Americans Colonize Texas

Unit 05 Lesson 02

Goal

• I can explain the role Texas played in the Mexican War for Independence and how this war impacted the development of Texas.

Facts

• In 1820 a Missouri business man named Mosses Austin went to Austin to meet with Spanish Governor of Texas Antonio Martinez.

• He had heard that the Spanish Government was giving out free land grants, or gifts, of land to people willing to set up colonies in Texas.

• He was given permission to settle 300 American families in Texas.

Facts

• Mosses Austin dies soon after returning to the United States.

• He wrote a letter to his son begging him to return home and take his place.

• Stephen F. Austin went to Texas in 1821• Important tools were farming and building

tools like hammers, plows, saws

Beginning

• Stephen F. Austin's father, Moses, laid the foundation for this colony in Texas during late 1820 and 1821, but died before being able to implement his plans. Stephen, although uncertain at first, decided to finish what his father had begun. Austin travelled to San Antonio de Bexar, where he was declared the rightful heir to his father's grant. Austin was issued an empressario contract to settle three hundred families in Spanish Texas. The Spanish demanded the settlers be, Mexican citizens, which required them to be loyal to the official government and Catholic.

• When Austin began advertising his colony, he received a great deal of interest. He was able to be selective in his choice of colonists, which enabled his colony to be different from most others of the time. Austin chose settlers based on whether he believed they would be appropriately hardworking. Overall, they belonged to a higher economic scale than most immigrants, and all brought some property with them. One-quarter of the families brought slaves with them. All but four of the men could read and write. This relatively high level of literacy had a great impact on the future of the colony. According to historianWilliam C. Davis, because they were literate, the colonists absorbed and spread the knowledge needed to unite people to a common purpose

Location

• Austin next set out to find land for his colony. He decided on the rich river bottom between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers, south of the El Camino Real. Settlers began arriving during 1821 and 1822, transforming this area from an unsettled wilderness into a sparsely settled rural community. These colonists receiving the first three hundred land grants came to be called the Old Three Hundred, and over 57 of them received land in what is now Fort Bend County. One of these "Old 300" was Henry Jones, who located his league along the Brazos River south of the "Old Fort" or Fort Bend--now Richmond. Jones' league (4,428 acres) was adjoined by his brother John's quarter league.

Texas Colonies 1833

Motivation

• The promise of inexpensive land was the most prominent reason for emigrating from the United States at this time. Austin advertised in newspapers along the American western frontier, publicizing the abundant land--available for 12 1/2 cents per acre--one tenth the cost of public land in the United States. Colonists moved to the colony particularly from the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Some came overland by horse, wagon, or foot, while many others sailed from New Orleans and Mobile to the Texas port cities of Brazoria and Matagorda. The trip by either means was dangerous.

Occupation

• Once in the colony, the settlers lined up at the land office in the colonial capital of San Felipe de Austin to receive their land. Married heads of families could receive at least one labor (177 acres) if they farmed, and one league (4,428 acres) if they raised stock. Needless to say, virtually every man--whether doctor, tinsmith, or blacksmith--listed his occupation as farmer and stockraiser to receive the maximum amount of land. As the land had never been mapped, much of the 12 1/2 cents per acre that the settlers paid Austin was spent by him in surveying fees

Farming

• Virtually all of Austin's Colonists planted crops on their land. "The soil and climate are best adapted to the growth of Cotton, Sugar, Corn, potatoes, which grow very well. Fruit unusual to this climate or latitude can be raised without any difficulty--the peach, pear, plumb, fig, grape, pomegranite, quince, apricot, orange, lemon, banana are at present growing in the colony and I am informed do remarkably well--for melons, pumpkins, squashes, cucumbers, and all vines it surpasses any country I ever saw--you have but to plant them and you have almost a certainty of a plentiful harvest.--"

Mexican Independence influence

• Mexico’s independence from Spain influenced American citizens to move to Texas because of the American style of Representative Government that had three branches to keep anyone from getting too powerful and a constitution ensuring it would stay that way.