texas%2520Casner.htm

On January, 1823, Stephen F. Austin received a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico. From the article:

"Texas Independence



Casner Mabel B. and Ralph Henry Gabriel. The Rise of American Democracy. New York: 1938.





The Austin family leads settlers to the Southwest. Moses Austin, born in Connecticut in 1767, entered the mercantile business in Philadelphia as a young man. Later he moved to Virginia, where he became interested in lead‑mining and in land speculation. He moved to New Spain in 1796 and continued his interest in lead‑mining in what is now Missouri. His prosperity was ended by the panic of 1819. He went to Bexar (now San Antonio) and petitioned the governor there, Martinez, to be permitted to settle three hundred American families in Texas. Though at first refused, he finally succeeded through the efforts of a friend, Baron de Bastrop, and received his grant in January, 1821.



Returning to Missouri to arrange for settlers, Moses Austin died. But his son, Stephen F. Austin, carried on his plans for Texas. The younger man went to Texas in the summer of 1821 and in the fall and winter began bringing in families. Some of the immigrants came overland and settled on the Colorado River. Some came by the sea in the Lively and settled by mistake at the mouth of the Brazos River. When Mexico became independent of Spain in September, 1821 Austin hurried to Mexico City, leaving Josiah H. Bell in charge of the colony. After waiting through months of turmoil, Austin finally got his contract confirmed by the Mexican congress and returned to Texas.



Most of the people of Mexico were Indians or a mixture of Spanish and Indian. The nation contained, particularly in the northern section, vast empty spaces. Mexico needed population and, to attract settlers, in 1823 the Mexican Government passed a liberal law concerning settlements.



The Mexican state called Coahuila‑Texas, in which Austin had settled, added details to this national law which required all the settlers from outside to swear allegiance to the Government of Mexico and to the state church, which was Roman Catholic. Large grants of land could be given to agents, called empresarios, on which to settle immigrants. The empresario was to be rewarded by additional land grants if he brought into Texas more than one hundred families. The price which the settler paid for his land in Texas was much lower than that asked by the United States for its public domain. The settlers were to be exempt for six years from all taxes except a few local ones.



Empresario system. Under the Mexican land laws Stephen F. Austin took on three additional contracts to settle American immigrants in Texas. Other empresarios brought in additional families from the United States. Austin became the wise and able governor of his colony. He drew up codes of laws and established courts. He developed in the colony the enterprising spirit of the pioneer. His personal rule ended in 1828, when the state of Coahuila‑Texas was given a constitution.



Mexico becomes suspicious of immigrants from the United States. Most of the American immigrants came to Mexico with a full understanding of the law of 1823 and the later additions to the law made by Coahuila‑Texas. These laws contained provisions which the immigrants felt to be unfair. For example: no settlement could be made within fifty miles of a foreign boundary or within twenty-five miles of the coast; only the Spanish language could be used in transacting public business; more land was given to an Americans who married a Mexican than to one with an American wife; all immigrants were required to be Catholics; and Negro slavery was retarded or prohibited.



For several years, however, Mexico made little effort to enforce the laws, because there was much confusion and sometimes civil war in the capital, Mexico City. Americans in Texas, far away from Mexico City, were left largely to themselves. When the United States tried to purchase Texas, Mexico took steps to strengthen its control over that region. In 1828 the Mexican Government prohibited Americans from settling near the eastern border. In the following year the dictator Guerrero, who had seized power in Mexico, abolished slavery in the nation in order to keep out immigrants from the United States, many of whom had brought their slaves with them. The hardest blow came in 1830, when Mexico forbade any further colonization in border states of Mexico by immigrants from the United State and also forbade further introduction of slaves. This law also enlarged old army garrisons in Texas and created new ones, thus increasing the power of the Mexican army over the people of Texas. The act further provided for the settlement of criminal convicts in Texas and suspended all land contracts that had not been fulfilled.



Texans protest. Stephen F. Austin and other empresarios protested in vain against the harshness and unfairness of the laws. They called conventions in 1832 and 1833 and petitioned the Mexican Government�� to repeal the laws. Austin carried the petition of the convention of 1833 to Mexico City, where he was thrown into prison. He was held there until 1835."