Editing Stephen F. Austin (section)

==Empresario==
[[Image:Stephen Austin and dog.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of Austin, 1833]]
Austin's plan for an American colony was thrown into turmoil by Mexico's gaining [[Treaty of Córdoba|independence from Spain]] in 1821. Governor Martínez informed Austin that the ''junta instituyente'', the new [[Rump legislature|rump congress]] of the government of [[Agustín de Iturbide]] of Mexico, refused to recognize the [[land grant]] authorized by Spain. His government intended to use a general [[immigration law]] to regulate new settlement in Mexico. Austin traveled to [[Mexico City]], where he persuaded the ''junta instituyente'' to approve the grant to his father and the law signed by the Mexican Emperor on January 3, 1823.

The old imperial law offered heads of families a league and a labor of land, {{convert|4,605|acre|ha}}, and other inducements. It also provided for the employment of agents, called ''[[empresario]]s'', to promote [[immigration]]. As an ''empresario'', Austin was to receive 67,000 acres of land for each 200 families he brought to Texas. According to the law, immigrants were not required to pay fees to the government. Some of the immigrants denied Austin's right to charge them for services at the rate of 12.5 cents/acre (31 cents/ha).<ref name="hto"/>

When Emperor of Mexico<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fit01 |title=Iturbide, Agustín de |series=The Handbook of Texas Online |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |date=May 5, 2016 |access-date=March 14, 2020 |first=Carolyn |last=Hyman}}</ref> [[Agustín de Iturbide]] abdicated in March 1823, the law was annulled once again. In April 1823, Austin induced the congress to grant him a contract to bring 300 families into Texas. He wanted honest, hard-working people who would make the colony a success. In 1824, the congress passed a [[General Colonization Law|new immigration law]] that allowed the individual states of Mexico to administer public lands and open them to settlement under certain conditions. In March 1825, the legislature of the Mexican state of [[Coahuila y Tejas]] passed a law similar to the one authorized by Iturbide. The law continued the system of ''empresarios'' and granted each married man a league of land, {{convert|4,428|acre|ha}}, stipulating that he must pay the state $30 within six years.

Austin sought an area for his colonists on the land near the mouth of the Colorado River (Texas) for a colony that could provide a good supply of clean, potable water. Austin claimed rich tracts of land near bays and river mouths already populated by the Karankawa. The Karankawa relied on these bays for the fish and shellfish that provided their winter food sources and thus were fiercely protective of that land.<ref name="Smith 2006 127">{{Harvnb|Smith|2006|p=127}}</ref>

Austin was greeted by the native Karankawa inhabitants with the help of his Mexican scouts, they watched closely as the immigrants unloaded their goods, so that their two sloops could navigate safely up the shallows of the Colorado River. When the Karankawa noticed that only four armed men were guarding the merchandise of 300 immigrants, they made their attack, killing the guards and plundering the articles.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

On February 23, 1823, the Karankawa killed two men, named Loy and John C. Alley, and wounded another named [[Old Three Hundred#List|John C. Clark]]. They were bringing home a canoe full of corn on the Colorado River near the mouth of Skull Creek.<ref>{{Harvnb|Dewees|1852|p=38}}</ref> Later the same evening, Robert Brotherton was riding along a trail near Skull Creek when he was "met by the Indians, robbed of his guns and perceiving he was in danger of his life after making his escape, was wounded in the back with an arrow, very severely. A volunteer militia was organized and went to the scene of the robbery. They followed the tracks to a nearby encampment and slew nineteen of them, scalped them and plundered their camp", wrote one of the participants, [[John Henry Moore (Texas settler)|John H. Moore]]. This event became known as the [[Skull Creek massacre]].

Austin wrote that extermination of the Karankawa would be necessary,<ref name="Smith 2006 127"/> even though his first encounter with the tribe was friendly.<ref>{{Harvnb|Himmel|1999|p=46}}</ref> He talked to the settlers of cannibalism and extreme violence of the Karankawa, sometimes more specifically the Carancaguases. Research had suggested that these accusations of cannibalism were false, possibly caused by confusion with another tribe, and that the Karankawa were horrified by cannibalism when they learned of it being practiced by shipwrecked Spaniards.<ref>{{Harvnb|Newcomb|1969|pp=77–78, 327}}</ref> Austin told the colonists that the Karankawa would be impossible to live among.<ref>{{Harvnb|Himmel|1999|pp=46–47, 48=49}}</ref><ref name="Smith 2006 127"/> Austin continued to encourage violence both against and between the Indian tribes, culminating in 1825 with his order for all Kawankawa to be pursued and killed on sight.<ref>{{Harvnb|Himmel|1999|p=50}}</ref>

By late 1825, Austin had brought the first 300 families to his settlement, the Austin Colony; these 300 are now known in [[History of Texas|Texas history]] as the [[Old Three Hundred]]. Austin had obtained further contracts to settle an additional 900 families between 1825 and 1829. He had effective civil and military authority over the settlers, but he quickly introduced a semblance of American law – the Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas was agreed on in November 1827. Austin organized small, informal armed groups to protect the colonists, which evolved into the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]]. Despite his hopes, Austin was making little money from his endeavors; the colonists were unwilling to pay for his services as ''empresario,'' and most of his revenues were spent on the processes of government and other public services.

During these years, Austin, a Louisiana Lodge No. 111 member at [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri]], sought to establish [[Freemasonry]] in Texas. Freemasonry was well established among the educated classes of Mexican society. It had been introduced among the aristocracy loyal to the [[House of Bourbon]], and the conservatives had total control over the Order. By 1827, Americans living in Mexico City had introduced the United States [[York Rite]] of Freemasonry as a liberal alternative to the established European-style [[Scottish Rite]].<ref>Normand, Pete (1986). ''The Texas Masons: The Fraternity of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons in the History of Texas''. College Station, TX: Brazos Valley Masonic Library & Museum Assn.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2020}} On February 11, 1828, Austin called a meeting of Freemasons at [[San Felipe, Texas|San Felipe]] to elect officers and to petition the Masonic [[Grand Lodge]] in Mexico City for a charter to form a lodge. Austin was elected [[Masonic lodge officers|Worshipful Master]] of the new lodge. Although the petition reached [[Matamoros, Tamaulipas|Matamoros]] and was to be forwarded to Mexico City, nothing more was heard. By 1828, the ruling faction in Mexico feared the liberal elements in Texas might try to gain their independence. Fully aware of the political philosophies of American Freemasons, the Mexican government outlawed Freemasonry on October 25, 1828. In 1829, Austin called another meeting, where it was decided that it was "impolitic and imprudent, at this time, to form Masonic lodges in Texas".<ref>Carter, Dr. James D. (1955). ''Masonry in Texas: Background, History, and Influence to 1846.'' Waco, Texas:  Committee on Masonic Education and Service, Grand Lodge of Texas, A.F. & A.M.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2020}}

He was active in promoting trade and currying the good favor of the Mexican authorities, aiding them in the suppression of the [[Fredonian Rebellion]] of [[Haden Edwards]]. Some historians consider the Fredonian Rebellion the beginning of the [[Texas Revolution]]. Although "premature ...&nbsp; the Fredonian Rebellion sparked the powder for later success."<ref name="bates794">Bates (1956), p. 794.</ref> For this event, Austin raised troops to fight with Mexican troops against the Texas rebels. With the colonists numbering more than 11,000 by 1832, they were becoming less amenable to Austin's cautious leadership, and the Mexican government was becoming less cooperative. It was concerned with the colony's growth and the U.S. government's efforts to buy the state from them. The Mexican government had attempted to stop further U.S. immigration as early as April 1830, but Austin's skills gained an exemption for his colonies. He granted land to immigrants based on {{convert|640|acre|km2}} to the husband, 320 to the wife, 160 for every child, and 80 for every enslaved person.