1. Stephen F. Austin and the Empresarios

2. Towns already in Texas when Moses Austin showed up
San Antonio
Goliad
Nacogdoches
Saltillo (captial of CyT)
Why didn’t Mexico have the Mexicans move into Texas? Why did they bring in Americans?
They would have been too far from Mexico City and “civilization”
The Natives were hostile… it was safer to stay home
Nacogdoches
San Antonio
Goliad
Saltillo

3. Empresario
A land agent who sells Spanish Land to foreigners

4. Ok Dad… I’ll carry out your plans for settling Texas.
Moses Austin
Ok Dad… I’ll carry out your plans for settling Texas.
Stephen F. Austin
Moses Austin (Stephen F. Austin’s Father)
The first American to get permission from Spain to bring American settlers to Texas
Lived in Missouri until a depression hit the U.S. and he lost all his money
Went to Texas to ask the Spanish government if he could have a contract to bring Americans to settle Texas
The Spanish were suspicious that Austin was really there to grab land until Baron de Bastrop convinced the Spanish officials otherwise
Made a fortune lead mining in Missouri
He lost his lead business in the depression of 1819
After hearing about George Morgan’s colony in current-day Missouri, Moses Austin moved there to operate a lead mine.
He wanted to bring 300 US families to Texas.
Moses Austin presented a petition to the Spanish government.
He argued to the governor that Americans would eventually settle in TX. Would Spain rather have them legally as Spanish citizens or as illegal filibusters fighting the gov’t

5. MOSES AUSTIN BEGINS COLONIZATION IN TEXAS
Believing his petition was going to be approved, Moses Austin headed east to start recruiting colonists for Texas.
He became ill and was dying when he learned that his petition was officially approved by the Spanish officials.
On his deathbed, Austin asked his son, Stephen F. Austin, to carry out his dream of colonizing Texas.
Austin headed back eat with a man named Kirkham
Kirkham robbed Austin & another man & left him in the dead of winter with no horse
Austin caught pneumonia & died in 1821 without seeing his dream realized
texas/colonization.htm

6. Stephen F. Austin Moses Austin land claim was approved in August 1821
Stephen F. Austin was 27 yrs old when his father died. He quit his legal career to carry out his father’s colonization plans.
The Spanish sent Erasmo Seguin to help him and pick land for his settlement.

7. Stephen F. Austin “Father of Texas”
Founded the first Anglo American Colony in Texas
1821 – 1st American to settle in Texas and eventually brought 300 families to settle in Texas
At 27, Stephen F. Austin put aside his plans of practicing law and went to Texas to fulfill his father’s wishes.
Austin’s first visited San Antonio de Bexar and met with Governor Martinez.
Governor Martinez appointed Erasmo Seguin (a well-known and respected citizen) to help Austin.
Contributions
Over 40 Empresarios were granted land during the 1820’s and the population increased from a mere couple thousand to 21,000 by 1834.
Stephen F Austin alone was responsible for bringing more than 1,500 families to Texas.
He had the ability to get along with almost everyone he met including Mexican officials and Indian leaders
He will forever be known as “The Father of Texas”

8. Erasmo Seguin Tejano Rancher
Represented Texas at Mexican Constitutional convention
Located land for the Austin Colony
Supported Texas Independence
Was very helpful in getting the empresario grant from the Spanish gov’t for Stephen F. Austin

9. STEPHEN F. AUSTIN
Where would Austin put these colonists he was bringing to Texas?
Austin’s first job was to choose a site for his colony.
He chose the area between Lavaca and San Jacinto Rivers.
area easy for settlers to clear
received enough rainfall for crops
area good to grow sugar cane, cotton,
corn, and other familiar crops
Steps for Colonization
Get approval
Choose a site for the colony
Recruit colonist
photo at

10. How It Worked…
Each empresario would sign a contract with the government of Mexico whereby they promised to settle a certain number of families (in Austin’s first contract he was supposed to settle 300 families)
REQUIREMENTS FOR SETTLING IN TEXAS:
You had to become a citizen of your new country (Spain, and later Mexico)
You had to become Catholic
Success of the colony rested on WHO he chose
Good character
Rise up to meet challenges
Could endure hard times
Be able to provide for themselves in colny
Colonist had to do 2 things
Pledge loyalty to Spain
Had to be Catholic or agree to support Catholicism
You had to be of good moral character

11. Advertising for Colonists
Austin advertised for settlers in newspapers read in the southern states.
Ads gave the rules:
“No drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, no idler”
Every man would receive:
640 acres for himself
320 acres for his wife
160 acres for each child
80 acres for each slave
Persons with useful skills other than farming and ranching received more.
Every man who came to Austin for land would receive 640 acres for himself

12. Each settler paid Austin $0.12 an acre
Austin interviewed the settlers and chose the people he thought would be the best for a settlement. If you had an especially useful job (merchant, doctor, mill and ferry operators) they would get extra land)
Each settler paid Austin $0.12 an acre
Settlers paid Austin 12.5 cents an acre and Austin surveyed (measured off the land) and provided documents giving ownership or title to the land.
The 12.5 cents per acres covered these costs.

13. The Old Three Hundred Brought to Texas in 1824
First Anglo Colony in Texas
Brought by Stephen F. Austin
According to the Grant Austin got he was allowed to bring 300 families
Among the 1,790 colonists in 1825 about 440 were slaves of African and Caribbean decent.
These colonists were very well educated and law abiding and many came from the southern U.S. including several from Louisiana.
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.

14. Austin’s First Colony
Austin’s choice for his first colony was between the Colorado and the Brazos Rivers.
Austin’s colony included a port because he knew he would need it to get settlers and supplies to the colony.
Austin got a ship, the Lively to take people and supplies to the new colony from New Orleans.
Everything went mostly well until 1822:
The Lively shipwrecked and Austin lost a lot of supplies and colonists
Mexico won it’s independence from Spain in 1821… so now Austin had to get permission to colonize Texas from the new Mexican government.

15. While you could come to Texas without the help of an empresario, most families didn’t. Why not?
Most settlers could not speak Spanish and needed the empresarios help getting the title to their land
Most of the desirable land was held by the empresarios
After Austin opened the door… many more men came to Texas to make money as an empresario… these men brought hundreds of American families to Texas…
Population of Texas in 1821 (When SFA started): 7,000
Population of Texas in 1833 (around the end of empresarios) 20,000
HOW DO YOU THINK THIS CHANGE IN POPULATION AFFECTED THE HISTORY OF TEXAS?

16. Mexican Independence from Spain
Problems!
The “Lively” sank.
Drought
Karankawa attacks
Mexican Independence from Spain
In 1821, as settlers began to arrive, problems also began to arise.
Stephen F Austin returned to his colony in August 1823 along with Baron Bastrop to issue the official land titles.
He found that several settlers had already left and others were threatening to leave.
Major droughts had ruined many of the first crops and raids by the Karankawa and Tonkawa Indians left little food and supplies.
Austin had to get his grant approved by the Mexican government now.
Because Mexico had gained independence from Spain in 1821, now Mexico, NOT SPAIN, ruled Texas. (Problem bc Austin had gotten his grant from Spain – and now he had to travle over 1,000 miles to Mexico City to secure the future of his colony and get his grant approved by the Mexican government.
It took him over a year to get approval from Mexican government

17. 1823-1825 Mexico’s New Colonization Laws
Effects on Settlement in Texas
State Colonization
Law of 1825
National Colonization
Law of 1824
allowed each Mexican state to set its own colonization policies
restricted new U.S. immigrants from establishing colonies near the borders or the coast
Empresarios received 67,000 acres of land for every 200
families
- heads of household received
4,428 acres of land for $30 and exempt from paying taxes
for 10 years
huge wave of immigration, particularly U.S. immigration to Texas
several new colonies established
Laws Austin influenced:
Awarded grants under national colonization laws of 1823 and 1824
State colonization law 1825
Influenced laws that make colonists free from taxes
Obtained homestead rights for colonists (settler’s land and tools could not be taken/seized to pay back a debt)
1824
1824: States could create their own colonization laws.
48,708 acres of land: maximum per family
Only settlers intending to live permanently could receive land contracts.

18. State Colonization Law of 1825
Law set up guidelines to colonization of Coahuila y Texas
Allowed Stephen F. Austin & other empresarios to receive land grants in Texas

19. 1825 – 1830 Empresario Contracts
In 1825 the new Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas passed a colonization law.
This allowed other empresarios to get land grants in Texas.
By 1830, 30 empresarios had done so and Texas had a population of 20,000 people.

20. Martin de Leon Mexican Empresario
Settled 200 Mexican families in South Texas (between the Lavaca & Guadalupe River)
He and his wife founded the town of Victoria in 1824
They sided with the Texans during the war of independence, but they suffered prejudice after the war.
De Leon was a rancher.
Encouraged growth of cattle industry in Texas

21. Green DeWitt American Empresario Founded a colony in Gonzales
settled 166 families there
Settled on rich soil
Most important town = gonzales
Repeated attacks by comanches
Eventually, becomes prosperous farming and ranching
Bringing people from USA (missouri)
(Austin bringing people from USA too) – tx at this point is under Mexican control

22. G.T.T. – “Gone to Texas”
Written above abandoned cabins to let others know where to find them (if they went looking, of course)

23. Settlers came to Texas for many reasons: Seeking adventure
Escaping problems in the U.S.
Attracted by plenty of cheap land ($1.25 vs. $0.25)
Push
Expensive Land
Little hope of getting farmland
Hard to become successful
Pull
Cheap Land
Good Farmland
U.S. plans to take over Mexico

24. Colonists came on horseback, covered wagons, boats, and even on foot
Colonists came on horseback, covered wagons, boats, and even on foot! (Limited supplies)
Early Texas colonists were mostly from MEXICO and EUROPE by way of the U.S.
African American population grew as settlers brought slaves. Even though Mexico made slavery illegal in 1829, it was not enforced.
Mexican law did protect free African Americans….which would come back to haunt them!

25. Reasons for migration to Texas
Spanish, 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
Why did the government of Spain and later the government of Mexico want these things?
What is another geographic term we learned besides migration dealing with the concept of groups of people leaving one region and going to another? (movement)