To Know Who You Are and who you want to be

11 Stephen F Austin


  • ​A Stephen F Austin was a lawyer and legislator in the U.S.
  • B When his father, Moses, died Stephen put aside his career to fulfill his father's dream of starting a colony in Texas

2 Spain Loses Texas and More


  • ​A September 16, 1810 Mexico Declared its independence from Spain
  • B Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla's proclamation "Grito de Dolores" calls for Mexicans to take up arms against Spain (happened in the town of Dolores)
  • B Mexican officials tried to maintain Mexican culture when issuing land grants to Anglo empresarios was by requiring settlers to practice the Catholic religion
  • ​C This was also a requirement of the Constitution of 1824

This song is about a musician whose life was a mess and he decided to Go To Texas and get it back together again.  The GTT spirit is a part of this song as well as all the GTT posters displayed, just like those Americans hung on their homes in the 1800's.

6 Mexican National Changes


  • ​A Many Americans and Mexicans migrated to Mexican Texas in the 1820's to obtain cheap farm land
  • B The establishment of Anglo-American settlements is a major change that occurred in Texas society during the Mexican National Era

8 Empresarios


  • ​A Empresarios were land agents that were granted land to sell and supervise in Texas
  • B There were Anglo-American as well as Mexican Empresarios
  • C The State Colonization Law of 1825 supported the Empresario system
  • ​D Most Texas Empresarios received land grants in 1823

Why are the cities of Dallas and Houston not on this map?

1 Filibusters


  • ​A Filibusters are rebels who fight against a foreign country
  • B Filibusters came to Texas and fought against the Spanish and Mexican governments

5 Juan Seguin


  • ​A Juan Seguín was a Tejano rancher who represented Texas at the Mexican Constitutional Convention, located land for the first Austin colony, and eventually supported Texas independence

13 Martin de Leon


  • ​A Mexican Empresario
  • B 1825 established colony
  • C 41 Mexican families in his colony

4 The Constitution of 1824


  • ​A The Constitution of 1824 created the state of Coahuila and Texas. This merger of the two geographic regions eventually resulted in political tensions that divided the region
  • C Stephen F Austin  founded the first large Anglo colony in Texas
  • D His settlers were known as the "Old 300" They were the first 300 Anglo-American families in Texas 

9 Land Grant Locations


  • ​A Most Texas land grants were located in east and central Texas because Mexican officials wanted to settle areas closest to the United States
  • ​B The Coastal Plains Region had the most successful land grants in Texas
  • ​C The population of Texas changed during the Mexican National Era because enslaved African Americans were brought to Texas

10 Moses Austin


  • ​A Born in Connecticut
  • B Lived and worked in Missouri
  • C Moved to San Antonio in 1820
  • ​D Asked for permission to start a colony but was denied
  • E Under the state colonization law, a married man could receive 177 acres of farming land and 4,428 acres of grazing land.
  • F An unmarried man could receive one-quarter of this amount.

13 Meanwhile in America


  • ​A The American Revolution had occurred after the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776.
  • B The war was won at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781
  • C The new nation survives the Articles of Confederation 
  • ​D The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 with the ever important Bill of Rights added to it in 1791
  • ​E The Louisiana Purchase is made in 1803 doubling the size of the U.S.
  • F After many years of tension with England another war, The War of 1812 is fought
  • G The Nation spreads west across the continent during Manifest Destiny
  • ​D Long Expedition
    • ​1 Filibuster James Long was captured and executed in 1822 after leading an army into Nacogdoches and declared it independent
    • ​2 Jane Long was one of the first Anglo American women to settle in Texas. She became known as the “Mother of Texas”  
  • ​E Gutierrez Magee Expedition
    • ​1 Agustus Magee and Bernardo Gutierrez form the Army of the North and they attacks Spanish outposts during the Mexican War for Independence
    • ​2 Expedition started in Nacogdoches in 1812 where they declared Texas independent from Spain.
    • ​3 The Army of the North was defeated during the Mexican War for independence at the Battle of Medina

3 Mexican National Era


  • ​A This was the time when Texas was a part of Mexico
  • ​B 1821-1836

7 Gone to Texas


  • ​A The idea of Manifest Destiny drove American settlers West toward Texas
  • ​B So many people left their homes in the United States to come to Texas that “G.T.T.” (Gone To Texas) signs became common
  • E Mexican government did not trust him because of the Filibusters
  • F A local Mexican Nobleman supports Moses Austin and he gets an Empersario grant
  • ​G Moses Austin becomes ill and dies while recruiting people for his colony

12 Green DeWitt


  • ​A American Empresario
  • B1825 established colony
  • C 400 families allowed in his colony but less than 200 came
  • ​D Near Gonzalez Texas, South West of Austin
  • ​C Philip Nolan
    • ​1 First filibuster in Texas
    • 2 Late 1700's he entered Texas to round up wild horses and took them back to the U.S. to sell
    • ​3 He plotted to claim land in Texas for the U.S. in the 1790's
  • C Hidalgo's Army marched across Mexico defeating the Spanish
  • ​D Until he was captured and killed on July 30,1811
  • E Others carried on his fight
  • F Mexico Gained its independence from Spain in 1821
  • G The settler had to improve the land and pay a nominal fee to the state.
  • H Although some Empresarios were successful many were not due to the high cost of obtaining grants,  having land surveyed, and the long wait for approval

Mexican National Era and Empresarios