Fredonian Rebellion, 1826–27, in Texas history, a premature attempt to make Texas independent from Mexico. Two Americans, Haden Edwards and his brother, had undertaken to make settlements on a land grant in E Texas around Nacogdoches, where there were already Mexican settlers, American squatters, and Cherokee. Haden Edwards tried to oust those settlers who could not show clear title, and the resultant trouble led the Mexican government to revoke his charter. The impetuous Edwards decided, against the advice of Stephen F. Austin, to take up arms. He expected some American support and attempted an alliance with the Native Americans, agreeing to divide Texas with them; but he could gather only a few men for the army of his hastily constituted state of Fredonia, and the whole scheme fell apart at the approach of a Mexican force. The incident served, however, to draw the attention of the Mexican and U.S. governments to the conflict of cultures in Texas.
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