Texas History: Austin Colony, Adam-Onis Treaty, and Juneteenth

This semester, I have learned many things about Texas history but a few things that stood out to me, which was Austin Colony, Adam-Onis Treaty and Juneteenth.

Juneteenth is very known as Freedom Day for African Americans. June 19, 165 was when an announcement was made that there will not be no more slave in the state of Texas and throughout the southern parts of the U.S. Slaves became free. Juneteenth became a holiday for African Americans to celebrate and the creation of black people being free.

I also learned that Abraham Lincoln Issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the news did not get to Texas fast, it took two years to get to Texas. The proclamation freed all the slaves except the union territory. Several of the slaves tried to flee and go to the union territory where slaves were free. In 1866 the first Juneteenth was celebrated.

Adam-Onis Treaty 1819 - Shaping Borders and Ambitions

Adam-Onis Treaty 1819 was simply known as Florida Purchase Treaty.

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This treaty was between the united states and Spain in 1819, finding a solution to border problems between and the Spanish colonies. It gave access all of Florida to the united states and all of Texas to Spain. This treaty did not put an end to some people who wanted to liberate Texas. Eli Harris led 120 Anglo fighters to cross the Sabine River, they went on to meet up with James Long in Nacogdoches. In July, James Long had enlisted 300 men under him, and he called on Laffite for his assistance.

Spain ended up putting an end to long expedition. James Long and 52 men left point bolivar and went inland trying to capture La Bahia.

Austin’s Colony was about the old three hundred were settlers, Moses Austin got permission to settle 300 people in Texas and ended up dying some months later Missouri. His son Stephen F Austin took his plans and followed it. The land commissioner name Baron de Bastrop and Austin devoted 272 titles however Bastrop was called away in august 1827. Most of the Old Three Hundred was from Trans-Appalachian. In the colonization agreement, each family were to get 177 acres and for a ranching family will receive 4,428 acres.

Austin's step by setting up a colony with a mixture of Mexican and U.S law was the greatest problem to his colony. Austin faces a lot of challenges with the introduction of 200 families. The same law that favored the settlers by allocating them better estates now rewarded Austin heavily (Bugbee, 100). The kind of remuneration that the impresario gets raises the concerns of the settlers and they blame Austin for speculation. Some immigrants accuse him of demanding pays that are not approved by the government. This kind of exposure opens up more problems for Austin as the settlers get more suspicious with him (Lawson et al. 194). The settlers eventually realize that Austin gets richer from their payments of land, and the thousands of acres of land, he gets compensated by the government. They blame themselves for paying Austin for land, yet it's the government that gave them the land. The settlers get disappointed in him and eventually in 1824, the political chief of Texas terminates the contract between him and his colonists and even reduced the cost of acquiring the land titles. This order was a big blow to him and a benefit to his colonists and that’s how he lost his major source of income (Bugbee, L.99). The cost of running became costly for him; he had to look for urgent solutions to the crashing colony.

I suggest Austin could have appointed a new powerful head of colony which could be responsible to the Mexican government. The new head would also ensure effective operations of the colony and also help him win back the trust of his colonist. He would also employ diplomacy to the Indians, who were his most troublesome neighbors since his colony was at its weakest points.