Mexican Independence and the Empresario Era

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Mexican Independence and the Empresario Era

• 1821-1836

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Mexican Unrest

• By the early 1800s, residents of Mexico were
  tired of being ruled by Spain.
• Poverty and racism in New Spain were extreme
• European-born Spaniards, called peninsulares,
  occupied the highest positions of wealth and
  power.
• Next were criollos, Spaniards born in the
  Americas.
• Mestizos, people of mixed Spanish and Indian
  heritage, were near the bottom of the social
  scale.
• At the very bottom were the Indians.

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A graphical representation of New Spains social
status order.
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The Seeds of Revolution

• On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla,
  a priest from the town of Dolores, began a revolt
  against Spanish rule.
• His call for revolt became known as the Grito de
  Dolores, or Cry of Dolores.
• Father Hidalgo wanted all people treated equally,
  regardless of their race.
• Despite lower-class support, Father Hidalgos
  revolt was defeated and he was executed by the
  Spanish government.

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Father Miguel Hidalgo
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The Cry of Dolores, start of a lower-class
revolt against Spain.
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The execution of Father Hidalgo in Chihuahua.
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Filibusters!

• A filibuster is someone who engages in an
  unofficial war on a country.
• The unrest in Mexico prompted several Americans
  to mount filibuster expeditions to try to free
  Texas from Spanish rule.
• Most wanted to make it part of the United States.
• The most successful was an 1812 expedition led by
  Samuel Kemper and Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara.
  Their army captured Nacogdoches and La Bahía and
  forced the Spanish back to San Antonio.
• In 1813, however, their army was destroyed by the
  Spanish at the Battle of Medina.

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The Battle of Medina (1813), in which a large
filibuster force was destroyed by a Spanish army.
No prisoners were taken.
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Mexican Independence

• In 1821, a revolt in Spain limited the power of
  the king and established a more democratic
  government. Spain quickly began to lose its
  control of Mexico.
• That same year, the two main groups of Mexican
  rebels agreed on the Plan of Iguala. Under its
  terms
• Peninsulares and criollos would be equal.
• The Catholic Church would keep its power.
• Slavery would be illegal.
• On August 24, 1821, the new nation of Mexico was
  born.

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The Plan of Iguala (1821), which resulted in
Mexicos independence from Spain.
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Effect on Texas

• Mexico now owned Texas, but only about 2,500
  Mexicans actually lived there.
• Most Mexicans did not want to move to Texas
  because of hostile Indians like the Comanche and
  Apache.
• Mexico still worried that the United States was
  interested in annexing Texas (adding it to its
  own territory).

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Despite the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 in which
the U.S. renounced any claim to Texas, Mexico
worried about its northern neighbors territorial
ambitions.
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The Colonization Laws

• The Mexican government tried to encourage more
  Mexicans to move to Texas
• The Colonization Law of 1823 allowed settlers to
  buy large amounts of land at very low cost. They
  also didnt have to pay taxes for 6 years.
• In 1824, Mexico passed a new constitution
  establishing a federal system like the U.S.
• Texas was merged with the Mexican state of
  Coahuila to form a new state, Coahuila y Tejas.
• The Colonization Law of 1824 gave the state
  governor the right to set the rules for
  colonization.

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The state flag of Coahuila y Tejas, formed in
1824.
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The Empresario System

• Under the colonization laws, empresarios (Spanish
  for contractor) were responsible for settling
  Texas.
• Empresarios acted as land agents, recruiting a
  certain number of people to move to Texas.
• They provided settlers with loans and supplies.
  They also acted as the colonys representative to
  the Mexican government.
• For their services, the empresarios were paid
  with large grants of land.

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The Empresario System

• Most settlers in empresario colonies came from
  the United States.
• To obtain permission from the Mexican government
  to own land in Texas, these settlers had to
  agree
• To become loyal citizens of Mexico
• To become Catholic and
• To actually live on the land.

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Moses Austin

• The first Anglo empresario in Texas was Moses
  Austin, a failed businessman who had once helped
  the Spanish government settle parts of Missouri.
• He proposed settling Anglo-Americans in Texas.
• Fearful of filibusters, the Spanish at first
  rejected his proposal in 1820.
• Before he could gain final approval, he died in
  June 1821. His dying request was that his son,
  Stephen, would continue his work.

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Moses Austin, the first Anglo empresario to
receive permission to colonize Texas.
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Stephen F. Austin

• Thanks largely to the help of a prominent Tejano,
  Erasmo Seguin, the new Mexican government allowed
  Austin to succeed his father as empresario.
• For his colony, he chose a spot between the
  Colorado and Brazos Rivers that offered ideal
  farming land.
• Austin was careful to recruit only honest,
  hard-working settlers with the key skills needed
  to establish the colony.

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Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas.
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Life in Austins Colony

• The first Anglo-American families of Austins
  colony became known as the Old Three Hundred.
• Life in the colony was hard at first
• Colonists lived in log cabins.
• They had to make their own clothes, soap and
  tools.
• They fought with hostile Karankawa Indians.
• They didnt even have schools!
• However, by 1825 the colonys population had
  grown to about 1,800 people.
• Almost 450 of them were African slaves.

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Life was rustic in Austins colony.
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A replica of a settlers home near San Felipe de
Austin, the capital of Austins Old Three Hundred
colony.
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Austins success prompted other empresario
attempts to settle Texas.
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Other Empresarios

• Martín De León
• Only empresario to found a colony in Texas using
  Mexican settlers.
• Established the current city of Victoria.
• Green DeWitt
• Received a contract to settle 400 families along
  the Lavaca, San Marcos and Guadalupe Rivers.
• Founded the town of Gonzales.

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Green DeWitt, probably the most successful
empresario besides Stephen Austin.
Martin De Leon, the only Mexican empresario.
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Other Empresarios

• Haden Edwards
• Received a contract to bring 800 families to an
  area near Nacogdoches in 1825.
• Came into conflict with settlers already in the
  area.
• Edwards declared Texas an independent nation,
  calling it the Republic of Fredonia.
• Soldiers from Mexico and militia from Austins
  colony helped end the revolt quickly.

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Haden Edwards, founder of the short-lived
Republic of Fredonia.
The Republics flag.
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The Empresario System Ends

• The empresario system dramatically increased the
  population of Texas
• Less than 3,000 people in 1820
• About 25,000 by 1835 (including 2,000 slaves)
• Mexico was worried, however, about settlers
  loyalty.
• By the mid-1830s, Texas was divided between Anglo
  settlers in the north and east and Tejanos in the
  south.

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Statue of Stephen F. Austin near San Felipe de
Austin.