TEXAS!
HOLT
Chapter 9
LIFE IN EARLY TEXAS
(1820-1835)
Section 1: Texas Fever
Section 2: Daily Life on The Frontier
Section 3: Trade and Transportation
Section 4: Government and Society
1
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 1:
Texas Fever
TEXAS!
HOLT
OBJECTIVES
Analyze why many U.S. settlers went to
Texas and identify where they and other
groups settled.
Explain how settlers got to Texas and chose
their land.
2
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 1:
Texas Fever
TEXAS!
HOLT
WHY U.S. SETTLERS CAME
 To escape hard times and debts
 Escaping criminal charges
 U.S. creditors and authorities had no power in Texas
 Cheaper land; easier payment terms
WHERE THEY SETTLED
 Fertile Brazos, Colorado, and Trinity River valleys
along the Gulf Coast
 East Texas
3
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 1:
Texas Fever
TEXAS!
HOLT
HOW SETTLERS TRAVELED
AND CHOSE THEIR LAND
 On foot and on horseback
 By covered wagon
 By flatboats on rivers and oceangoing steamships
 Chose land by suitability for farming
 Climate, soil fertility, access to water, and appearance
were factors in their choice
 Proximity to hostile American Indians; Piney Woods
and Gulf Coast Plain were popular locations
4
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 2:
Daily Life on The Frontier
TEXAS!
HOLT
OBJECTIVES
Describe the types of houses that settlers
built in Texas during the 1820s and the early
1830s.
Discuss what the clothing and diet of
settlers in Texas were like at that time.
Explain what religion and education were
like in early Texas.
5
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 2:
Daily Life on The Frontier
TEXAS!
HOLT
TYPES OF HOUSES IN THE
1820s AND EARLY 1830s
Adobe or stone houses
Jacales – small huts made of sticks and mud
Log cabins and dogtrot cabins – a log home
with an open passage separating two rooms
6
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 2:
Daily Life on The Frontier
TEXAS!
HOLT
SETTLERS’ CLOTHING AND DIET
Wore clothing of buckskin, leather or cotton
Ate game found locally and crops that grew
well locally
7
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 2:
Daily Life on The Frontier
TEXAS!
HOLT
RELIGION AND EDUCATION
IN EARLY TEXAS
Education was usually at home or abroad
Few public and private schools
No organized educational system
Privately worshipped as they pleased
Publicly supported the official religion of
Catholicism
8
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 3:
Trade and Transportation
TEXAS!
HOLT
OBJECTIVES
Identify the economic activities that were
important to the Texas economy in the early
1800s.
Describe what transportation was like in
Texas at that time.
9
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 3:
Trade and Transportation
TEXAS!
HOLT
IMPORTANT ECONOMIC
ACTIVITIES IN THE EARLY 1800s
Economy was based on farming and ranching;
cotton was the main cash crop
Some craftspeople, merchants; some
commercial centers; engaged in free enterprise
Traded by barter
Exported some products and had a little
manufacturing
10
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 3:
Trade and Transportation
TEXAS!
HOLT
TRANSPORTATION IN EARLY
TEXAS
Few roads and in poor condition
Few navigable rivers
Ports located in the Gulf of Mexico
(Galveston Bay) connected Texas to other
regions but did not solve internal
transportation problems
11
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 4:
Government and Society
TEXAS!
HOLT
OBJECTIVES
Explain how the Mexican Constitution of
1824 affected Texas.
Analyze why the issue of slavery began to
cause conflict.
12
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 4:
Government and Society
TEXAS!
HOLT
MEXICAN CONSTITUTION OF
1824
Formed the state of Coahuila y Texas
Gave states strong local control (federalism
– the distribution of power between central
and regional governments)
Roman Catholicism became the official
state religion
13
HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON
SECTION 4:
Government and Society
TEXAS!
HOLT
CONFLICT OVER SLAVERY
Many colonists believed slavery was
necessary for the economy
Some feared that the Mexican government
would ban slavery
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HOLT, RINEHART
AND
WINSTON