Mexican Independence
and the Empresario
Era
1821-1836
Mexican Unrest
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By the early 1800s, residents of Mexico were
tired of being ruled by Spain.
Poverty and racism in “New Spain” were
extreme:
European-born Spaniards, called peninsulares,
occupied the highest positions of wealth and
power.
 Next were criollos, Spaniards born in the
Americas.
 Mestizos, people of mixed Spanish and Indian
heritage, were near the bottom of the social scale.
 At the very bottom were the Indians.
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A graphical representation of New Spain’s social status order.
The Seeds of Revolution
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On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y
Costilla, a priest from the town of Dolores,
began a revolt against Spanish rule.
His call for revolt became known as the “Grito de
Dolores,” or “Cry of Dolores.”
 Father Hidalgo wanted all people treated equally,
regardless of their race.
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Despite lower-class support, Father
Hidalgo’s revolt was defeated and he was
executed by the Spanish government.
Father Miguel Hidalgo
The “Cry of Dolores,” start of a lower-class revolt against Spain.
The execution of Father Hidalgo in Chihuahua.
Filibusters!
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A filibuster is someone who engages in an
unofficial war on a country.
The unrest in Mexico prompted several
Americans to mount filibuster expeditions to try
to free Texas from Spanish rule.
Most wanted to make it part of the United States.
 The most successful was an 1812 expedition led by
Samuel Kemper and Bernardo Gutiérrez de Lara.
Their army captured Nacogdoches and La Bahía
and forced the Spanish back to San Antonio.
 In 1813, however, their army was destroyed by the
Spanish at the Battle of Medina.

The Battle of Medina (1813), in which a large filibuster force was
destroyed by a Spanish army. No prisoners were taken.
Mexican Independence
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
In 1821, a revolt in Spain limited the power of
the king and established a more democratic
government. Spain quickly began to lose its
control of Mexico.
That same year, the two main groups of
Mexican rebels agreed on the Plan of Iguala.
Under its terms:
Peninsulares and criollos would be equal.
 The Catholic Church would keep its power.
 Slavery would be illegal.
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On August 24, 1821, the new nation of
Mexico was born.
The Plan of Iguala (1821), which resulted in Mexico’s
independence from Spain.
Effect on Texas

Mexico now owned Texas, but only about 2,500
Mexicans actually lived there.
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Most Mexicans did not want to move to Texas
because of hostile Indians like the Comanche and
Apache.
Mexico still worried that the United States was
interested in annexing Texas (adding it to its
own territory).
Despite the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 in which the
U.S. renounced any claim to Texas, Mexico worried
about its northern neighbor’s territorial ambitions.
The Colonization Laws

The Mexican government tried to encourage
more Mexicans to move to Texas:
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The Colonization Law of 1823 allowed settlers to
buy large amounts of land at very low cost. They
also didn’t have to pay taxes for 6 years.
In 1824, Mexico passed a new constitution
establishing a federal system like the U.S.
Texas was merged with the Mexican state of
Coahuila to form a new state, Coahuila y Tejas.
 The Colonization Law of 1824 gave the state
governor the right to set the rules for
colonization.

The state flag of Coahuila y Tejas, formed in 1824.
The Empresario System

Under the colonization laws, empresarios
(Spanish for “contractor”) were responsible
for settling Texas.
Empresarios acted as land agents, recruiting a
certain number of people to move to Texas.
 They provided settlers with loans and supplies.
They also acted as the colony’s representative to
the Mexican government.
 For their services, the empresarios were paid
with large grants of land.
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The Empresario System
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Most settlers in empresario colonies came
from the United States.
To obtain permission from the Mexican
government to own land in Texas, these
settlers had to agree:
To become loyal citizens of Mexico;
 To become Catholic; and
 To actually live on the land.
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Moses Austin
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The first Anglo empresario in Texas was
Moses Austin, a failed businessman who had
once helped the Spanish government settle
parts of Missouri.
He proposed settling Anglo-Americans in
Texas.
Fearful of filibusters, the Spanish at first
rejected his proposal in 1820.
Before he could gain final approval, he died in
June 1821. His dying request was that his
son, Stephen, would continue his work.
Moses Austin, the first
Anglo empresario to
receive permission to
colonize Texas.
Stephen F. Austin
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Thanks largely to the help of a prominent
Tejano, Erasmo Seguin, the new Mexican
government allowed Austin to succeed his
father as empresario.
For his colony, he chose a spot between the
Colorado and Brazos Rivers that offered ideal
farming land.
Austin was careful to recruit only honest, hardworking settlers with the key skills needed to
establish the colony.
Stephen F. Austin, the “Father of Texas.”
Life in Austin’s Colony
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The first Anglo-American families of Austin’s
colony became known as the “Old Three
Hundred.”
Life in the colony was hard at first:
Colonists lived in log cabins.
 They had to make their own clothes, soap and
tools.
 They fought with hostile Karankawa Indians.
 They didn’t even have schools!
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However, by 1825 the colony’s population had
grown to about 1,800 people.
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Almost 450 of them were African slaves.
Life was rustic in Austin’s colony.
A replica of a settler’s home near San Felipe de Austin, the
capital of Austin’s Old Three Hundred colony.
Austin’s success
prompted other
empresario
attempts to settle
Texas.
Other Empresarios

Martín De León
Only empresario to found a colony in Texas
using Mexican settlers.
 Established the current city of Victoria.
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Green DeWitt
Received a contract to settle 400 families
along the Lavaca, San Marcos and
Guadalupe Rivers.
 Founded the town of Gonzales.
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Martin De Leon, the only
Mexican empresario.
Green DeWitt, probably the
most successful empresario
besides Stephen Austin.
Other Empresarios
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Haden Edwards
Received a contract to bring 800 families to
an area near Nacogdoches in 1825.
 Came into conflict with settlers already in the
area.
 Edwards declared Texas an independent
nation, calling it the Republic of Fredonia.
 Soldiers from Mexico and militia from Austin’s
colony helped end the revolt quickly.

Haden Edwards, founder
of the short-lived
“Republic of Fredonia.”
The Republic’s flag.
The Empresario System Ends

The empresario system dramatically
increased the population of Texas:
Less than 3,000 people in 1820
 About 25,000 by 1835 (including 2,000 slaves)
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Mexico was worried, however, about settlers’
loyalty.
By the mid-1830s, Texas was divided
between Anglo settlers in the north and east
and Tejanos in the south.
Statue of Stephen F. Austin near San Felipe de Austin.