After Mexico gained independence in 1821, its leaders wanted to increase the population and economic development of Texas. The region had only a few established towns, including San Antonio, Nacogdoches, and La Bahía, later called Goliad. Mexican officials allowed empresarios, such as Stephen F. Austin, to recruit families to settle in Texas.
Land was one of the strongest attractions. Land in Texas was much less expensive than land available from the United States government. Settlers who met Mexican requirements could receive large grants of farmland and ranchland. For farmers and families hoping to own more land, Texas offered an opportunity to start over and build a new life.
Some immigrants also believed Texas might someday become part of the United States. The boundary between Texas and Louisiana had been disputed before the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, and some people in the United States continued to believe eastern Texas should have been included in the Louisiana Purchase. These expectations encouraged some settlers to see land in Texas as a valuable investment.
Economic difficulties also pushed some families west. After the War of 1812, falling crop prices and debt caused financial problems for many farmers in the United States. Moving to Mexican Texas offered some families a chance to leave those problems behind and seek new opportunities.
Living Under Mexican Law
Immigrants who settled in Texas were entering Mexico, not an extension of the United States. They were expected to follow Mexican laws and become part of Mexican society.
Religion was one difference. Catholicism was the established religion of Mexico, and settlers were expected to follow laws connected to the Catholic Church. Many Anglo-American immigrants were Protestant, however, and Protestant religious services continued more privately or informally in many settlements.
Slavery created a much larger conflict. Many immigrants from the southern United States brought enslaved African Americans with them and depended on enslaved labor to grow cotton. Mexican leaders increasingly restricted slavery and the slave trade during the 1820s. In 1829, President Vicente Guerrero issued a decree abolishing slavery, although Texas was later exempted from the order. These changing laws worried slaveholding settlers and created growing disagreement over whether slavery would continue in Texas.
Building New CommunitiesEmpresarios had responsibilities beyond recruiting settlers. Stephen F. Austin helped organize local government in his colony and dealt with disputes, roads, land claims, and public safety. As the population grew, elected local councils gradually took over more of these responsibilities.
Settlers also entered a region that was already home to many Indigenous nations. Relationships varied greatly. Some Indigenous communities traded with settlers or negotiated agreements with them. Others resisted settlement when newcomers entered their lands, competed for resources, or threatened existing communities. Violence occurred on both sides, and Austin sometimes used militia forces against Native peoples while also negotiating treaties with some groups.
By the end of the 1820s, Anglo-American immigration had rapidly changed Texas. Mexico had encouraged settlement to strengthen and develop the region, but the growing immigrant population also created new disagreements over laws, slavery, culture, and political authority. Those tensions would become increasingly important during the 1830s.