Chapter 13
Pioneer Life
Immigration
1836-1845
• Population tripled
• Immigrants came from U.S. and Europe
· Immigrant Agents— same as empresarios
• 2,000 families from Missouri, Illinois and
Tennessee settle through W.S. Peters and
Associates. (Sounds like a modern Real Estate Agency, doesn’t
it?)
Europeans
• Henri Castro, French Immigrant Agent: over
2000 families from France, Switzerland and
Germany
• Established town of Castroville
• German Emigration Company settled about
7,000 Germans.
• Many Germans settled in the hill country around
Austin: New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Gruene,
Schulenberg
Slave Population grew
• By 1845, African Americans made up 1/3 of the
population of Texas and most were slaves.
• Free African Americans required to petition
Congress to stay in Texas during Republic
• Not all slaves worked on plantations or farms and
some were skilled laborers such as blacksmiths and
carpenters.
Tejanos faced prejudice
• Tejanos were viewed with suspicion by
settlers and even those who fought for
Texas were treated poorly.
• The new settlers assumed they had sided
with Mexico.
• This is called stereotyping.
Farming and Ranching
• Most Texans had agricultural jobs.
• Corn was most important “subsistence crop”:
for human and animal consumption
• Cotton was most important “cash crop”: for
profit, and was grown in East Texas during this
time period.
• Ranching was easy to start because wild cattle
roamed all over South and East Texas left over
from Spanish days.
Tradesmen such as carpenters and
blacksmiths came. Businesses, doctors,
lawyers came. Towns grew, new towns
started!
Transportation improved
• Stagecoaches: Butterfield Overland Line crossed Texas all the way
to El Paso for passengers and mail.
• Roads were dirt. Goods were transported over roads by mule and
oxen driven freight wagons often using Tejano drivers. (The term
“teamsters” as in Teamsters Union comes from this.)
• Railroads started coming to Texas, connected towns around
Houston
• Steamboats were difficult to operate in Texas due to crooked rivers,
few rivers large and deep enough.
Communications Improved
• Telegraph came to Texas in 1854 (Marshall,
Texas) and connected East Texas towns first.
This helped business and law enforcement.
• Houston produced the first influential
newspapers, but by 1860, there were 70
newspapers in Texas, most produced weekly.
Education:
• No public schools
• Towns and families hired teachers.
• 1854, legislature to set aside
$2,000,000.00 as a permanent school
fund and the interest was divided between
counties according to the number of
school-age children they had living there.
Chapter 14: Texas as a
New State
New State Government
• New Constitution: constitutional
convention of 1845
• Governor: 2 year terms
• Legislature:
– House of Representatives—2 year terms
– Senate---4 year terms
• Supreme Court and District Courts
First Governor
Pinkney Henderson from San Augustine, Texas
His wife, Frances Cox Henderson was one of the
first women lawyers in Texas
Henderson, Texas named in his honor
First U.S. Senators from Texas
• Sam Houston
• Thomas Rusk
• Rusk, Texas named for him
First U.S. Representatives from Texas
David Kaufman: lawyer,Indian fighter,
politician, Jewish Texan
Kaufman and Kaufman County
• Timothy Pillsbury ?
Political Parties
• Democratic Party:
• Whig Party
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• Represented interests of
business
• Party opposed Texas
annexation and
expansion of slavery into
new states and territories
Most Texans joined this party
They were the strongest party in
the South
Represented interests of farmers
and laborers
Know Nothing Party
• Also called the “American Party”
• Tried to keep immigrants from holding
office or voting
• Only lasted a few years in Texas
• “I know nothing”
• Started the practice of electing candidates
at conventions
U.S. forts in Texas
• Many U.S. forts were built in West Texas to prevent
clashes between Indians and settlers
• Indian reservations set up for Wacos, Comanches and
Tonkawas in Texas
• The reservations in Texas were not successful and
Indians were moved to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.
Camels in Texas
In May of 1856, at Powderhorn, Texas, the
US Army's most successful experiment in
overland transportation before the
development of four-wheel-drive vehicles
powered by internal combustion engines
began. By the end of May, 1866, the
experiment was dead.
Why camels didn’t last
• This was the idea of U.S. Secretary of War
Jefferson Davis
• When the South seceded, Jefferson Davis
became President of the Confederate
States
• Once the war was over, the U.S. stopped
the experiment because anything involving
the South or Jefferson Davis was not
popular!
Jefferson Davis
Mexican-American War
Causes:
•
1. Disputes over the U.S.
annexation of Texas
2. Boundary disputes
between U.S. and Mexico
3. Mexico’s refusal to
negotiate with the U.S.
1. Santa Anna Flees to
Jamaica
2. Mexico ceddes almost
50 percent of its land
to the U.S. in the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Effects
General Zachary Taylor
How it started:
Mexico claimed the boundary between Mexico and
Texas was the Nueces River.
Texas claimed the Rio Grande, as Santa Anna had
agreed in the Treaty of Velasco.
A battle between Mexico and Texans occurred
north of the Rio Grande at Palo Alto in Texas.
President Polk treated this as an invasion, causing
American casualties and declared war.
Routes of U.S. soldiers
• Gen. Zachary Taylor’s U.S. forces were
successful in occupying Northern Mexico
• They captured the Mexican city of
Monterrey.
• A large Mexican force under Santa Anna’s
command was defeated at the battle of
Buena Vista.
• American troops landed in Veracruz and
marched to Mexico City.
• Mexico City was captured, and American
forces occupied California.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo settled the
conflict.
Terms of Treaty
• Rio Grande became boundary
• Mexico abandoned all claims to Texas
• The U.S. paid Mexico $15 million for the lands
between Texas and the Pacific Ocean owned by
Mexico.
• U.S. covered claims of U.S. citizens against
Mexico due to Texas Revolution
• Mexicans living in the territories gained by the
U.S. were guaranteed U.S. citizenship, right to
keep land.
Land acquired by U.S.
Compromise of 1850
• The disputed territory was now a part of
the U.S., but Texas did not keep all of it.
• Under this compromise, Texas
surrendered the part that became New
Mexico in return for $10 million.
• This allowed Texas to pay off her debts!
Texas boundaries are settled
Texas grows rapidly
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The population grew
1847: 106,000
1850: 212,000
1860: 604,000
Under Homestead Act, settlers living on
the land and improving it owned the land
• Southerners used the term “GTT”:
Gone to Texas!
G.T.T.
New Counties and local
governments
• Texas grew from 36 to 122 counties by
1860.
• Towns competed to become the county
seat.
Mexicans and Europeans
• Mexicans crossed the border and settled
along the Rio Grande and in the San
Antonio-Goliad area.
• South Texas towns grew rapidly.
• Most Mexican Americans were farmers
and ranchers.
• Prejudice continued
• Tejanos retained their cultural heritage.
Germans
• By 1860 over 20,000 Germans lived in
Texas
• Migrated to escape economic hardships
and famine
Many cultures of Texans
• Polish, Irish, British, French, Czech,
Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch,
Scottish, etc. also migrated in large
numbers
• Also, Chinese, Lebanese and Syrians,
Jews and Japanese came during the
1800s.
Indian Reservations
• Alabama Coushatta Reservation near
Woodville in deep East Texas– only 1,280
acres.