1. Section 2: Daily Life on the Frontier
CHAPTER 9
Life in Early Texas
Section 1: Texas Fever
Section 2: Daily Life on the Frontier
Section 3: Trade and Transportation
Section 4: Government and Society

2. Question: Why and how did U.S. settlers come to Texas? Texas Fever
SECTION 1
Texas Fever
Question:
Why and how did U.S. settlers come to Texas?

3. Texas Fever SECTION 1 GONE TO TEXAS Why U.S. Settlers Came:
How They Traveled:
escaping hard times, debts
escaping criminal charges
U.S. creditors and authori- ties had no power in Texas
Texas had cheaper land; easier payment terms
on foot
by covered wagon
on horseback
by flatboats on rivers
by oceangoing steamships

4. Question: What were religion and education like in early Texas?
SECTION 2
Daily Life on the Frontier
Question:
What were religion and education like in early Texas?

5. Daily Life on the Frontier
SECTION 2
Daily Life on the Frontier
Education in Texas
under Mexican Rule
Religion in Texas
under Mexican Rule
• available:
• problems:
home schooling; a
few small private and community schools; wealthier children schooled in the United States
• official:
• actual:
• Protestant activity:
Roman Catholicism
most Tejanos Catholic; most U.S. settlers Protestant, and privately worshipped as pleased.
few funds or good teachers; no public school system; little time for school for farm children; slaves denied schooling
plentiful; traveling preachers; missionaries

6. SECTION 3
Trade and Transportation
Question:
What were the economic activities and transportation routes in Texas in the early 1800s?

7. Trade and Transportation
SECTION 3
Trade and Transportation
Economy
Transportation
economy based on farming and ranching; cotton main cash crop
some craftspeople, merchants; some commercial centers; engaged in free enterprise
trade mainly by barter
exports—cattle, corn, cotton, cowhides, furs, horses, pork, salt; imports—U.S. goods
little manufacturing
few roads and in poor condition
few navigable rivers
ports on the Gulf of Mexico (e.g. in Galveston Bay); connected Texas to other regions but did not solve internal transportation problems

8. Question: How did the Mexican Constitution of 1824 affect Texas?
SECTION 4
Government and Society
Question:
How did the Mexican Constitution of affect Texas?

9. Government and Society
SECTION 4
Government and Society
Mexican Constitution of 1824
EFFECT
formed state of Coahuila y Texas
gave states strong local control
Roman Catholicism the official religion
The capital was far from Texas.
It was hard for Texans to partici-pate in state government.
Some Texans were angered.
Local government could adjust to meet local needs; particularly those of U.S. settlers.
Local government became a mixture of Mexican and U.S. practices.
Texans, and in particular U.S. settlers, publicly claimed to be Catholic but pri-vately worshiped as they pleased.

10. Chapter Wrap-Up CHAPTER 9
1. Why did so many Texas settlers like how the Constitution of 1824 divided government power?
2. Do you think that Texas settlers who broke Mexican laws were good citizens? Provide reasons for your answer.
3. How did poor transportation networks in Texas affect the region’s economy?