Age of Empresarios

Texas under Mexican Rule1821-1836

Reasons for migration to TexasSpanish, later Mexican

reasons:• Needed land to be

populated• Wanted more agriculture,

towns, trade and the arts• Set up system of

empresarios (Contractors) to encourage settlement

American reasons:• Land cheaper in Texas• Got more land, better

opportunity for prospering

• good land available• Crop practices

exhausted soil• Seeking adventure• Escaping problems in

the U.S.

Requirements for immigration to Texas

• Good moral character• Become Catholic • Settlers formed militia• Payment for the land

G.T.T.

What did the settlers receive?• An amount of land:

Amounts varied: livestock raising allowed more land than farming

• Land was surveyed at the expense of the empresario (Measured in varas and leagues)

• “title” or a legal document giving them proof of ownership to the land

Who were the Empresarios?

• Moses Austin:1821• Spain gave him

contract to settle a Colony of 300 families

• Died shortly after contract established

• Spain became Mexico

Stephen F. Austin

• Moses Austin’s son• Came to Tx to settle father’s affairs• Decided to continue Austin Colony• Question: would Mexico honor his father’s

contract with Spain?

Austin Colony

• Located between the Brazos and Colorado Rivers

• Included Gulf Coast land• Rich soil for crops• Water sources available• Timber for building• Moderate climate• Settled the “Old Three Hundred” – Texas first

Anglo settlers allowed by Mexico.

Old ThreeHundred

mostly U.S.southerners

mostly farmers

manyslaveholders

mostly law-abiding

fairly welleducated

Characteristics of The Old Three Hundred

By

1825By 1825, ¼ of colony were slaves

Some women even held land grants in Austin’s colony which was untraditional for that time. One of the most influential was Jane Long, the widow of James Long.

San Felipe de Austin

• San Felipe de Austin as the capital - located almost directly in the center of the colony.

• 1830’s - it was the second largest business center (next to San Antonio) with a newspaper, a lumber mill, a post office and a hotel

• Austin’s Colony WAS A SUCCESS!! • Considered the “Father of Texas.”

Austin’s Address to Colonists on the Colorado(August 6, 1823)

“I feel almost the same interest for (the settlers’) prosperity that I do for my own family – in fact, I look upon them as one great family who are under my care…I have spent much time and lost much property on the coast in my absence…Those who have the means must pay me a little money on receipt of their titles; from those who have not money I will receive any kind of property that will not be a dead loss to me…It is a pleasure for me to benefit my fellow citizens and I will sacrifice my own interest rather than distress them for one cent of money.”

Map with Mexican States 1825

CCCoahuila y Texas was one of the largest states in all of Mexico.

• DeWitt Colony• southwest of Austin’s original grant.• headquarters were in Gonzales. • Settled 166 out of 400 allowed.

• Land battle with Martin de Leon…DeWitt lost

Green DeWitt

• De Leon Colony – 1824• Only Mexican empresario – 41 families; no limit

on land• Brought mostly Mexicans to live in TX• Modern day Victoria• Land Battle with Green DeWitt……de Leon won! (probably b/c he and his colonists were Mexican)

Martin de Leon

Sterling Robertson

• Leftwich/Roberston Colony• Northwest of Austin’s Colony• Had enough land for 800 families…very

few actually came so he invited less than desirable families to move here.

• More accepting of “morally challenged” individuals than Austin was and they argued over this issue.

The Irish Came to Texas

Power & Hewetson• Named their capital

Refugio• Immigrants died from

cholera on way to TX

• Border disputes with DeLeon

• Only 200 families settled

McGloin & McMullen• Named capital San

Patricio• About 80 families

• were active in Mexican politics and received a grant were active in Mexican politics and received a grant to settle 500 families in East Texas. They sold the to settle 500 families in East Texas. They sold the

contracts (not the land) to the contracts (not the land) to the Galveston Bay Galveston Bay and Texas Land Companyand Texas Land Company

• Sold scrips to settlers…gave right to move to TX but Sold scrips to settlers…gave right to move to TX but no land once they were here.no land once they were here.

Lorenzo de Zavala and David Burnet

Haden Edwards• Settled near Nacogdoches (are there advantages to this

strategy?)

• Did not treat existing settlers fairly…lost contract! (Who do you think these existing settlers were?)

• Started a rebellion– Renamed his area the Republic of Fredonia

(what does this mean?)

– Austin’s militia and the Mexican Army had to come and stop him.

Letter from Edwards to Austin(Nacogdoches, January 9, 1826)

“I found on my return from your place that a considerable storm had arisen (among the settlers)…I came out in a hurricane, and promised to send in irons any man who dared acknowledge the threat to (me); sounded the (trumpet) all around, bidding defiance to all their threats, and bidding them leave the lands or come forward and make arrangements to pay for them. They are now all friendly; (and) promise to pay me for their lands and spend their lives in my defense.”

If you were an empresario, which land grant would you have wanted and why?

Mexican Land Grants, 1821-1836

• Population in Texas was almost 20,000 people. • Towns of La Bahia and Nacogdoches had grown

considerably. • There were new towns in San Felipe, Gonzales,

and Victoria.• There were many other smaller communities.• The cotton and cattle industries were growing.• Working together, the Mexican government, the

empresarios, and the settlers would continue to expand Texas’ population.