Chapter 7
Life in Spanish Texas
1775-1825
(Pages 140-159)
Essential Question:
What evidence can be found today that
the Spanish left their mark on Texas?
Section 1
Life in the Missions and Presidios
To secure its hold on Texas, Spain sent colonists
to the northern frontier of its colonial empire.
Many settled in missions and presidios, where
they experienced a whole new way of life.
Section 1 Vocabulary
• Hacienda: a large estate or ranch in Spanish
territory
• Oppressive: unjust or cruel due to abuse of
power
• Subject: one who is under the authority of a king
or queen
• Compound: a fenced or walled in area that
contains houses and other buildings
• Commissary: store where military people can
buy equipment and food
The Spanish Texans
• In late 1700s, about 3500 colonists lived in what is now Texas
• Who were these colonists? See chart on page 143
• Concentrated in 3 areas
– Missions at San Antonio (about 2000)
– La Bahia Mission by Goliad (about 1000)
– Nacogdoches (about 500)
• Why did Spanish colonists come to Texas?
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Escape cruel conditions of haciendas in New Spain
Driven to area by drought or other natural disasters
Driven to area by oppressive tax system
Colonists wanted to make money by trading with the French
Hoped to get better jobs on northern ranches
4 Types of Frontier Settlements
1.
2.
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4.
Missions
Presidios
Pueblos (towns)
Ranchos (ranches)
Missions
•
Main way used to colonize Texas, Spaniards wanted to
• Convert Native Texans
• Teach Native Texans how to be good subjects to Spanish
king/queen
• Teach Native Texans how to be good farmers and laborers…gave
them land for farming
• If all went well, missions would be able to form own government
•
El Patronato Real
• Agreement between Spain and priests
• Catholic church provided priests; Spain provided funding
• Spain owned mission lands; church owned buildings, etc
• Goal: missions to be self-supporting…able to make money
instead of costing Spain money
Missions, con’t
• Inside the Missions
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Consisted of a compound enclosed by 4 walls
Lookout towers on corners
Offices for priests
Workshops for spinning, weaving, etc
Carpentry, ironworking, and tailoring shops
Land around missions used for livestock and crops
Mission chapel important for both mission residents and
surrounding community
• Baptisms, funerals, and Sunday church services
– See Texas voices: page 144
Missions, con’t
• Daily life inside a mission
– Very routine
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Morning prayers and 30 minutes of Catholic instruction, etc
Work in fields or shops
Women worked in kitchen or with cloth
Children went to school
Evening meal, religious instruction, prayer and then to bed
– Very difficult for Native Texans
• New things to learn and new way of life
• Priests would punish uncooperative Native Texans
• Most did not like mission life…many ran away but got caught and
then punished
• If the did adapt to mission life, many married and raised families
there
Missions, con’t
• Hard times in the missions
– Missions not as successful as Spain hoped
• Native Texans population in missions dwindled
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Very hard work
Women died giving birth
European diseases
Didn’t adjust to new diet (red meat, starches, etc)
• Very expensive for Spain to operate
– Missions never became self-supporting
– Maintaining presidios to protect missions very expensive
Presidios
• Purpose
– Provide military support for missions and settlements until they could
become self-supporting
– Main purpose: protect colonists from attacks by Indians
– Bring back run-away Indians
– Protect groups bringing supplies from Rio Grande
– Guarded herds of cattle and horses to keep them from being stolen by
Native Texans
• What Presidios looked like
– Made from adobe, logs, or stone
– Rectangular compounds with lookouts at each corner
– Barracks for soldiers, separate sleeping quarters for officers, a chapel,
and storage rooms
– Only entrance: huge main gate
Presidios, con’t
• Presidio Life
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Soldiers enlisted for 10 years
Dull, boring, harsh, unpleasant life
Hard work, dangers from hostile Indians
Didn’t get along with priests…distrust and resentment
Very low pay…had to buy own uniforms, weapons, etc at
Commissary…very expensive
Many soldiers had to take extra jobs to support themselves
Some brought wives and children with them
Others married women from local community
Many stayed in area after 10 years were up
• Got land grants for houses
Section 2
Life in Towns and on Ranches
Not all Spanish colonists lived in missions or
presidios. Eventually, settlements and ranches
grew around these institutions (missions and
presidios), attracting even more people to Texas.
Vocabulary
• Civil Settlement: people in a town who are
not priests or soldiers
• Acequia: canal or ditch used for irrigation
• Literacy: ability to read and write
• Alcalde: Spanish official who was also mayor, sheriff, or
judge
• Ayuntamiento: local government in a Spanish town
• Vaquero: Spanish cowboy (livestock herder or cowhand)
Spanish Towns Develop
• Spanish had 4 Civil Settlements (people who
were not priests or soldiers) in colonial Texas
– San Antonio de Bexar (San Antonio)
– La Bahia (Goliad)
– Nacogdoches
– Laredo
http://www.goliadtx.net
/
Pueblos (Spanish Towns)
• Pueblos
– Colonists who lived in the town: pobladores
– Made buildings in towns out of materials from surroundings
• Adobe, logs, stone
• If didn’t have these things, they would build jacals (huts with
thatched roofs and walls made from upright poles covered with
mud or clay)
• Pobladores built acequias to bring water to towns/fields
http://rothenbach.org/PicMex/huala17.jpg
http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/Economy.htm
Pueblos, con’t
• Life in the towns
– As routine as in missions or presidios
– Many pobladores were former presidio families
– Some pobladores were Native Americans who
adopted Spanish culture
– Worked as blacksmiths, carpenters, gunsmiths,
masons, baker, tailors, shoemakers, store owners,
farmers, etc
Pueblos, con’t
• Education
– Limited…very few teachers and only wealthy could
afford books
– Literacy (ability to read and write) was often
limited to priests, government officials, and
wealthy families
Pueblos, con’t
• Women’s Roles (see picture on page 150)
– Women helped in stores, on farms, cooked, sewed, made
soap, were midwives…delivered babies
– Women were responsible for teaching morals and values
to the children
– Women held quite a bit of power
– Married women kept property they owned before they got
married
– Women could own property, make investments separate
from husbands
– Women could file lawsuits
Pueblos, con’t
• Governing the People
– Colonists/settlers wanted to form own town
governments
– Spanish leaders wanted to maintain Spanish
government in towns
– Government Structure in Towns
• Alcalde (Spanish official) was mayor, sheriff, judge in
criminal and civil cases
• The alcalde was aided by the ayuntamiento…kind of like
a town council
– Carried out royal orders and planned town’s growth
Pueblos, con’t
• Leisure Activities
– Horse racing
– Festivals and outdoor activities
– Loved folktales and singing corridos or ballads
(would tell a story)
– Dancing to guitar or fiddle music
– See picture on page 151
Pueblos, con’t
• Problems in the Towns
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No running water
No sewage system
Led to epidemics of cholera, smallpox, etc
Muddy streets and standing water=breeding ground for
mosquitoes (carried diseases)
Very few doctors and very little medicine
Always threat of Indian raids, outlaw or smuggler attacks
Lacked basic necessities
Towns grew slowly
• Read Texas Voices page 152
Ranchos (Ranches)
• Some colonists wanted to live outside of settlements
but they wanted to stay close to missions, presidios,
and pueblos…for protection
• These people lived on Ranchos (farms and ranches)
• Ranches helped colonists by
– Raising cattle, horses, mules, sheep, goats, hogs…provided
food for colonists and wool, animal hides as well as fat for
soap and candles
– Ranches raised and provided horses for soldiers in presidios
Ranchos, con’t
• Cattle Industry Begins in Texas
• Read Lone Star Legends…page 152
– Cattle brought to Texas by people who first came to
colonize Texas…priests, etc
– Cattle multiplied…lots of wild cattle (and horses)
roamed Texas
– Wild animals (known as mestenos) were captured by
Indians and used for transportation, heavy labor, and
food
Ranchos, con’t
• Cattle Industry, con’t
– Early 1700s, king of Spain gave land grants to ranchers to
develop cattle industry in Texas
– By mid-1700s, land between San Antonio and Guadalupe
Rivers became most productive ranching region in Texas
• This area was called the “cradle of Texas ranching”
– Another area important for ranching was Nuevo Santander
– In both areas many ranching traditions were started which
added to history and culture of Texas
Ranchos, con’t
• Vaqueros (Spanish cowboys) developed techniques
that are still used today to control livestock
(Read Language of the Vaqueros…page 154)
– Rounding up cattle
– Working herds from horseback
– Roping livestock
– Driving cattle to market
– See pictures and Then and Now on page 153
Mexican Vaqueros
Ranchos, con’t
• Ranching vs Farming
– Ranching showed that Spaniards were able to adapt their lifestyle to
Texas geography
– Dry areas were better for ranching than farming…why?
– Ranching didn’t require as many workers
– Longhorn cattle (breed that developed) very well suited to Texas…could
handle very extreme weather and sparse grasses
– If Indians got to be a problem, just move cattle…couldn’t move farms
– But, most colonists still tried to make a living from farming
• Could grow things like corn, beans, pumpkins for own use but couldn’t sell
much food for income
• Farmers had to compete with missions for workers
• Farming required a lot of work on the land to get it ready to plant, irrigation
ditches dug, etc
• Most farmers ended up just growing enough for their family and not enough
to sell to make a living
Section 3
The Colonists Rebel
Although Spanish settlements were growing, the
Spanish crown provided little support.
Instead, it imposed harsh laws and taxes that
turned people against Spanish rule. Texans
helped fight for Mexico’s independence from
Spain.
Vocabulary
• Liberation: the act of becoming free
• Conspire: to join in a secret agreement
Colonists Grow Unhappy with Spain
• As Spanish settlements in Texas grew, settlers all
learned to work together instead of waiting for
Spanish officials to tell them what to do
• They didn’t think Spain really understood what was
going on with the colonists
• In the meantime, Spain was at odds with England
and France
– These conflicts were expensive
– Very little money to send to colonies
– Started unfairly taxing the colonists and forced colonists to
send money to Spain to support conflicts
– Spain withdrew support of colonies but still forced royal
laws that weren’t fair to colonists
The Enlightenment Comes to Mexico
• By 1800, colonists were very unhappy with Spanish rule of the
colonies
• Enlightenment: movement spreading throughout Europe and
world—people tried to apply reason and science to all aspects
of life…including government
• Idea didn’t go along with theory that kings had a God-given
right to rule
• Idea supported the idea that government should support
people’s natural rights and interests
• If governments couldn’t support people’s natural rights and
interests, government should be replaced
– French Revolution and American Revolution were examples
All About the Enlightenment
Father Hidalgo Calls for Independence
• Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (native of Mexico)
strongly believed in ideals of The Enlightenment
• He had worked with farmers in Delores…area north
of Mexico City
• He knew how these people struggled and saw how
little concern Spain had for them…he knew things
had to change
• He called for the Liberation of the Mexican people
from Spain
Father Hidalgo, con’t
• Spain thought Father Hidalgo was conspiring
to overthrow Spanish government…wanted to
arrest him
• He found out about this ahead of time and he
saw he had 3 choices
– Stay in Delores and be arrested
– Hide out and hope he didn’t get caught
– Begin a revolution
Father Hidalgo, con’t
• On September 16, 1810…Father Hidalgo gave a speech
called the Grito de Delores which means Cry of Pain
• He called for Mexican citizens to rise up and fight for
their independence from Spain
• Read Texas Voices on page 157
• Many settlers in Texas supported Father Hidalgo’s
ideas
• Read Texas Tidbits and picture on page 156
– On his way to Texas to meet with them, he was arrested by
Spanish government and executed
– He had an incredible influence on the future of Mexico and
Texas How/Why?
Hidalgo’s Supporters Rebel Against
Spain
• Even though Father Hidalgo had been killed, his
supporters in Texas started a rebellion against
Spain
– Juan Bautista de las Casas overthrew Spanish
government in San Antonio and took control of La
Bahia and Nacogdoches
– January 22, 1811…Las Casas declared Texas free
from Spain
– But then Spain captured and executed Las Casas
and retook control of Texas
Mexican Unrest Continues
• Even though attempts at rebellion by Father Hidalgo and Las
Casas failed, the colonists in Texas realized that they could be
free from Spain (Texas supported Mexico’s efforts in fight)
• They knew with right plan and a strong army Spanish control
of Texas could come to an end
• Fights continued for years
• After many battles back and forth, Texas was finally free from
Spain
– August 24, 1821: Mexico was official freed from Spain and Texas
became part of the new Republic of Mexico
Map of Mexico After Its Independence from Spain in 1821
Spanish Influence Lives On
• For about 300 years, Spain controlled Texas
• The Spanish culture permeated everything in Texas…still is
strong today
• Many religious festivals, customs, traditions, art, architecture,
music, and literature are traced back to Spanish roots (see
pictures on pages 158-159)
• One of Spain’s most important contributions to Texas is
Spanish language
– Names of rivers, cities, landforms, foods, and everyday thing have
been influenced by Spain
– Spaniards brought cows, horses, sheep and pigs to Texas
– Spaniards started the cattle industry in Texas