Among them was not having enough people, especially on its northern frontier. Mexico needed people to establish settlements and to develop the land. Where to get them was the question.
One answer was from its northern neighbor. In the three decades since the United States had adopted its own constitution, its population had doubled to almost 10 million. After the United States bought Louisiana from France in 1803, stories about the vast new territory pulled people westward. People also were pushed westward by crowding in the east and rising food and land prices.
Americans had already started to cross the Sabine River from Louisiana into Mexico. Some of them were poor squatters looking for free land. Some were pirates and smugglers on the wrong side of the law. Still others were military adventurers with wild plans for starting a new nation.
But those illegal immigrants were not what Mexico wanted.
TEXAS THROUGH THE YEARS
1521–1821 part of New Spain
1821–1824 part of the Mexican Empire
1824–1836 part of United Mexican States/Republic of Mexico
1836–1845 Republic of Texas
1845–1861 U.S. state
1861–1865 Confederate state
1870–present Restored to Union as U.S. state
Mexico passed its first colonization law in 1823. It provided for empresarios (agents) to recruit Catholic immigrants of any nationality to live in Mexico. The empresarios received rewards in the form of land. The law promised at least 177 acres of land to each farmer and 4,428 acres of land to each rancher. Newcomers did not have to pay taxes for six years. Married couples and self-supporting individuals could become citizens of Mexico in three years.
This story is from the January 2020 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the January 2020 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
Two Brothers From Ohio
Most people do not realize that the Wright brothers—Wilbur, born in 1867, and Orville, born in 1871—performed various scientific experiments before inventing their aircraft. For as long as anyone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, could remember, the Wright boys had worked on mechanical projects.
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
THE IDEA MEN
People dreamed of flying thousands of years before the Wright brothers found success near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These dreamers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds flying and imagined how humans might do the same—if only they had wings. Other men developed a more hands-on approach to the topic. Early inventors made wings of cloth, glue, and feathers and tied these creations to their arms in an attempt to imitate nature.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
