Stephen F. Austin and the Empresarios

Spain (until 1821) and Mexico

United States

United States

Mexico

Nacogdoches

San Antonio Goliad

Saltillo

• 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

Towns already in Texas when Moses Austin showed up

Moses Austin (Stephen F. Austin’s Father)

Stephen F. Austin

• The first Anglo 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

• Then… Moses Austin died

Empresarios – The Beginning

Ok Dad… I’ll carry out your

plans for settling Texas.

A person who was in charge of dividing up Mexican land and selling it to American settlers

REQUIREMENTS FOR SETTLING IN TEXAS:

How It Worked… Stephen F. Austin was the first to get his contract approved by the Spanish (and then the Mexican) government… so he was the first empresario (he was also the most successful)

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)

•You had to become Catholic

•You had to become a citizen of your new country (Spain, and later Mexico)

•You had to be of good moral character

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

After securing his contract with Mexico, Austin traveled around Texas and found what he thought was the best land for settling

What are some things that make land good for settling?

The deal that Stephen F. Austin worked out with Spanish (and then Mexican) officials included the following:

•Every man who came to Austin for land would receive 640 acres for himself

•320 acres for his wife

•160 acres for each child

•80 acres for each slave

While you could come to Texas without the help of an empresario, most families didn’t. Why not?

1. Most settlers could not speak Spanish and needed the empresarios help getting the title to their land

2. 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?

Austin’s First ColonyAustin’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

Everything went 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

Austin got a ship, the Lively to take people and supplies to the new colony from New Orleans

SuccessesProblemsEmpresario CapitalLocation

Major Empresario Grants

McMullen and

McGloin

Along the Gulf Coast

San Patrici

o

Irish Irish

Power and Hewetson

South of De Leon along the Gulf Coast

Refugio

IrishNative American Raids

IrishRefugio was built on the site of an old Spanish Mission

Martin De Leon

South of DeWitt along the Guadalupe-Near the coast

Victoria

Native American RaidsForced to leave TX because of anti-Mexican sentiments

Did a lot to promote the cattle industry in TexasVictoria important center for trade between Mexico and Texas

Green DeWitt

West of Austin’s 1

st Colony

Gonzales

Native American Raids

Settled 166 families2nd in number to

Austin

Stephen F. Austin (Father

of Texas)

Between the Colorado and Brazos Rivers

San Felipe

de Austin

DroughtTonkawa & KawakawaLively shipwreckedDisputes over boundariesMexican gov’t revoked right to settle

Convinced Mexican gov’t to let him settleFather of TX – 1st colonize Americans

Settled nearly 300 families

Nacogdoches

San Felipe de Austin

San Antonio

Gonzales

Goliad

Saltillo

Population BEFORE Empresarios: 7,000

Population AFTER Empresarios: 22,000

Towns established after the Americans came

• San Felipe

• Gonzales

• Victoria

• Refugio

• Galveston

• Bastrop

• San Patricio

• And many more…