13.1 The Texans

1. 13.1 The Texans

2. The Texas Population • Life in the new republic presented many challenges • Many Texans abandoned their homes during the Runaway Scrape. • After the Battle of San Jacinto, Sam Houston made a call for Texans to return to their homes. “Sam Houston said to come on home!!”

3. The Texas Population • Families came home to find most of their property destroyed. • Entire towns including Harrisburg, Refugio, and San Felipe was burned or destroyed.. • To help them, the Constitution of 1836 granted land to those who lived in Texas before the revolution.

4. The Texas Population • In 1836, the population of Texas was approximately 52,000, including 22,700 American Indians, African Americans and Tejanos. • Hoping to encourage immigration, the Republic of Texas soon extended land grants to more individuals.

5. The Texas Population • The government also set up a land grant policy modeled after the empresario system. • Agents received land grants in return from bringing immigrants and establishing settlements in the Republic.

6. The Texas Population • The government’s land policy sparked an increase in immigration to Texas and the population began to grow by leaps and bounds. • From 1836 to 1847 the population increased by nearly 100,000.

7. Immigration from the United States • By far the largest group of new immigrants to the Republic were from the U.S. • They came in search of land and economic opportunities… particularly after the economic depression caused by the Panic of 1837.

8. Immigration from the United States • The settlers came from almost every state, but the most settlers came from the Mississippi Valley area just south of the Ohio River. • After arriving in Texas, many settlers looked for land to farm or ranch.

9. Immigration from the United States • Many of the immigrants from the states in the Lower South settled in East Texas and along the coast between Matagorda and Louisiana. • People from the Upper South settled further inland in East Texas and along the Red River in the north east corner of the Republic.

10. Immigration from the United States • The Southern U.S. had a plantation economy that produced cash crops such as cotton, with the labor of African American slaves. • Some small farmers also used slave labor. • Many slaveholders were attracted to the Republic because the Constitution of 1836 ensured that slavery was legal. • Number of enslaved African Americans rose from 5,000 in 1836 to 30,000 by 1845

11. Immigration from the United States • Life for slaves was hard. • Many worked long hours in cotton fields or did other farm chores. • Some slaves lived in Texas towns as personal servants or day laborers. • Slaveholders had broad control over the lives of slaves, who had no legal right to private property, to marriage or to have a family. • Almost every slave lived under the threat of physical punishment.

12. African Americans and the Ashworth Act • Life for free African Americans in Texas changed dramatically after Texas gained its independence. • The Constitution of 1836 required free African Americans to get permission from the Texas Congress to continue living in Texas.

13. African Americans and the Ashworth Act • In February of 1840 Congress passed a new law outlawing free African Americans to Texas. • The new law stated that those already in the Republic would have to leave within two year or be sold into slavery. • This outraged many Texans who drew up petitions demanding exception for their friends..

14. African Americans and the Ashworth Act • The petitions were often for veterans of the Texas Revolution like James Richardson and Greenbury Logan. Logan had fought in the Battles of Concepcion and San Antonio.

15. African Americans and the Ashworth Act • In November 1840, three petitions were presented to the Texas Congress on behalf of the Ashworth family. • In response, Congress passed the Ashworth Act, which allowed the Ashworths and all free African Americans who were in Texas at the time of the Texas Declaration of Independence to stay.

16. African Americans and the Ashworth Act • During his second term, Sam Houston extended the 1840 deadline that required some African Americans to leave Texas. • Over the next several years, Texas passed new laws that strictly controlled the lives of free African Americans. • Those who broke the law faced harsh punishments. • By 1850 fewer than 400 free African Americas were living in Texas.

17. Tejanos in the Republic • The Republic was also home to several thousand Tejanos. • Some settled in large towns like San Antonio, where they lived in Tejano neighborhoods. • Many Tejanos also lived in the Rio Grande valley, an area claimed by both the Republic of Texas and Mexico.

18. Tejanos in the Republic • Most Tejanos were laborers who owned no land and worked for hire. • Of the Tejanos who owned ranches and farms most worked small plots of land with only their families’ help.

19. Tejanos in the Republic • Tejanos often faced hostility, particularly from U.S. immigrants. • These settlers thought of Mexico as the enemy and, they often associated Tejanos with the Mexican government. • Even Tejanos who fought in the Texas Revolution faced discrimination.

20. Tejanos in the Republic • Despite these problems, many Tejanos remained in Texas. • Jose Antonio Navarro, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, served in the Republic’s Congress.

21. Tejanos in the Republic • Tejanos maintained their culture, practiced their Catholic faith, ate traditional Mexican foods, and celebrated Mexican holidays. • To these traditions they added some traditions of other cultural groups, helping to create a unique Texas-Mexican cultural tradition