That They May Possess the Land

That They May Possess the Land

Author: Galen D. Greaser

Publisher: Galen D. Greaser

Published: 2023-01-30

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13:

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That They May Possess the Land: The Spanish and Mexican Land Commissioners of Texas (1720-1836) by Galen D. Greaser (author) The grievances accumulated by Anglo-American settlers in Mexican Texas in the 1830s did not include complaints about the generous land grants the government had offered them on advantageous terms. Land ownership is central to the history of Texas, and the land grants awarded in Spanish and Mexican Texas are intrinsic to the story. Population in exchange for land was the prevailing strategy of Spain’s and Mexico’s colonization policy in what is now Texas. Population was the objective; colonization the strategy; and land the incentive. Spain and Mexico defined the formal procedures, qualifications, and conditions for obtaining a land grant. Colonization was a two-part process involving, first, the relocation of colonists from their place of origin to the new site and, second, the placement of colonists on the land in conditions that would enable them to become productive citizens. The colonization effort featured the use of private recruiting agents – empresarios - to assist with the first task. Government agents - land commissioners –oversaw the second objective. Title to some twenty-six million acres of Texas land, about one-seventh of its present area, derives from the land grants made by Spain and Mexico to its settlers. A land commissioner played a part in every case. The story of the empresarios who contributed to the colonization of Texas is a staple of Texas history, but an account of the land commissioners engaged in this process is given here for the first time. The cast of commissioners features, among others, a Spanish field marshal, a Dutch baron, a cashiered United States army colonel, a philandering state official, a self-serving opportunist, an Alamo defender, and a Tejano patriot. Drawn largely from primary sources and richly documented, this sometimes contentious story of the Spanish and Mexican land commissioners of Texas helps complete the narrative of the colonization of Texas and the history of its public domain. This study is a reminder of another lasting legacy of Spanish and Mexican sovereignty in Texas, their land grants.


The Mexican American Experience in Texas

The Mexican American Experience in Texas

Author: Martha Menchaca

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2022-01-11

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1477324372

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A historical overview of Mexican Americans' social and economic experiences in Texas For hundreds of years, Mexican Americans in Texas have fought against political oppression and exclusion—in courtrooms, in schools, at the ballot box, and beyond. Through a detailed exploration of this long battle for equality, this book illuminates critical moments of both struggle and triumph in the Mexican American experience. Martha Menchaca begins with the Spanish settlement of Texas, exploring how Mexican Americans’ racial heritage limited their incorporation into society after the territory’s annexation. She then illustrates their political struggles in the nineteenth century as they tried to assert their legal rights of citizenship and retain possession of their land, and goes on to explore their fight, in the twentieth century, against educational segregation, jury exclusion, and housing covenants. It was only in 1967, she shows, that the collective pressure placed on the state government by Mexican American and African American activists led to the beginning of desegregation. Menchaca concludes with a look at the crucial roles that Mexican Americans have played in national politics, education, philanthropy, and culture, while acknowledging the important work remaining to be done in the struggle for equality.


A Guide to Hispanic Texas

A Guide to Hispanic Texas

Author: Helen Simons

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 9780292777095

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Hispanic culture is woven into all aspects of Texas life, from mission-style architecture to the highly popular Tex-Mex cuisine, from ranching and rodeo traditions to the Catholic religion. So common are these Hispanic influences, in fact, that they have been widely accepted as a part of everyone's heritage, comfortingly familiar and distinctively Texan. This new edition of Hispanic Texas contains all the guidebook entries of the original volume in a compact format perfect for taking along on trips throughout the state. Entries are arranged by region: San Antonio and South Texas Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley El Paso and Trans-Pecos Texas Austin and Central Texas Houston and Southeast Texas Dallas and North Texas Lubbock and the Plains Within each region, a city-by-city listing details the historic and modern sites and structures that bear Hispanic influence. Descriptions of local festivals and events, public art, museums, natural areas, and scenic drives enhance the entries, which are also profusely illustrated with historic and modern photographs and other illustrations.


Tejano South Texas

Tejano South Texas

Author: Daniel D. Arreola

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 0292793146

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On the plains between the San Antonio River and the Rio Grande lies the heartland of what is perhaps the largest ethnic region in the United States, Tejano South Texas. In this cultural geography, Daniel Arreola charts the many ways in which Texans of Mexican ancestry have established a cultural province in this Texas-Mexico borderland that is unlike any other Mexican American region. Arreola begins by delineating South Texas as an environmental and cultural region. He then explores who the Tejanos are, where in Mexico they originated, and how and where they settled historically in South Texas. Moving into the present, he examines many factors that make Tejano South Texas distinctive from other Mexican American regions—the physical spaces of ranchos, plazas, barrios, and colonias; the cultural life of the small towns and the cities of San Antonio and Laredo; and the foods, public celebrations, and political attitudes that characterize the region. Arreola's findings thus offer a new appreciation for the great cultural diversity that exists within the Mexican American borderlands.


Texas Land Grants, 1750-1900

Texas Land Grants, 1750-1900

Author: John Martin Davis, Jr.

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2016-09-02

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1476665494

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The Texas land grants were one of the largest public land distributions in American history. Induced by titles and estates, Spanish adventurers ventured into the frontier, followed by traders and artisans. West Texas was described as "Great Space of Land Unknown" and Spanish sovereigns wanted to fill that void. Gaining independence from Spain, Mexico launched a land grant program with contractors who recruited emigrants. After the Texas Revolution in 1835, a system of Castilian edicts and English common law came into use. Lacking hard currency, land became the coin of the realm and the Republic gave generous grants to loyal first families and veterans. Through multiple homestead programs, more than 200 million acres had been deeded by the end of the 19th century. The author has relied on close examination of special acts, charters and litigation, including many previously overlooked documents.


Texas Roots

Texas Roots

Author: C. Allan Jones

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1603446028

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The uniquely Texan system that arose from the state's agricultural heritage, a mixture of practices and traditions from New Spain, Mexico, Europe, and the South, was the foundation for Texas' economic strength after the Civil War. In "Texas Roots," Jones brings alive this aspect of the state's history that contributed immeasurably to its identity and prosperity.


Pesos and Dollars

Pesos and Dollars

Author: Alicia Marion Dewey

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2014-09-20

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1623492092

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The commercial world of South Texas between 1880 and 1940 provided an attractive environment for many seeking to start new businesses, especially businesses that linked the markets and finances of the United States and Mexico. Entrepreneurs regularly crossed the physical border in pursuit of business. But more important, more complex, and less well-known were the linguistic, cultural, and ethnic borders they navigated daily as they interacted with customers, creditors, business partners, and employees. Drawing on her expertise as a bankruptcy lawyer, historian Alicia M. Dewey tells the story of how a diverse group of entrepreneurs, including Anglo-Americans, ethnic Mexicans, and European and Middle Eastern immigrants, created and navigated changing business opportunities along the Texas-Mexico border between 1880 and 1940.


Las Tejanas

Las Tejanas

Author: Teresa Palomo Acosta

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 0292784481

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Winner, Texas Reference Source Award, Reference Round Table, Texas Library Association, 2003 T.R. Fehrenbach Award, Texas Historical Commission, 2004 Since the early 1700s, women of Spanish/Mexican origin or descent have played a central, if often unacknowledged, role in Texas history. Tejanas have been community builders, political and religious leaders, founders of organizations, committed trade unionists, innovative educators, astute businesswomen, experienced professionals, and highly original artists. Giving their achievements the recognition they have long deserved, this groundbreaking book is at once a general history and a celebration of Tejanas' contributions to Texas over three centuries. The authors have gathered and distilled a wide range of information to create this important resource. They offer one of the first detailed accounts of Tejanas' lives in the colonial period and from the Republic of Texas up to 1900. Drawing on the fuller documentation that exists for the twentieth century, they also examine many aspects of the modern Tejana experience, including Tejanas' contributions to education, business and the professions, faith and community, politics, and the arts. A large selection of photographs, a historical timeline, and profiles of fifty notable Tejanas complete the volume and assure its usefulness for a broad general audience, as well as for educators and historians.