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4th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 14

Mexican Texas

Independence and the empresarios

What your child practices

Texas in Mexico's War of Independence (the Battle of Medina), the empresarios Moses and Stephen F. Austin, Martín de León and Green DeWitt, how early settlers made a living, and Mexico's early government.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.2(D); 4.2(E); 4.9(B); 4.12(B) · Texas's role in the Mexican War of Independence, the empresarios, early settlers' economic activities and early Mexican government

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821.
  2. Mexico invited settlers to build up Texas. Empresarios like Stephen F. Austin brought them and earned land.
  3. Moses Austin got the first permission but died before he could start.

Example: What was an empresario? Mexico gave land to people who brought settlers. That person was an empresario. Answer: a person who brought settlers to Texas in exchange for land

Mexican Texas in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 3 of 14 in 4th grade Social Studies, after Explorers & Missions and before The Texas Revolution.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What was an empresario?

    • a person who brought settlers to Texas in return for land
    • a cowboy on a cattle drive
    • a soldier at the Alamo
    • a Spanish priest

  2. Question 2

    Stephen F. Austin's first 297 families are known as…

    • the Old Three Hundred
    • the Texas Rangers
    • the Six Flags
    • the Runaway Scrape

  3. Question 3

    The Mexican War of Independence began in…

    • 1901
    • 1776
    • 1810
    • 1836

  4. Question 4

    Who is called the "Father of Texas"?

    • Davy Crockett
    • Mirabeau Lamar
    • Stephen F. Austin
    • Sam Houston

  5. Question 5

    Mexico fought for independence from…

    • the United States
    • Spain
    • England
    • France

  6. Question 6

    Mexico's Constitution of 1824 set up…

    • rule by the United States
    • a kingdom ruled by Spain
    • a federal republic with states
    • no government at all

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