the colonies grow unit 3.2, part 2 guided notes chapter 7 section 2
TRANSCRIPT
The Colonies Grow
Unit 3.2, Part 2 Guided Notes
Chapter 7 Section 2
The Mexican Constitution of 1824
• In 1823 the Mexican Federalists overthrew the Mexican Centralist government and emperor Augustin de Iturbide, and Mexico became a republic, giving the states a voice in government.
• Federalists believed that power should shared between states and the national government.
• Centralists believed that power should be concentrated in the national or central government in Mexico City.
• Coahuila, one of Mexico’s new states, and Texas were joined into one state named Coahuila y Tejas. The capital was Saltillo.
Emperor Augustin de Iturbide
The First Emperor of Mexico
Ruled from:
May 1822-March 1823
TEXAS – as a apart of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas.
Mexico Passes Colonization Law
• In 1824 the Mexican government passed laws to regulate colonization.
• The law:– limited the amount of land anyone could
receive – allowed only permanent residents to acquire
land.– No colony could be established within 10
leagues of the coast or 20 leagues of an international border
How State Colonization Laws Worked
• The state of Coahuila y Tejas passed a state colonization law in 1825. This law:– Encouraged foreigners to immigrate to Texas
– A family received up to 4,428 acres
– A single man received 1,107 acres. When he married he received another 3,321 acres. If he married a Mexican woman, he received a bonus of 1,107 acres.
– For every 100 colonists brought to Texas, an empresario received about 23,000 acres.
– The empresario had six years to bring in 100 families before a colonization contract was canceled
The Imperial Colonization Law
• Mexico passed an imperial colonization law that recognized slavery but outlawed slave trading– More than 2,000 enslaved African-Americans in
Texas– Mexican government opposed it, but Anglo Americans
argued that slave labor was necessary for business and profit
– Less than 150 were free African-Americans by the time Texas declared independence from Mexico in 1836
The Most Successful Empresario
• Stephen F. Austin received four additional contracts under the new laws.
• 1825 – settled 500 families within his first colony• 1827 – The “Little Colony” settled 100 families north of San Antonio Road headquarters was at Bastrop• 1828 - received special permission to settle 300
families in a 10-league zone along the coast.
• 1831 – Austin and Samuel Williams allowed to settle 800 families north and northwest
of his first colony.
Why Austin’s Colonies Succeeded
• Austin skillfully dealt with Mexican authorities, and his colonists easily received their titles. Native Americans became less of a threat.
• Austin’s grants contained some of the most fertile and best-watered land
Green DeWitt, Empresario
• Green DeWitt was authorized to bring in 400 families
• He settled west of Austin’s first colony with Gonzales as their headquarters.
• By 1831 DeWitt had issued 166 land titles
Martín de León, Empresario
• Martín de León settled 200 families along the Guadalupe River
• Patricia de la Garza de León helped her husband found Victoria in 1824. She used her own dowry (wealth) to establish the first church in town
Other Empresario Contracts
• James Power and James Hewetson (1828)– Settled Irish Immigrants along the Gulf Coast.– Their central town was Refugio.
• John McMullen and James McGloin (1828)– Established a second colony of 200 Irish
immigrants along the coast.– Their central city was San Patricio.
Women’s Roles and Education
• Women helped build houses, tend livestock, and defend their land against Native Americans.
• Women could not vote, hold public office, or serve on a jury.
• They could engage in land sales and sue for survivor benefits.
Women Role’s and Education
• Mary Austin Holley, cousin of SFA, wrote a series of letters about women’s hardships living in the colonies (see p. 178)
• Some settlers joined together to form private schools for their children
• In 1829, Thomas J. Pilgrim, opened the first school in Texas in San Felipe de Austin
• In 1830s, Frances Trask opened one of the first schools for girls in Texas, in present-day Independence.