USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Stephen Austin’s contract to bring settlers to Texas, June 4, 1825 (Gilder Lehrman Collection) In order to settle Texas in the 1820s, the Mexican government allowed speculators, called empresarios, to acquire large tracts of land if they promised to bring in settlers to populate the region and make it profitable.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Mexican government worked with empresarios, who operated as land agents in Texas. Empresarios worked to bring settlers who would develop Texas for the Mexican government. In exchange, those settlers would receive title to land – a resource that was abundant.

Detailed explanation-3: -Answer and Explanation: The government of Mexico offered Americans land in Texas because few Mexicans wanted to settle there. The northern regions of Mexico and the southern regions of Texas were (and still are) very sparsely populated due to lack of water and poor farmland.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1820, Moses Austin, a U.S. citizen, asked the Spanish government in Mexico for permission to settle in sparsely populated Texas. Land was granted, but Austin died soon thereafter, so his son, Stephen F. Austin, took over the project.

Detailed explanation-5: -The group settled along the Brazos River, ranging from the near present-day Houston to Dallas. Shortly after they arrived, Austin learned that the new Mexican government had not ratified his father’s land grant with Spain.