Mexican National Era

In this Unit you will learn about Mexico's fight for independence from Spain, Mexican Colonization of Texas, and Texas under Mexico's rule.

How do societies act to ensure the well-being of its people?

As Europeans, Africans, and indigenous peoples mixed and new generations of mixed-race children emerged, Spanish colonial society sought to institute a system of racial classification called the Casta System. Spanish settlers eventually applied the word casta, the Spanish word for 'lineage,' to all children of mixed ancestry. The Casta System was extremely important in the Spanish colonies, because it dictated one's social status, level of taxation, and legal rights.

Casta System

The Lousiana Purchase

Many Groups Claim Texas

In 1800, France regained control of Louisiana. Three years later, in 1803, the French sold the vast territory to the United States for $15 million dollars, an action that doubled the size of the U.S. and gave the U.S. a border with Spain.

As new settlers poured into Louisiana, some Americans began to act as if Texas had been part of the deal.

Filibusters

A Filibuster is a person who wages an unofficial war against a country.

Philip Nolan, a horse trader, led a small force of armed men to Texas in the late 1700s to claim territory for the U.S. Spanish officials sent soldiers to kill Nolan and drove his group off.

The U.S. and Spain began a long dispute about where to place the border. Army officers from each country signed the Neutral Ground agreement. It said that neither army would put troops in the area that was under dispute. As a result, many outlaws moved into that region.

Philip Nolan

First filibuster in Texas.
In the late 1700's he entered Texas to round up wild horses and took them back to the U.S. to sell.
He plotted to claim land in Texas for the U.S. in the 1790's.
Nolan, who once had friends in high places in the Spanish government, became at odds with these officials due to his plans. They feared he was a revolutionary, and accused him of trespassing on Spanish land and of stealing horses, which ran wild in enormous herds on the Texas plains.
Nolan was killed by the Spanish in 1801.
Because of the decade Nolan spent in Texas on his mustanging expeditions he has become recognized as the first of a long line of Filibusters that eventually helped to free Texas from Spanish and Mexican rule.

The Long Expedition

Filibuster James Long was captured and executed in 1822 after leading an army into Nacogdoches and trying to declare Texas an independent country.
James' wife, Jane Long, was one of the first Anglo American women to settle in Texas. She became known as the “Mother of Texas”.

Filibusters Take Action

Augustus Magee and Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara were filibusters who decided to invade Texas. In 1812, they captured Nacogdoches and moved on to La Bahia. When Magee died, Samuel Kemper became the leader. He declared the state of Texas independent. However, he was defeated by Spanish forces at the Battle of Medina in 1813.

In 1819, the U.S. signed a border treaty with Spain called the Adams-Onis Treaty. In it, the Americans gave up any claims to Texas and agreed to the Sabine River as the border. Dr. James Long, a Filibuster, didn’t like the treaty and tried to invade Texas twice. On Long’s second invasion of Texas, he was captured by Spanish officials and executed.

Trouble In Mexico

By the early 19th century, the local middle classes of Mexico had grown tired of sharing their wealth with Spain, and an obsession with independence began to grow.
In particular the Creoles (those born in New Spain of Spanish parents) resented being considered inferior by those born in the European homeland.
Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's proclamation "Grito de Dolores" called for Mexicans to take up arms against Spain (happened in the town of Dolores).
On September 16, 1810 Mexico Declared its independence from Spain.
Despite numerous setbacks, the independence movement continued under the Creole colonel Agustín de Iturbide.
Mexico finally won its Independence from Spain on September 28, 1821.
With Mexican Independence from Spain, Texas was now considered a part of Mexican territory.

The Mexican National Era Begins!

This era was characterized by Empresarios, Anglo Settlement, & included Texas as a part of Mexico.
It lasted from 1821-1836.
One major difference from the time of Spanish rule was that now Anglo settlers would follow Empresarios with land grants to Texas.

Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824

The Mexican Government had to redivide the land they won from Spain for their new rule.
The Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824 created the first Constitutional government of Texas.
It also created the state of Coahuila Y Texas. This meant that the territory of Texas would now include an expansion to the South.
This merger of the two geographic regions into Coahuila and Texas eventually resulted in political tensions that divided the region.

Population In Texas

Many Americans and Mexicans migrated to Mexican-Owned Texas in the 1820's to obtain cheap farm land.
The establishment of Anglo-American (White Non-Hispanic) settlements was a major change in Texas society.
Now the population included Anglos, Native Americans, Mexicans, and African-American slaves that the Anglo settlers brought with them.

Gone To Texas!

The idea of Manifest Destiny (That America should own all the land from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean) and cheap land drove American settlers West toward Texas.
So many people left their homes in the United States to come to Texas that “G.T.T.” (Gone To Texas) signs became common!

This song is about a musician whose life was a mess and he decided to Go To Texas and get it back together again.

The Empresario System

Settlement In Texas

After their war with Spain the Mexican government needed a quick way to pay off their war debts.
They wanted to sell off land in Texas but were struggling to populate the area. The land was not easy to live in during the Spanish period due to the hostile climate (harsh/bad weather) and frequent Indian attacks, but Mexico had a plan:
Get English speaking Americans (Anglo-Americans) to move into the area by giving them free land! Mexico hoped this would increase the population of Texas. And thus the Empresario System was born!

Empresario System Rules

The Empresarios would get a grant (permission) from the Mexican government for a certain amount of free land and it was the Empresario’s job to get people to move to it.
The Mexican government had only three rules for the new settlers:

1) They had to swear allegiance to Mexico and become Mexican citizens.

2) They had to learn Spanish.

3) Settlers would have to change religions and become Catholic.

Empresarios were land agents that were granted land to sell and supervise in Texas.
There were Anglo-American as well as Mexican Empresarios.
The State Colonization Law of 1825 supported the Empresario system.
Most Texas Empresarios received land grants in 1823.
Although some Empresarios were successful many were not due to the high cost of obtaining grants, having land surveyed, and the long wait for approval.

Land Grant Locations

Most Texas land grants were located in East and Central Texas because Mexican officials wanted to settle areas closest to the United States. [To serve as a deterrent for illegal American immigration into Mexico.]
The Coastal Plains Region had the most successful land grants in Texas as that region had the best soil for farming.

Important Empresarios Of Texas

Moses Austin

Moses Austin was an American businessman, originally from Connecticut. Over the course of his life he started several businesses in several states, including a grocery store in Philadelphia, a mine in Virginia and a bank in St. Louis.
After each of those businesses failed, he had to make a choice: stay and go to jail, because he owed people money...or run away to Spanish Texas and start a new business.
He chose to go to Spanish Texas and start a “colony” for American families.

The Spanish government was eager to populate Texas in order to develop the region so that it would generate more tax revenue (more money).
An additional benefit would be that with more settlers the Native Americans would be less of a threat and it would also keep the United States from trying to take the land.
Moses Austin was the first Anglo-American (Non-Hispanic White Person) granted permission to bring American Settlers to Texas.
Knowing all of this, Moses Austin went to San Antonio to secure a Land Grant from the Spanish Government there. He accomplished this in 1820, and was given permission to bring 300 families to settle Texas.

Before he could leave, however, he became ill with pneumonia and died; leaving his son, Stephen F. Austin to continue his efforts.

Stephen F. Austin

Stephen F. Austin is known as the “Father of Texas” because he brought the original 300 American families into the Mexican state of Texas. Those families would go on to lead the revolution years later.
Stephen F. Austin’s father, Moses Austin, was given the right to settle the families from the Spanish governor in 1820, but he died before he could begin. Shortly after Moses died, the nation of Mexico won its independence from Spain, becoming a new country.
This meant that Stephen F. Austin needed to ask permission from Mexico before he could bring the new settlers to Texas.

After agreeing to the three terms (rules) that Mexico set for Settlement, Stephen F. Austin chose to settle an area of East Texas between the Colorado and Brazos Rivers, which was good for agriculture. Agriculture is the work of growing crops and raising livestock.
Austin was also looking for hardworking men and women of good moral character. He did not want to bring thieves, drunkards, or criminals to his new colony.
Austin’s colony was a success in the sense that many Anglo settlers came and thrived, but it never brought the riches the Austin family had hoped for.

Austin's Colony built cabins with a central breezeway to let air in during the summer, cooling the house down.

Life In Stephen F. Austin's Colony

At 12.5 cents per acre, the price of land in Texas was 10 times less than in the U.S., meaning that buying land in Texas was SUPER CHEAP! This helped to make the colony a success.
By 1825, it had 1,347 Anglos (Non-Hispanic Whites) and 443 enslaved people. Austin built a town called San Felipe de Austin and made it the colony capital.
The first settlers in Austin’s colony were known as the Old Three Hundred and came mostly from the southern part of the U.S. They experienced a terrible drought, disagreements over land ownership, and attacks by angry Karankawas.
To defend themselves, the colonists formed a militia [temporary volunteer army].

Green DeWitt

At the age of 34, inspired by Moses Austin’s colonial grant from the Spanish government, DeWitt began to petition for his own land contract.
When his request was denied, DeWitt visited Texas and met with Austin, then traveled to Saltillo, Mexico (the capital of Coahuila y Tejas) to address his petition to the Mexican state.
Supported by the influence of Austin and the Baron de Bastrop, DeWitt finally succeeded in gaining authorization in April of 1825 to settle 400 Anglo-Americans along the Guadalupe River, practically “next door” to Stephen F. Austin’s colony at San Felipe.

Martin De Leon

Martin de Leon settled families in South Texas in 1824. He was the first Mexican Empresario to start a colony in Texas.
De Leon settled not only Mexican families but also American and Irish families.
Families settled between the Guadalupe River and the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi.
In his colony, De Leon founded the town of Victoria. In Victoria, he started a church, a school, organized a militia and set up a messenger service to Austin’s Colony.

Erasmo Seguin

Juan Erasmo Seguin was a Native Texan and his family was one of the first to settle in San Antonio.
Seguin built his life in San Antonio during the Spanish Colonial Era. He founded the first public school in the city and served in the government. In 1820, when the Austins (Moses & Stephen F.) came to San Antonio to seek permission for colonization, Seguin was the mayor of the town.
He started a friendship with both Moses Austin and Stephan F. Austin and helped them with their efforts to bring settlers to Texas. Seguin helped Stephen F. Austin explore the areas of East Texas that would become Austin’s colony and would be a major supporter of Anglo settlement throughout the Mexican national period.

In the early days of the Mexican nation, Seguin would be the only representative from Texas to attend the constitutional convention.
While there he argued on behalf of Texas and Empresarios.
He fought against the merger of Texas and the state of Coahuila and sought to decrease limits on settlers regarding slavery and converting to Catholicism.

Growing Unrest

Joel Poinsett

American Ambassador to Mexico in 1826

In the 1820s, Americans were moving west. Mexico feared that the U.S. would try to take Texas. Attacks by the filibusters made that fear grow.
Some Americans thought that Mexico did not want Texas. They pointed out that few Mexicans lived there. The American ambassador was sent to Mexico to try to buy the area for $1 million. Mexico refused to sell Texas, though.

Mexican Constitution of 1824

In 1824, Federalists wrote a new Mexican Constitution to help govern Mexico.

Federalists were people who wanted to share power between the states and the national government [and wanted the states to have more power]

This new constitution established the state of Coahuila y Texas and supported a democratic government.

Colonization Law of 1825

Settlers couldn’t settle along the Gulf Coast.

Settlers couldn’t settle close to the U.S. border.

Settlers must take an oath of loyalty to Mexico.

Settlers were exempt from taxes for 10 years.

Settlers could pay off their land over 6 years.

Settler Loyalty in Doubt

In the mid-1830s, Mexico carried out a census, an official population count. The census revealed that only about 25,000 settlers lived in all of Texas. Mexico was worried. Most of the settlers were Americans.

Mexican officials were not sure if the settlers would be loyal to Mexico. So they divided Texas into different departments, or areas with local government.

In the northern part of Texas, Anglos from the U.S. made up most of the settlers. In the south, most people who lived in Texas were Tejanos. Tejanos are people with Mexican ancestry who live in Texas.

Mexican & U.S. Values

Still, Mexico had a problem in Texas. Americans who moved there held beliefs that went against how things were done in Mexico.

They thought that civilians should lead the country. In Mexico, though, the military had a lot of power.

Settlers thought that church leaders should not be involved in the government. In Mexico, leaders of the Catholic Church could be part of the government.

The settlers also wanted self-government, an active role in making laws and decisions. In Mexico, common people had little power.

Finally, some Americans in Texas held slaves. This was an issue in the U.S. as well as in Mexico. Many in the northern U.S. opposed slavery while many in the south supported it. Mexico had a law against slavery. However, Stephen F. Austin convinced Mexico’s leaders to allow slaves from the U.S. Still, many Americans feared that their slaves would be taken from them.

Settlers Practice Independence

Three primary groups wrestled for control of Texas during this period: the army, the Catholic Church, and leaders of the Mexican Revolution.
Texas settlers found themselves in the middle of this power struggle.
The Americans who settled in Texas – called Anglos – lived like Americans. They spoke English, did not worship as Catholics, and had little to do with the government of Mexico.
By retaining their culture, they practiced their own form of “independence”. Before long, this would cause tensions with the Mexican government...

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