Austin's plan for an American colony was thrown into turmoil by Mexico's gaining
independence from Spain in 1821. Governor Martínez informed Austin that the
junta instituyente, the new
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, , and other inducements. It also provided for the employment of agents, called
empresarios, 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).
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
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, , 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. 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. On February 23, 1823, the Karankawa killed two men, named Loy and John C. Alley, and wounded another named
John C. Clark. They were bringing home a canoe full of corn on the Colorado River near the mouth of Skull Creek. 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 H. Moore. This event became known as the
Skull Creek massacre. Austin wrote that extermination of the Karankawa would be necessary, 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. Austin told the colonists that the Karankawa would be impossible to live among. By late 1825, Austin had brought the first 300 families to his settlement, the Austin Colony; these 300 are now known in
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 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. On February 11, 1828, Austin called a meeting of Freemasons at
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
Worshipful Master of the new lodge. Although the petition reached
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". 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 ... the Fredonian Rebellion sparked the powder for later success." 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 to the husband, 320 to the wife, 160 for every child, and 80 for every enslaved person. ==Slavery==