California’s economy in this period
was based on the rancho, a huge cattle
ranch run by a wealthy ranchero. In 1833,
the Mexican government secularized the
California missions, granting most of the
mission lands to private individuals,
including landless Hispanic soldiers. The
new landowners soon became the domi-
nant force in California, making fortunes
from their new ranches. Native Americans
who had been forced to work in mission
communities fared less well. Released from
mission servitude, they entered a new de
facto servitude of debt peonage to
rancheros, legally unable to quit until their
debts to the owners were paid— debts
they could never afford to pay. Said a visi-
tor in 1846, “The Indians are the principal
laborers; without them the business of the
country could hardly be carried on.” Even
more than the Nuevomexicanos,
Californios were renowned for their fes-
tive ways, hosting three-day fiestas, or
parties, rife with fandangos and other
dances such as the jota and the borrego,
and annual rodeos, or roundups of cattle,
where vaqueros (cowboys) would prove
their horsemanship. Yet the idyllic picture
of the carefree California don (gentle-
man) is exaggerated. California was still a
frontier, prone to attack by Native
Americans and all the vicissitudes of agri-
cultural life. Moreover, with books scarce,
education was poor, even for the ruling
class. Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, a
prominent citizen, was one of the few lit-
erate Californios; many wealthy rancheros
could not even write their names.The Tejanos
Unlike New Mexico and California,
Texas in the 1820s was bordered by a for-
eign region steadily growing in popula-
tion: Louisiana, owned by the United
States since 1803. The border between
the two regions was not well defined,
and even before Mexican independence
Americans began flowing into Texas,
squatting illegally. Private groups of
Americans, sometimes supported by
Mexican rebels against Spain, led armed
invasions (called filibustering expeditions)that challenged Spanish claims. Two such
efforts, both leading to abortive declara-
tions of Texan independence, were sup-
pressed in 1813 and 1819– 1821.
Unable to attract sufficient Hispanic
settlers to outweigh the illegal American
presence, Spain decided that the best
way to defend Texas might be to bring
in American immigants in a controlled
fashion, with policies designed to encour-
age assimilation. Spain therefore accept-
ed the offer of Connecticut businessman
Moses Austin to bring American colonists
into Texas. The Spanish authorities gave
Austin, who had once been a Spanish
subject, a generous land grant in
exchange for his services as an empre-
sario, or immigration agent. Austin was to
bring in 300 settler families, all Catholic
or willing to convert to Catholicism, and
all swearing allegiance to Spain. He died
soon after making the deal, but his son
Stephen (1793–1836) inherited the
assignment, which was confirmed by
Mexico (with the settlers now to become
Mexican citizens) after its achievement of
independence in 1821.
Stephen Austin brought not only the
first 300 American families to Texas but
900 more in fulfillment of later contracts.
Other empresarios, such as Green
DeWitt and Martín de León, brought in
still more Anglo-Americans, or Anglos, so
called to distinguish these new settlers,
with their British-derived United States
culture, from the Tejanos, the Hispanic-
American Texans. Many more Anglos
flocked in illegally, bringing their African-
American slaves with them into a land
that had hitherto seen few slaves, and set-
ting up cotton farms and cattle ranches in
eastern and central Texas. Driven to
migrate by hard times at home, they
mushroomed in population, growing
to about 35,000 by 1836, or roughly
10 times the number of Tejanos.
Most retained their Anglo-American,
Protestant ways, proclaiming loyalty to
Mexico and Catholicism only on paper,
if at all. “Where others send invading
armies,” said Mexico’s secretary of
state Lucas Alamán in alarm, “... [the
Americans] send their colonists.” His
words proved prophetic.80 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY