HOW THE ALAMO SAVED AMERICA: It was 190 years ago today that the 182 men of the Alamo finally succumbed after 13 days battling and delaying dictator Santa Ana’s Mexican Army of 5,000. Those 13 days gave Texas Gen. Sam Houston time to rally the troops who would inflict a humiliating defeat of Santa Ana at the Battle of San Jacinto.

But, as Rod Martin explains in a column that every American ought to read, it was not just the Texas Republic that the Alamo made possible. Had Santa Ana crushed the Texas rebellion, he could well have conquered New Orleans and thus strangled the American economy.

Even without taking New Orleans, it’s reasonable to envision him being in a position to make trade on the Mississippi exorbitantly expensive, which would also have inflicted tremendous damage to the emerging American economy.

There are even more serious consequences that would have accrued to the U.S. had the Texas rebellion been defeated. Martin memorably lays it all out.