the Mexicans boasted that they would free the slaves of the Texans and set them against their masters (Broadside in the Austin Papers)

I wasn't there at the time, and from the books I read, I would say most likely slavery was not a main issue. However, I have to admit, it was important to the Texans who were slave holders that Texas allow slavery, and there is no doubt that the mexican govt. used that to it's advantage in trying to scare the settlers.