tx history-ch-8.1

Chapter 8: Americans Settle in TexasSection 1: Moses Austin and Texas

Bellwork

Identify some important events

taking place around 1820

Moses Austin's Texas Dream• June 1798:

Moses Austin moves to Missouri (a part of Spanish Louisiana)

Moses Austin

Moses Austin's Texas Dream

•Mines lead

•Becomes a Spanish citizen

•Becomes wealthy and part owner of the Bank of St. Louis

Moses Austin's Texas Dream

•1819: US experiences a financial panic

•Financial Panic—an economic crisis

Moses Austin's Texas Dream

•Panic of 1819 leads to a depression

•Depression—period of low economic activity

Moses Austin's Texas Dream

•Many banks fail, including the Bank of St. Louis

•Austin is financially ruined

Moses Austin's Texas Dream•Austin had profited in Spanish

lands before•Came up with plan to establish a

colony of U.S. families in Texas; hoped to regain wealth

•Sets out for Texas

Moses Austin Goes to Texas• Moses visits his

son, Stephen, in Arkansas

• Son doubts his father, but gives him $50 and a horse

Stephen F. Austin

Moses Austin Goes to Texas

•December 23, 1820: Moses arrives at San Antonio

•Recent filibuster activity made the Spanish suspicious of Americans

Moses Austin Goes to Texas

•Governor Antonio María Martínez orders Austin out of San Antonio

•Encounters Baron de Bastrop—an old friend

Moses Austin Goes to Texas

•Bastrop convinces Governor Martínez to allow Austin to stay in San Antonio

•Bastrop agrees to help Austin with his efforts

Moses Austin Goes to Texas

•In the 1820s, Mexico needed a larger

population if it was to maintain control of

its territory

Moses Austin Goes to Texas• Austin had been a loyal

Spanish citizen

• Colony would improve the economy and help protect the region from Indian attacks and U.S. invasion

Moses Austin Goes to Texas• Governor Martínez agrees to

urge his superiors to approve Austin’s plan

• Austin returns home

• Difficult journey

Moses Austin Goes to Texas• Health problems

• Spring 1821: Receives word that colony was approved—granted the right to settle 300 Catholic families from Louisiana

• Became extremely ill and asks wife to write Stephen

Why Moses Austin Wanted to Start a Colony

Why Spanish Officials Approved Austin’s Colony