Texas: A Brief Account of the Origin, Progress and Present State of the Colonial Settlements of Texas; Together with an Exposition of the Causes Which Have Induced the Existing War with Mexico

Written by a delegate to the Texas Congress who witnessed the revolution firsthand, this 1836 publication stands as one of the earliest and most passionate American arguments for Texan independence. William H. Wharton documents the promises made by Mexico to attract American settlers, the gradual erosion of those commitments, and the growing resentment toward Santa Anna's centralization of power. He catalogs specific grievances: laws targeting Anglo colonists, military garrisons维持 in peacetime, and the suspension of the Mexican constitution. Wharton's account is less a neutral history than a forensic indictment, building a case that Texan independence was not aggression but self-defense. The book captures a pivotal moment when a colony decided to break from a distant government, and it preserves the rhetoric and reasoning of men who believed they were fighting for liberty. For readers interested in the American frontier, early Texas, or the complexities of manifest destiny, this is a primary source that refuses to be ignored.