<P> For years, Mexican authorities used the reconquering of Texas as an excuse for implementing new taxes and making the army the budgetary priority of the impoverished nation . Only sporadic skirmishes resulted . Larger expeditions were postponed as military funding was consistently diverted to other rebellions, out of fear that those regions would ally with Texas and further fragment the country . The northern Mexican states, the focus of the Matamoros Expedition, briefly launched an independent Republic of the Rio Grande in 1839 . The same year, the Mexican Congress considered a law to declare it treasonous to speak positively of Texas . In June 1843, leaders of the two nations declared an armistice . </P> <P> On June 1, Santa Anna boarded a ship to travel back to Mexico . For the next two days, crowds of soldiers, many of whom had arrived that week from the United States, gathered to demand his execution . Lamar, by now promoted to Secretary of War, gave a speech insisting that "Mobs must not intimidate the government . We want no French Revolution in Texas!", but on June 4 soldiers seized Santa Anna and put him under military arrest . Burnet called for elections to ratify the constitution and elect a Congress, the sixth set of leaders for Texas in a twelve - month period . Voters overwhelmingly chose Houston the first president, ratified the constitution drawn up by the Convention of 1836, and approved a resolution to request annexation to the United States . Houston issued an executive order sending Santa Anna to Washington, D.C., and from there he was soon sent home . </P> <P> During his absence, Santa Anna had been deposed . Upon his arrival, the Mexican press wasted no time in attacking him for his cruelty towards those executed at Goliad . In May 1837, Santa Anna requested an inquiry into the event . The judge determined the inquiry was only for fact - finding and took no action; press attacks in both Mexico and the United States continued . Santa Anna was disgraced until the following year, when he became a hero of the Pastry War . </P> <P> Although the Texian interim governments had vowed to eventually compensate citizens for goods that were impressed during the war efforts, for the most part livestock and horses were not returned . Veterans were guaranteed land bounties; in 1879, surviving Texian veterans who served more than three months from October 1, 1835, through January 1, 1837, were guaranteed an additional 1,280 acres (520 ha) in public lands . Over 1.3 million acres (559 thousand ha) of land were granted; some of this was in Greer County, which was later determined to be part of Oklahoma . </P>

The significance of the battle of san jacinto