Video: Move to Texas!

Move to Texas

Meet the History Kids! They love history and teaching history to other kids. Today they want to teach you about the colonization of Mexican Texas.

This is what Mexico and the United States looked like in 1821. Find the light gray color and put your finger on it. (Pause) This is the land the United States had so far. Find the dark gray color and put your finger on it. (Pause) All of this land was Mexico.

In 1821, Stephen Austin decided to follow his father’s dream of colonizing Texas.

His father, Moses Austin, was given a land grant by the Mexican government and would have been the first empresario, but he passed away before he could go to Texas.

Mexico wanted European and American immigrants to settle its northern borders to keep out foreign governments and Native Americans.

Stephen F. Austin, his son, was the first empresario and started Austin’s Colony.

He had a contract to bring 300 Catholic families to settle an area of Texas. Today, these families are known as "the Old 300."

The capital was San Felipe de Austin which is near today’s Texas city of Austin.

Austin was the biggest and most successful colony. By 1830, there were 16,000 Anglo-Americans in Texas, which was a much higher population than Mexican Texans.

Anglo-Americans were excited to come to Mexican Texas because of how cheap the land was. In the United States, for $100, you could buy 80 acres and the money was due at the time of purchase. In Mexican Texas, you could buy over 4,000 acres, a sitio, for $184 and the money was due at the end of six years.

These immigrants were required to promise to be loyal to the new country and be Christian.

The Mexican government sent General Manuel de Mier y Teran to see how many Americans were living in their country, check on resources, and to determine the border between the United States and Mexico. His suggestions led to the Law of April 6, 1830. This law was designed to stop Texas from becoming a part of the United States. There were several articles in this new law, but let’s just look at a few.

There would be no more immigration from the United States to Texas.

No new slaves could be brought into Texas.

If settlements did not have at least 150 people, the settlement contract would be canceled.

This law also added many taxes to the Americans living there and gave incentives for Mexicans to move to Texas.

Even after the Law of April 6, 1830, Americans continued to move to Texas. Would you have moved to Texas for the great opportunities?