1. Chapter 9: Life in Early Texas
Section 1: Texas Fever

2. Gone to Texas
• During the 1820s-30s the
population of Texas surged
• Some settlers from
Europe and other parts of
Mexico

3. Gone to Texas
•Most early settlers
in Texas were
farmers from the
United States.

4. Gone to Texas
• Pull factors:
–Cheap land
–Easy payments

5. Gone to Texas
• Push factors:
– Debts from the Panic of 1819 and
resulting depression
– Inability of U.S. officials to
collect debts or get fugitives in
Texas

6. Gone to Texas
• Word spreads
that Texas is a
place filled with
outlaws and
undesirable
people

7. Gone to Texas
G.T.T.
• Gone to Texas—a phrase
that often meant that
someone disappeared

8. The People of Texas
• By 1834 a Mexican official estimated
that Texas population was 21,000:
• 15,000 from the U.S.—most were
English, Irish, or Scottish ancestry
• Squatters: people who do not legally own
the land on which they live

9. The People of Texas
• 1834: Tejano population was about
4,000
• Most lived around Nacogdoches or
San Antonio
• Most Tejanos welcome Americans—
saw them as a boost to economy and
protection against Indians

10. The People of Texas
• Europeans: primarily of British,
German, French, or Italian
background
• African Americans
– 2000 slave
– 150 free

11. Getting to Texas and Choosing Land
• 1835: an estimated 1,000 settlers
entering Texas each month
• Coming to Texas:
– Wagon trains
– Horseback
– Walked
– Water

12. Getting to Texas and Choosing Land
• Flatboats—means of
transportation for many settlers

13. Getting to Texas and Choosing Land
• Usually settled around rivers and
streams
• Fertile soil and mild climate
attracted many U.S. settlers to the
Gulf Coast Plain and Piney Woods
• Avoided Apache & Comanche lands

14. Why U.S. Setters Came: How They Traveled:
G. T. T.