Title: Manifest Destiny: Westward Expansion and 49er Gold Rush Result in Branch Mints.
Headings: US Coin History: The Mint Branches Out
US Coin History: The Mint Branches Out
Content: Image courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission. In 1821, Mexico won independence for itself from Spain. The new Mexican government, in a move to encourage development of a thinly populated area we know today as southeastern Texas, offered land grants to anyone, including Americans, who would be willing to inhabit the land. In return, settlers promised to obey Mexican law and observe Roman Catholicism. Among the first Americans to receive a land grant was Moses Austin, originally of Connecticut, who planned to establish a colony in Texas. Austin died before his dream could be fulfilled, so the task of leading the people to Texas fell to his son, Stephen F. Austin. In 1823, the younger Austin led 300 families to the banks of the Brazos River, where each family received about 200 acres of fertile farmland and more than 4000 acres of range land. Under Austin's extraordinary organizational skills, the colony prospered. Soon, many thousands of Americans flowed into the territory, attracted by the rich farm soil and the generous land grant policy of the Mexican government. Some settlers brought slaves and started up cotton plantations.