CHAPTER 9
Life in Early Texas
Section 1: Texas Fever
Section 2: Daily Life on the Frontier
Section 3: Trade and Transportation
Section 4: Government and Society
SECTION 1
Texas Fever
Question:
Why and how did U.S.
settlers come to Texas?
SECTION 1
Texas Fever
GONE TO TEXAS
Why U.S. Settlers Came:
How They Traveled:
• escaping hard times, debts
• escaping criminal charges
• U.S. creditors and authorities had no power in Texas
• Texas had cheaper land;
easier payment terms
•
•
•
•
•
on foot
by covered wagon
on horseback
by flatboats on rivers
by oceangoing steamships
SECTION 2
Daily Life on the Frontier
Question:
What were religion and
education like in early Texas?
SECTION 2
Daily Life on the Frontier
Education in Texas
under Mexican Rule
• available: home schooling; a
few small private and community
schools; wealthier children
schooled in the United States
• problems: few funds or good
teachers; no public school
system; little time for
school for farm children;
slaves denied schooling
Religion in Texas
under Mexican Rule
• official: Roman
Catholicism
• actual: most Tejanos
Catholic; most U.S. settlers
Protestant, and privately
worshipped as pleased.
• Protestant activity:
plentiful; traveling
preachers; missionaries
SECTION 3
Trade and Transportation
Question:
What were the economic
activities and transportation
routes in Texas in the early
1800s?
SECTION 3
Trade and Transportation
Economy
• economy based on farming and
ranching; cotton main cash crop
• some craftspeople, merchants;
some commercial centers;
engaged in free enterprise
• trade mainly by barter
• exports—cattle, corn, cotton,
cowhides, furs, horses, pork, salt;
imports—U.S. goods
• little manufacturing
Transportation
• few roads and in poor
condition
• few navigable rivers
• ports on the Gulf of Mexico
(e.g. in Galveston Bay);
connected Texas to other
regions but did not solve
internal transportation
problems
SECTION 4
Government and Society
Question:
How did the Mexican
Constitution of 1824
affect Texas?
SECTION 4
Government and Society
Mexican Constitution of 1824
formed state of
Coahuila y Texas
gave states strong
local control
Roman Catholicism
the official religion
EFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
• The capital was far
from Texas.
• It was hard for
Texans to participate in state
government.
• Some Texans were
angered.
• Local government
could adjust to meet
local needs;
particularly those of
U.S. settlers.
• Local government
became a mixture of
Mexican and U.S.
practices.
• Texans, and in
particular U.S.
settlers, publicly
claimed to be
Catholic but privately worshiped
as they pleased.
CHAPTER 9
Chapter Wrap-Up
1. Why did so many Texas settlers like how
the Constitution of 1824 divided
government power?
2. Do you think that Texas settlers who
broke Mexican laws were good citizens?
Provide reasons for your answer.
3. How did poor transportation networks
in Texas affect the region’s economy?