Chapter 68 Texan Immigration 1848-1861
Chapter 68 Texas Immigration 1848-1861
"Yes I am well aware of how prosperous the fatherland has become since unification. While I well never let go of my love for the Deutschland, going back just simply isn't an option now. Back in Hesse I was a landless noble with no recognition and little opportunities for advancement. Here I am a true Prince and leader of our people in the West. New Braunfels is my home now and I intend to make it great."- Secretary-Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels 1856
"I've never really been to China before. I was born and raised a Texan and during the Great War while I did serve in the Pacific, China was falling apart and Japan and Australia were the bigger threats to California and Hawaii. From what my father did remember of the homeland, it was a rather rough time to live. The entire country was falling apart, our people had lost their pride against the Europeans, if you weren't a noble or a powerful coastal merchant than starvation and poverty were the norm. When he got a chance to come to Texas he took it immediately and managed to make his way to San Francisco where he started the family business and met my mother. Sure the homeland may be gone, but in its place we've made a new home in Texas."- Commander Yang Wenli 1920
"Having to leave France after the Revolution was quite rough. I was still a child when it all happened, going from Dauphin of the most powerful country in Europe to nothing more than a common immigrant. I can't really say I blame Napoleon though. His uncle managed to accomplish more in two decades than my family did in two centuries, so far the Bonapartes are doing well as rulers of France so that's good. When I did arrive in Texas it was quite the frightening experience, having to live in a country of English and Spanish speakers, thousands of miles away from home. Over time our family adapted and became Texanized with the passing year. We turned Nacogdoches into our own Paris, the city now being the pride of the Republic and one that dwarfs New Orleans in French prominence. After serving in the Mexican War was when I started identifying myself as a Texan. It's a great country full of many opportunities for those who wish to start a new life, just as I began mine."- President Louis Phillippe Bourbon 1884
In the aftermath of the 1846 Revolutions began what is considered to be Texas' second official age in immigration. The First Age which took place from 1836-1848 was in many ways sort of a test trial for Texas to the peoples of the world. The Republic was very young and unlike the United States did not have a large population or economy to sustain itself on, providing no guarantees for a successful life. After a full decade of stability and prosperity the immigration project turned out to be a success. With an extrenely low population of around 50,000 at the time of independence, Texas was in dire need of immigrants in order to enlarge the population to make it a power compared to the United States. Because of the need to fill the land, Texas created a very liberal immigration policy that had very few regulations so as to invite as many immigrants as possible to the Republic. As stated previously in Chapter 16, of the early immigrant groups would come to play large roles within the future of Texas such as those of the Germans, French, and Tejanos. Still by the time of the Border Wars Texas had a very low population density with around 320,000 citizens. Enough to form a self-sustaining Republic but far less than even some Central American nations. The decisive event that would change all of this would be the California Gold Rush. With the tales of Californian Gold spreading throughout the world, immigrants came to Texas in droves as around 600,000 immigrants arrived in California alone for the entirety of the Gold Rush. With the great economic boom of the 1850's along with the tales of Gold and plenty of opportunities of land, Texas soon became known as a place to be for immigration that in many ways rivaled even that of the United States. With the Know Nothing anti-immigration movement rising in the United States in the 1850's, many immigrants from Europe who would've gone to America instead chose to head further west towards Texas. While prejudice wasn't entirely non-existent in Texas, there were no organized anti-immigration movements and an immigrant and their family could find much success with the owning of land being a guarantee under the Texas constitution. Adding to this new wave of Europeans were the Chinese and other Asian migrants who came during and after the Gold Rush to work as laborers. In totality around 3 million immigrants would arrive in Texas during the Second Age, a number that was ten times that of the previous Era. This combined with high birth rates and Indian integration in Texas would raise the national population to that of 3,843,286 according to the 1860 census. Launching the Lone Star Republic into a regional power that would become one to be feared with after the Mexican War.
In regards to the French who had played a pivotal role in the early history of Texas with them being the first immigrants and France's patronage, while French immigration still continued they would be overshadowed by various other ethnic groups. The rise of the Second French Empire had largely negated any immigrant effect as Napoleon sought to increase nationalism and the French identity. With France's continued modernization and the growing of its future colonial empire, most French citizens chose to stay either within metropolitan France or move to the colonies. Still that did not mean that immigration to Texas totally ceased as around 150,000 French immigrated to Texas at this time. Texas along with Quebec was a popular place for French migrants due to the large availability of land compared to Europe and the creation of French centers of culture within North America. Nacogdoches was a prime example of this as the Bourbon's patronage along with the presence of many of France's exiled intellectuals caused the city to in many respects become a western Paris. Nacogdochen architecture in many respects designed itself after the Napoleonic renaissance that was ongoing within Paris and many other French cities that had been booming under the guise of Napoleon III and later Emperor Napoleon IV. When a Texan went through the streets of Nacogdoches they would find that it would be in many respects as strolling through that of a centuries old European city. Cobblestone streets paved the way for Nacogdoches while French sculptures and romance art decorated the buildings and served as monuments in dedication to the home country. Combating this was the presence of many Native artisans who sought to preserve the culture of Nacogdoches as the first Texan city and expanded upon the cityscape with numerous buildings that were made in the frontier image that Texas would become known for in the Wild West era. With the presence of the French Nacogdoches soon became transformed from a sleepy backwater town to one of Texas' largest cities with 113,000 people in 1860. The rest of the French who immigrated to Texas were often spread out through the rest of the Texas though often in close proximity to Nacogdoches. Many of the rich Frenchmen found themselves becoming part of the plantation class with investments made into cotton and sugar, using experience from France's time in Haiti. Others became small farmers, merchants, and sailors along the Gulf coast. Though some French had made their way to California, the vast majority continued to stay congregated in Eastern Texas with fewer than 15,000 ever living east of the Nueces. This was a stark contrast to their German rivals who made their home in Western Texas. While smaller than most of the other immigrant groups, French immigrants would serve a pivotal role in early Texas through its additions in culture. Many French artisans and liberals who disagreed with the empire found their homes in Texas after a voluntary exile and brought their talents to the Republic. While Texan culture itself could not be described as French, there are many subtle influences found throughout and most of the Naturalist painters and Southwestern literature had prominent Frenchmen as their creators. Lastly of note would be the rise of a sort of quasi-Cajun culture along the Sabine river. With the state of Louisiana forming Texas' border with America and Louisianna itself being a former major hub of the French colonies, cultural exchange would occur quite frequently between the Franco-Texans and Louisianans across the border. This resulted in the spread of Cajun customs along the Gulf region of Texas while Metropolitan French cultural practices would be spread in Louisiana, turning the state into the United States main place of French culture.
The Bourbon family with President Louis Phillippe in center. The Bourbons are widely hailed within Texas as the leaders and founders of the Franco-Texan community.
After the unification of Germany many Texans thought that the immigration of Germans would stop and Adelsverien would soon have to disband. To the surprise of many this would prove to be wrong. While it is true that Germans found a new sense of nationalism in the Empire and Germany began to take its first steps to becoming the powerhouse of Europe at the time, there were still many factors that contributed to a German emigration. For starters the wide social divisions within Germany were still present and the fact that traditionalist Prussia was the leader of unification did little to help the matter. While Liberals had been the forefrunt of the Revolution, the Conservatives and nobility were able to bounce back soon and the Liberals themselves began to disentegrate within many ideological factions. Until the social welfare laws of the 1870's and 1880's began to pass the economic disparity of millions of Germans would be present and many of those would soon come to seek a life in the Americas. Adding unto the economically distraught were the German farmer class as they soon began to lose power and land within Germany each passing year with the rise of industrialization. Adding unto these groups were those who suffered in the Revolution such as refugees in Eastern Prussia after the Russian invasion, Poles, and multiple groups of people and nobles in Southern Germany who were opposed to the Prussian position of dominance in German affairs. With all these conditions present, Adelsverien continued operations well into the 1850's and was able to gain an even greater amount of success with the unification of Germany making work easier within a unified state rather than across dozens of them. With Prince Carl taking up the post of Secretary of State, Bavarian noblemen Fredrick von Schonkopf began operations as the head of Adelsverien. Schonkopf's new goal was to begin to target the economically disfranchised people of Germany by enticing them with offers of large swaths of land in Texas and spreading tales of Californian gold. Schonkopf in his role actually foound a great amount of support from Kaiser Wilhelm I who in his own words wanted to get rid of the burdens of German society and the non-Prussians that impede the nation. In totality around 600,000 Germans would come to immigrate to Texas in the 1850's. Whereas the French brought cultural expertise to Texas, the Germans were able to bring along with them knowledge of Europe's industrial practices that would come to be crucial in setting up Texan industry both before and after the Mexican War. One prominent example being 65% of Colt manufacturing being made up of Germans. Germans also began to settle the frontier of Texas in droves with Germans starting to take charge in Arizona and many German communities littering the area between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers. Republican politicians often moved to support the expansion of these hill country communities as they were an effective way of combating Indian territorial control and forcing them to become integrated, while gaining a critical supply of subsistence farmers. Much like the situation with Nacogdoches, both New Braunfels and Fredricksburg began to rise as cities in this time with Southern German architecture and culture shaping the two cities into mirror images of a classical German city. chief among these cultural projects being Sophie's Schloss, the castle of the Solms-Braunfels family that has today become a major national landmark with it being a copy of the family castle in Braunfels. The populations of both Fredricksburg and New Braunfels rose to that of 66,000 and 157,000 in 1860 respectively. Another prominent example is the port city of Galveston who's elite became filled with Germans and had 45% of its total population be made up of German descent. Upon moving to Texas German immigrants would often be found to be the most patriotic of the various ethnic groups and Texas and manged to integrate themselves quite easily. The effect of this is so widespread that when moving in Western Texas today it is often comparable to be that of a little Germany, the largest concentration of German culture outside the Empire itself.
Sophie's Castle in New Braunfels, Texas.
Out of all the immigrant groups a surprising nationality that would come to make its mark upon the Republic were the Chinese. Before 1849 Asians in the Americas were an extreme rarity that would only be found in trading merchants at key port cities. The reasons for this largely stem due to Asia's isolation from world affairs until the 19th century and the inability of Europeans to get into East Asia. The First Opium War would change all of this as China became opened up to the West which in turn would expose many Chinese to the opportunity to leave the country. To many within China it was quite clear that the Qing Empire was one the verge of self-destruction due to the high amount of corruption and decadence that was present throughout the empire. The question for the Chinese emigrants though was where could they call home. Out of all the nations within the Americas, Texas soon proved to be the answer. When word of the Californian Gold Rush spread to Chin it soon became the catalyst for a Chinese exodus as many of the common peasants dreamed of becoming rich with Gold. Around 100,000 Chinese left during the Californian Gold Rush and an additional 100K would join them in the rest of the 1850's. Upon arriving the Chinese served as a major part of the labor force in the gold fields and some managed to become rich with nugget extracts, the richest Chinese in Texas being Tong Shufen who managed to extract $850,000 worth of Redbacks. Upon entry into the Republic the Chinese were initially viewed with disdain and distrust by the rest of Texas. Unlike the Europeans or Latin Americans, the Chinese immigrants seemed to act in a completely alien manner to other Texans due to their extremely different cultures. In addition was the fact that the Chinese had the highest difficulty of integration due to little previous exposure to English and the absence of Christianity in China. Over times these initial feelings began to die down as Texans saw the value of cheap Chinese labor for usage within farming, mining, and railroad usage. The railroads in particular benefited from Chinese labor as a railroad gang was usually found to have a whole host of Chinese laborers. With the rise of slavery and other issues of precedence in the Republic the calls for bans on Chinese immigration began to die down as the Texas Congress ignored these pleas and Texans got used to the East Asian presence. Over time other events of importance to other ethnic groups such as the Mexican War, Mormon Rebellion, Southern Exodus, and Indian Wars diverted attention of prejudice away from the Chinese and due to little incidents from Chinese immigrants themselves resulted in the Chinese being mostly accepted by the turn of the century. In relation to the ever increasing role of Chinese Texans as the backbone of the labor force, Chinese merchants began to sprung up across California as Chinese immigrants tended to stay on the west coast. San Francisco is a prominent example of Chinese culture a third of the city became invested with Chinese neighborhoods, Chinatown forming the largest district of the nation's largest city and Chinese architecture beginning to blend in with the existing Spanish-American buildings. Chinese culture also began to spread in Texas quickly at this time as many Texans saw China as an exotic kingdom and were intrigued by its practices. Chinese restaurants began to spread across California to integrate itself into the local diet and Chinatowns became their own important financial districts in San Francisco and other cities such as Monterrey, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The virtual commercialization of Chinese culture was a benefit to these immigrants as they could sell cheap Chinese trinkets to white Texans at a large price and claim they were valuable Chinese artifacts. The white Texans being none the wiser and proudly displaying it in their homes. Over time Chinese immigration began to increase exponentially with each passing decade, the largest incidence being the exodus of millions after the collapse of the Qing following the Great War. Traveling around California in modern Texas one can easily note the widespread appearance of Chinese and Asian culture in general. The arrival of the forty-niners laying the foundation for their existence in the Republic.
Modern day Chinatown in San Francisco, California
Of course along with these other groups came the arrival of more Tejanos to Texas, serving to increase the Latinization of Texas. Around 1/4th of total Texan immigration in the Second Age came from Latin America with around 760,000 Latin Americans moving to Texas. The main reason for this surge in immigration was the fact that Texas was a nation with a large existing Hispanic minority that was already a stable democracy, something that was sadly a rarity in Latin America at the time. After Texan intervention in the Filibuster War, immigration from Central America surged in particular as Central Americans held Texas in a now positive light for saving their homeland from Walker and other American filibusters. South American immigration while limited in comparison, continued as the ongoing regional conflicts and the poor conditions within the many nations prompted a general emigration from many peasants in the region. The nations from South America who provided the most immigrants at this time were mainly Columbia, Venezuela, and Peru-Bolivia. With very positive relations as allies, Yucatan immigration was common though the actual numbers were surprisingly low at the time with only 35,000 Yucatani immigrating to Texas. The main reason for this being due to the fact that Yucatan had become highly nationalistic at this time and was seen as one of the more prosperous nations in Latin America with its large stability, widespread democracy, and integration of the Mayan in mirror of Texan practices. Indeed the Yucatan would actually become another immigrant nation at this time, though with far less numbers to Texas. Still while actual immigration was not high, migration would be commonplace between both nations as they were some of each others largest trading partners, dozens of ships passing through the Gulf between Galveston and Campeche each day. The two nations who would come to form a majority of immigrants were the Rio Grande and Mexico. With the Rio Grande increasingly becoming a failed state in its entirety, it was quite common for Rio Grande citizens to immigrate to Texas before the Mexican War with 105,000 Rio Grande citizens immigrating to Texas. These immigrants were desperate to escape the lawlessness of the land and Texas proved to be the solution. Most people from the Rio Grande would chose to settle along the Rio Grande river, filling up border towns such as Laredo, Brownsville, and El Paso. Having similar cultural values to the native Tejanos, the Rio Grande peoples became easy to integrate and soon threw away their old nationality and became proper Texans. What was most surprising at the time was the fact of the manner that most immigrants came from Mexico. While there was a general peace between the two countries, minor border disputes would be quite common and both countries hated each other, Texas considering Mexico an oppressor while Mexico considered Texas to be the root of its problems. However this mattered little to the Mexican peasant class who had undergone harsh struggles after the Mexican Civil War and had lost much of their land. Meanwhile the dream of Mexican democracy was dying each year as the government became more authoritarian. To escape these conditions many Mexicans took journeys across the country and the Rio Grande to make their way to Texas. Often this was in the form of illegal immigration though the Texas Rangers did little to stop this as they were unequipped to handle the situation and simply let most cross into the border towns, a stark contrast to today's Ranger policies. With the incoming waves of Mexicans, most had settled the Rio Grande region and became small farmers or cowboys to help in the agriculture industry. Living conditions in Texas were found to be far better than that of Mexico and like the Rio Grande, most Mexicans became easily integrated and identified themselves as Tejanos. The incoming Mexican waves of immigration would soon drop however when Benito Juarez came to power. His Pan-Mexican ideology spreading throughout the country and the nationalization of Mexico beginning, leading to the Mexican War.
Cross border traffic between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
One group of immigrants that would begin to make their make on Texas at this time were the Irish. In the 1850's Ireland was suffering a large famine of their staple crop that resulted in around a quarter of their population dying off from hunger. While living conditions in Ireland had never been great with their repression by the English, the fact that many large Irish families couldn't feed their children caused the nation to wake up and many Irish decide to make a new place for themselves in the New World. During this time most Irishmen and women chose to immigrate primarily to Quebec and the United States, the former for its strong Catholic presence and the latter due to the many economic opportunities present within New York. However 100,000 Irish chose a different path and decided to settle in Texas. The main incentive for Irish to come to Texas was the large quantities of cheap land and the fact that owning a piece of land was a constitutional right. Back in Ireland most of the Irish population outside of Ulster were nothing more than farmers. With the famine many hoped that they could make a new life in Texas with large farms that would outshine their ancestral lands. Another factor that contributed to Irish immigration was the fact that there was little if any discrimination in Texas. Unlike the rough competition in New York for factory jobs, there was little need for a competition in Texas as the industry was in its birth stages and most Texans chose the route of agriculture, freeing up Irishmen to fill the limited factories both in Texas and California. In addition Texas was quickly becoming a Catholic majority nation so there was little conflict over religion when Tejanos, French, and many Germans were also Catholic. When coming to Texas many Irish decided to set themselves up within Galveston in mirror image to their digging in New York City. The main difference between the two though was the fact that most of Galveston was barren and there were plenty of economic opportunities for independent business management. Outside of the city of Houston were a small Irish minority were gathering, the Irish were vastly spread out throughout Texas and chose to integrate themselves more with the land and the local towns. With vast swarths of fertile land and multiple different beasts for opportunities in animal husbandry, the Irish-Texan farmer grew to be on average fifteen times richer than their homeland counterpart. Irish immigrants also managed to manipulate the diet of Texas with the introduction of the potato. The humid climate and fertile soil acting as a perfect cultivation ground for the crop and the vegetable making its way into becoming a common part of the Texan diet.
An interesting addition to the population groups of Texas at the time were the increasing groups of Slavs who made their way to Texas. Common Slavic immigrants being Poles, Russians, Czechs, Ukrainians, and Serbians. The latter half of the 19th century saw a huge surge in Slavic migrations to the Americas as the general conditions of Ottoman Europe and the Russian Empire were getting worse with the governments autocratic polices proving harsh on the Slavs and little industrialization ever affecting their citizens. It wouldn't be until after the Balkans war and the reign of Russia under Tsar Nicholas II that this began to slow down. Though the effects were shown to be limited as millions of Slavs still chose to make their way to the Americas. Generally most Slavic migrants made their way to the United States as immigration was easier due to the fact that Texas had very few relations with the nations of Eastern Europe, Hungary being the only exception though more because of both countries close relationship to Germany than anything. Still around 300,000 Slavs had manged to find their ways to Texas at this time. Unlike most of the other immigrant groups, the Slavs were never really united in movements or congregations as they were divided into multiple ethnicites with different languages among them. Upon arriving to Texas the Slavs would act in a manner similar to the Irish and would spread out along the countryside in efforts to create large family farms that were never possible in Russia or the Ottoman Empire. Out of all the Slavs the largest group who would come to make an impact among Texas were the Czechs. The large presence of the Czechs were due in most part to Adelsverein as the organization had a network set up within the rump Austrian Empire. After the 1846 Revolutions and new suppression of the Czech people under Franz Ferdinand, pressure mounted on the Czechs to find a new country. Adelsverien was able to intervene for many as their goal was total immigration to Texas and while they were mostly focused on Germans, they had extended operations to other groups such as Poles in the past. Being the most successful minority group in Austria made the arriving Czechs intellectuals and skilled laborers that put them in comparison to the Germans and French. Still integration was hard at first as most Texans assumed that Czechs were simply Germans as they had little knowledge of the history of Bohemia. Czech distribution in Texas was widespread though they tended to congregate near German areas due to their knowledge of German culture and the language, helping to provide an easier transition. In Texas the Czechs founded their own city to call their own with Czech businessmen Pavel Svoboda leading 3,000 Czech immigrants to the small town of West, Texas. Pavel along with other wealth Czechs invested heavily into the small town and were able to take it over from the 400 Texan settlers already living there. Over time West, Texas became a cultural hub for the Czech Texans with 52,000 people living their in 1860. The city would later change its name to New Prague after a referendum in 1888.
New Prague, Texas
Lastly of note of all the immigrant groups were that of the Americans. To an American today the notion of American immigrants arriving to another country would be one to scoff at. However the hard times of the 1850's would prove that myth wrong. With the turmoil in the nation between the North and South increasing in the Webster and Douglas presidencies, many Americans sought to move further west to escape the troubles of the East. Some Americans chose to take it a step further and sought to leave the country and go to Texas. Tales of the Lone Star Republic had been increasing throughout the United States with the Republic setting up an image of a wild frontier full of adventure and opportunity. While America was still a land of much opportunity that had led it to become the prime target of European immigrants, the increasing instability and the financial struggles after the Panic of 1856 made many want to move to Texas to escape these conditions and make their own place. By 1860 Americans had become the second largest immigrant group in Texas with over 683,000 immigrants. Additions to Texas were often found to be equally from the North and the South as troubles with Cotton emerging in the Deep South and loss of available land in the North prompted this leaving. Americans had little to no difficulty becoming Texanized as a majority of the Founding Fathers were American and the Texan culture nearly identical in many ways to America. What had shocked many Americans when entering this country though was that they were simply another minority with the rise of other immigrant groups. Many of the first settlers often helped the Americans manage though and soon they found new places in Texas with little initial conflict with over groups. Unlike other immigrant groups, Americans were spread out across the entirety of the Republic. Sectionalism would play a large role in settlement with Yankees traveling to California, Mormons making their way to Deseret, and Dixies making their homes in the state of Texas. Thanks to this large surge of American immigration, Texas was still able to keep its American roots and practices in its new culture. For if the Americans had not traveled to Texas then the modern nation would be something of a Hispanic-German country. In Texas history however this gradual arrival is far often ignored, for the Southern Exodus and the great amount of changes it caused is often remembered far more in the minds of Texans.
"Yes I am well aware of how prosperous the fatherland has become since unification. While I well never let go of my love for the Deutschland, going back just simply isn't an option now. Back in Hesse I was a landless noble with no recognition and little opportunities for advancement. Here I am a true Prince and leader of our people in the West. New Braunfels is my home now and I intend to make it great."- Secretary-Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels 1856
"I've never really been to China before. I was born and raised a Texan and during the Great War while I did serve in the Pacific, China was falling apart and Japan and Australia were the bigger threats to California and Hawaii. From what my father did remember of the homeland, it was a rather rough time to live. The entire country was falling apart, our people had lost their pride against the Europeans, if you weren't a noble or a powerful coastal merchant than starvation and poverty were the norm. When he got a chance to come to Texas he took it immediately and managed to make his way to San Francisco where he started the family business and met my mother. Sure the homeland may be gone, but in its place we've made a new home in Texas."- Commander Yang Wenli 1920
"Having to leave France after the Revolution was quite rough. I was still a child when it all happened, going from Dauphin of the most powerful country in Europe to nothing more than a common immigrant. I can't really say I blame Napoleon though. His uncle managed to accomplish more in two decades than my family did in two centuries, so far the Bonapartes are doing well as rulers of France so that's good. When I did arrive in Texas it was quite the frightening experience, having to live in a country of English and Spanish speakers, thousands of miles away from home. Over time our family adapted and became Texanized with the passing year. We turned Nacogdoches into our own Paris, the city now being the pride of the Republic and one that dwarfs New Orleans in French prominence. After serving in the Mexican War was when I started identifying myself as a Texan. It's a great country full of many opportunities for those who wish to start a new life, just as I began mine."- President Louis Phillippe Bourbon 1884
In the aftermath of the 1846 Revolutions began what is considered to be Texas' second official age in immigration. The First Age which took place from 1836-1848 was in many ways sort of a test trial for Texas to the peoples of the world. The Republic was very young and unlike the United States did not have a large population or economy to sustain itself on, providing no guarantees for a successful life. After a full decade of stability and prosperity the immigration project turned out to be a success. With an extrenely low population of around 50,000 at the time of independence, Texas was in dire need of immigrants in order to enlarge the population to make it a power compared to the United States. Because of the need to fill the land, Texas created a very liberal immigration policy that had very few regulations so as to invite as many immigrants as possible to the Republic. As stated previously in Chapter 16, of the early immigrant groups would come to play large roles within the future of Texas such as those of the Germans, French, and Tejanos. Still by the time of the Border Wars Texas had a very low population density with around 320,000 citizens. Enough to form a self-sustaining Republic but far less than even some Central American nations. The decisive event that would change all of this would be the California Gold Rush. With the tales of Californian Gold spreading throughout the world, immigrants came to Texas in droves as around 600,000 immigrants arrived in California alone for the entirety of the Gold Rush. With the great economic boom of the 1850's along with the tales of Gold and plenty of opportunities of land, Texas soon became known as a place to be for immigration that in many ways rivaled even that of the United States. With the Know Nothing anti-immigration movement rising in the United States in the 1850's, many immigrants from Europe who would've gone to America instead chose to head further west towards Texas. While prejudice wasn't entirely non-existent in Texas, there were no organized anti-immigration movements and an immigrant and their family could find much success with the owning of land being a guarantee under the Texas constitution. Adding to this new wave of Europeans were the Chinese and other Asian migrants who came during and after the Gold Rush to work as laborers. In totality around 3 million immigrants would arrive in Texas during the Second Age, a number that was ten times that of the previous Era. This combined with high birth rates and Indian integration in Texas would raise the national population to that of 3,843,286 according to the 1860 census. Launching the Lone Star Republic into a regional power that would become one to be feared with after the Mexican War.
In regards to the French who had played a pivotal role in the early history of Texas with them being the first immigrants and France's patronage, while French immigration still continued they would be overshadowed by various other ethnic groups. The rise of the Second French Empire had largely negated any immigrant effect as Napoleon sought to increase nationalism and the French identity. With France's continued modernization and the growing of its future colonial empire, most French citizens chose to stay either within metropolitan France or move to the colonies. Still that did not mean that immigration to Texas totally ceased as around 150,000 French immigrated to Texas at this time. Texas along with Quebec was a popular place for French migrants due to the large availability of land compared to Europe and the creation of French centers of culture within North America. Nacogdoches was a prime example of this as the Bourbon's patronage along with the presence of many of France's exiled intellectuals caused the city to in many respects become a western Paris. Nacogdochen architecture in many respects designed itself after the Napoleonic renaissance that was ongoing within Paris and many other French cities that had been booming under the guise of Napoleon III and later Emperor Napoleon IV. When a Texan went through the streets of Nacogdoches they would find that it would be in many respects as strolling through that of a centuries old European city. Cobblestone streets paved the way for Nacogdoches while French sculptures and romance art decorated the buildings and served as monuments in dedication to the home country. Combating this was the presence of many Native artisans who sought to preserve the culture of Nacogdoches as the first Texan city and expanded upon the cityscape with numerous buildings that were made in the frontier image that Texas would become known for in the Wild West era. With the presence of the French Nacogdoches soon became transformed from a sleepy backwater town to one of Texas' largest cities with 113,000 people in 1860. The rest of the French who immigrated to Texas were often spread out through the rest of the Texas though often in close proximity to Nacogdoches. Many of the rich Frenchmen found themselves becoming part of the plantation class with investments made into cotton and sugar, using experience from France's time in Haiti. Others became small farmers, merchants, and sailors along the Gulf coast. Though some French had made their way to California, the vast majority continued to stay congregated in Eastern Texas with fewer than 15,000 ever living east of the Nueces. This was a stark contrast to their German rivals who made their home in Western Texas. While smaller than most of the other immigrant groups, French immigrants would serve a pivotal role in early Texas through its additions in culture. Many French artisans and liberals who disagreed with the empire found their homes in Texas after a voluntary exile and brought their talents to the Republic. While Texan culture itself could not be described as French, there are many subtle influences found throughout and most of the Naturalist painters and Southwestern literature had prominent Frenchmen as their creators. Lastly of note would be the rise of a sort of quasi-Cajun culture along the Sabine river. With the state of Louisiana forming Texas' border with America and Louisianna itself being a former major hub of the French colonies, cultural exchange would occur quite frequently between the Franco-Texans and Louisianans across the border. This resulted in the spread of Cajun customs along the Gulf region of Texas while Metropolitan French cultural practices would be spread in Louisiana, turning the state into the United States main place of French culture.
The Bourbon family with President Louis Phillippe in center. The Bourbons are widely hailed within Texas as the leaders and founders of the Franco-Texan community.
After the unification of Germany many Texans thought that the immigration of Germans would stop and Adelsverien would soon have to disband. To the surprise of many this would prove to be wrong. While it is true that Germans found a new sense of nationalism in the Empire and Germany began to take its first steps to becoming the powerhouse of Europe at the time, there were still many factors that contributed to a German emigration. For starters the wide social divisions within Germany were still present and the fact that traditionalist Prussia was the leader of unification did little to help the matter. While Liberals had been the forefrunt of the Revolution, the Conservatives and nobility were able to bounce back soon and the Liberals themselves began to disentegrate within many ideological factions. Until the social welfare laws of the 1870's and 1880's began to pass the economic disparity of millions of Germans would be present and many of those would soon come to seek a life in the Americas. Adding unto the economically distraught were the German farmer class as they soon began to lose power and land within Germany each passing year with the rise of industrialization. Adding unto these groups were those who suffered in the Revolution such as refugees in Eastern Prussia after the Russian invasion, Poles, and multiple groups of people and nobles in Southern Germany who were opposed to the Prussian position of dominance in German affairs. With all these conditions present, Adelsverien continued operations well into the 1850's and was able to gain an even greater amount of success with the unification of Germany making work easier within a unified state rather than across dozens of them. With Prince Carl taking up the post of Secretary of State, Bavarian noblemen Fredrick von Schonkopf began operations as the head of Adelsverien. Schonkopf's new goal was to begin to target the economically disfranchised people of Germany by enticing them with offers of large swaths of land in Texas and spreading tales of Californian gold. Schonkopf in his role actually foound a great amount of support from Kaiser Wilhelm I who in his own words wanted to get rid of the burdens of German society and the non-Prussians that impede the nation. In totality around 600,000 Germans would come to immigrate to Texas in the 1850's. Whereas the French brought cultural expertise to Texas, the Germans were able to bring along with them knowledge of Europe's industrial practices that would come to be crucial in setting up Texan industry both before and after the Mexican War. One prominent example being 65% of Colt manufacturing being made up of Germans. Germans also began to settle the frontier of Texas in droves with Germans starting to take charge in Arizona and many German communities littering the area between the Rio Grande and Nueces rivers. Republican politicians often moved to support the expansion of these hill country communities as they were an effective way of combating Indian territorial control and forcing them to become integrated, while gaining a critical supply of subsistence farmers. Much like the situation with Nacogdoches, both New Braunfels and Fredricksburg began to rise as cities in this time with Southern German architecture and culture shaping the two cities into mirror images of a classical German city. chief among these cultural projects being Sophie's Schloss, the castle of the Solms-Braunfels family that has today become a major national landmark with it being a copy of the family castle in Braunfels. The populations of both Fredricksburg and New Braunfels rose to that of 66,000 and 157,000 in 1860 respectively. Another prominent example is the port city of Galveston who's elite became filled with Germans and had 45% of its total population be made up of German descent. Upon moving to Texas German immigrants would often be found to be the most patriotic of the various ethnic groups and Texas and manged to integrate themselves quite easily. The effect of this is so widespread that when moving in Western Texas today it is often comparable to be that of a little Germany, the largest concentration of German culture outside the Empire itself.
Sophie's Castle in New Braunfels, Texas.
Out of all the immigrant groups a surprising nationality that would come to make its mark upon the Republic were the Chinese. Before 1849 Asians in the Americas were an extreme rarity that would only be found in trading merchants at key port cities. The reasons for this largely stem due to Asia's isolation from world affairs until the 19th century and the inability of Europeans to get into East Asia. The First Opium War would change all of this as China became opened up to the West which in turn would expose many Chinese to the opportunity to leave the country. To many within China it was quite clear that the Qing Empire was one the verge of self-destruction due to the high amount of corruption and decadence that was present throughout the empire. The question for the Chinese emigrants though was where could they call home. Out of all the nations within the Americas, Texas soon proved to be the answer. When word of the Californian Gold Rush spread to Chin it soon became the catalyst for a Chinese exodus as many of the common peasants dreamed of becoming rich with Gold. Around 100,000 Chinese left during the Californian Gold Rush and an additional 100K would join them in the rest of the 1850's. Upon arriving the Chinese served as a major part of the labor force in the gold fields and some managed to become rich with nugget extracts, the richest Chinese in Texas being Tong Shufen who managed to extract $850,000 worth of Redbacks. Upon entry into the Republic the Chinese were initially viewed with disdain and distrust by the rest of Texas. Unlike the Europeans or Latin Americans, the Chinese immigrants seemed to act in a completely alien manner to other Texans due to their extremely different cultures. In addition was the fact that the Chinese had the highest difficulty of integration due to little previous exposure to English and the absence of Christianity in China. Over times these initial feelings began to die down as Texans saw the value of cheap Chinese labor for usage within farming, mining, and railroad usage. The railroads in particular benefited from Chinese labor as a railroad gang was usually found to have a whole host of Chinese laborers. With the rise of slavery and other issues of precedence in the Republic the calls for bans on Chinese immigration began to die down as the Texas Congress ignored these pleas and Texans got used to the East Asian presence. Over time other events of importance to other ethnic groups such as the Mexican War, Mormon Rebellion, Southern Exodus, and Indian Wars diverted attention of prejudice away from the Chinese and due to little incidents from Chinese immigrants themselves resulted in the Chinese being mostly accepted by the turn of the century. In relation to the ever increasing role of Chinese Texans as the backbone of the labor force, Chinese merchants began to sprung up across California as Chinese immigrants tended to stay on the west coast. San Francisco is a prominent example of Chinese culture a third of the city became invested with Chinese neighborhoods, Chinatown forming the largest district of the nation's largest city and Chinese architecture beginning to blend in with the existing Spanish-American buildings. Chinese culture also began to spread in Texas quickly at this time as many Texans saw China as an exotic kingdom and were intrigued by its practices. Chinese restaurants began to spread across California to integrate itself into the local diet and Chinatowns became their own important financial districts in San Francisco and other cities such as Monterrey, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The virtual commercialization of Chinese culture was a benefit to these immigrants as they could sell cheap Chinese trinkets to white Texans at a large price and claim they were valuable Chinese artifacts. The white Texans being none the wiser and proudly displaying it in their homes. Over time Chinese immigration began to increase exponentially with each passing decade, the largest incidence being the exodus of millions after the collapse of the Qing following the Great War. Traveling around California in modern Texas one can easily note the widespread appearance of Chinese and Asian culture in general. The arrival of the forty-niners laying the foundation for their existence in the Republic.
Modern day Chinatown in San Francisco, California
Of course along with these other groups came the arrival of more Tejanos to Texas, serving to increase the Latinization of Texas. Around 1/4th of total Texan immigration in the Second Age came from Latin America with around 760,000 Latin Americans moving to Texas. The main reason for this surge in immigration was the fact that Texas was a nation with a large existing Hispanic minority that was already a stable democracy, something that was sadly a rarity in Latin America at the time. After Texan intervention in the Filibuster War, immigration from Central America surged in particular as Central Americans held Texas in a now positive light for saving their homeland from Walker and other American filibusters. South American immigration while limited in comparison, continued as the ongoing regional conflicts and the poor conditions within the many nations prompted a general emigration from many peasants in the region. The nations from South America who provided the most immigrants at this time were mainly Columbia, Venezuela, and Peru-Bolivia. With very positive relations as allies, Yucatan immigration was common though the actual numbers were surprisingly low at the time with only 35,000 Yucatani immigrating to Texas. The main reason for this being due to the fact that Yucatan had become highly nationalistic at this time and was seen as one of the more prosperous nations in Latin America with its large stability, widespread democracy, and integration of the Mayan in mirror of Texan practices. Indeed the Yucatan would actually become another immigrant nation at this time, though with far less numbers to Texas. Still while actual immigration was not high, migration would be commonplace between both nations as they were some of each others largest trading partners, dozens of ships passing through the Gulf between Galveston and Campeche each day. The two nations who would come to form a majority of immigrants were the Rio Grande and Mexico. With the Rio Grande increasingly becoming a failed state in its entirety, it was quite common for Rio Grande citizens to immigrate to Texas before the Mexican War with 105,000 Rio Grande citizens immigrating to Texas. These immigrants were desperate to escape the lawlessness of the land and Texas proved to be the solution. Most people from the Rio Grande would chose to settle along the Rio Grande river, filling up border towns such as Laredo, Brownsville, and El Paso. Having similar cultural values to the native Tejanos, the Rio Grande peoples became easy to integrate and soon threw away their old nationality and became proper Texans. What was most surprising at the time was the fact of the manner that most immigrants came from Mexico. While there was a general peace between the two countries, minor border disputes would be quite common and both countries hated each other, Texas considering Mexico an oppressor while Mexico considered Texas to be the root of its problems. However this mattered little to the Mexican peasant class who had undergone harsh struggles after the Mexican Civil War and had lost much of their land. Meanwhile the dream of Mexican democracy was dying each year as the government became more authoritarian. To escape these conditions many Mexicans took journeys across the country and the Rio Grande to make their way to Texas. Often this was in the form of illegal immigration though the Texas Rangers did little to stop this as they were unequipped to handle the situation and simply let most cross into the border towns, a stark contrast to today's Ranger policies. With the incoming waves of Mexicans, most had settled the Rio Grande region and became small farmers or cowboys to help in the agriculture industry. Living conditions in Texas were found to be far better than that of Mexico and like the Rio Grande, most Mexicans became easily integrated and identified themselves as Tejanos. The incoming Mexican waves of immigration would soon drop however when Benito Juarez came to power. His Pan-Mexican ideology spreading throughout the country and the nationalization of Mexico beginning, leading to the Mexican War.
Cross border traffic between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua
One group of immigrants that would begin to make their make on Texas at this time were the Irish. In the 1850's Ireland was suffering a large famine of their staple crop that resulted in around a quarter of their population dying off from hunger. While living conditions in Ireland had never been great with their repression by the English, the fact that many large Irish families couldn't feed their children caused the nation to wake up and many Irish decide to make a new place for themselves in the New World. During this time most Irishmen and women chose to immigrate primarily to Quebec and the United States, the former for its strong Catholic presence and the latter due to the many economic opportunities present within New York. However 100,000 Irish chose a different path and decided to settle in Texas. The main incentive for Irish to come to Texas was the large quantities of cheap land and the fact that owning a piece of land was a constitutional right. Back in Ireland most of the Irish population outside of Ulster were nothing more than farmers. With the famine many hoped that they could make a new life in Texas with large farms that would outshine their ancestral lands. Another factor that contributed to Irish immigration was the fact that there was little if any discrimination in Texas. Unlike the rough competition in New York for factory jobs, there was little need for a competition in Texas as the industry was in its birth stages and most Texans chose the route of agriculture, freeing up Irishmen to fill the limited factories both in Texas and California. In addition Texas was quickly becoming a Catholic majority nation so there was little conflict over religion when Tejanos, French, and many Germans were also Catholic. When coming to Texas many Irish decided to set themselves up within Galveston in mirror image to their digging in New York City. The main difference between the two though was the fact that most of Galveston was barren and there were plenty of economic opportunities for independent business management. Outside of the city of Houston were a small Irish minority were gathering, the Irish were vastly spread out throughout Texas and chose to integrate themselves more with the land and the local towns. With vast swarths of fertile land and multiple different beasts for opportunities in animal husbandry, the Irish-Texan farmer grew to be on average fifteen times richer than their homeland counterpart. Irish immigrants also managed to manipulate the diet of Texas with the introduction of the potato. The humid climate and fertile soil acting as a perfect cultivation ground for the crop and the vegetable making its way into becoming a common part of the Texan diet.
An interesting addition to the population groups of Texas at the time were the increasing groups of Slavs who made their way to Texas. Common Slavic immigrants being Poles, Russians, Czechs, Ukrainians, and Serbians. The latter half of the 19th century saw a huge surge in Slavic migrations to the Americas as the general conditions of Ottoman Europe and the Russian Empire were getting worse with the governments autocratic polices proving harsh on the Slavs and little industrialization ever affecting their citizens. It wouldn't be until after the Balkans war and the reign of Russia under Tsar Nicholas II that this began to slow down. Though the effects were shown to be limited as millions of Slavs still chose to make their way to the Americas. Generally most Slavic migrants made their way to the United States as immigration was easier due to the fact that Texas had very few relations with the nations of Eastern Europe, Hungary being the only exception though more because of both countries close relationship to Germany than anything. Still around 300,000 Slavs had manged to find their ways to Texas at this time. Unlike most of the other immigrant groups, the Slavs were never really united in movements or congregations as they were divided into multiple ethnicites with different languages among them. Upon arriving to Texas the Slavs would act in a manner similar to the Irish and would spread out along the countryside in efforts to create large family farms that were never possible in Russia or the Ottoman Empire. Out of all the Slavs the largest group who would come to make an impact among Texas were the Czechs. The large presence of the Czechs were due in most part to Adelsverein as the organization had a network set up within the rump Austrian Empire. After the 1846 Revolutions and new suppression of the Czech people under Franz Ferdinand, pressure mounted on the Czechs to find a new country. Adelsverien was able to intervene for many as their goal was total immigration to Texas and while they were mostly focused on Germans, they had extended operations to other groups such as Poles in the past. Being the most successful minority group in Austria made the arriving Czechs intellectuals and skilled laborers that put them in comparison to the Germans and French. Still integration was hard at first as most Texans assumed that Czechs were simply Germans as they had little knowledge of the history of Bohemia. Czech distribution in Texas was widespread though they tended to congregate near German areas due to their knowledge of German culture and the language, helping to provide an easier transition. In Texas the Czechs founded their own city to call their own with Czech businessmen Pavel Svoboda leading 3,000 Czech immigrants to the small town of West, Texas. Pavel along with other wealth Czechs invested heavily into the small town and were able to take it over from the 400 Texan settlers already living there. Over time West, Texas became a cultural hub for the Czech Texans with 52,000 people living their in 1860. The city would later change its name to New Prague after a referendum in 1888.
New Prague, Texas
Lastly of note of all the immigrant groups were that of the Americans. To an American today the notion of American immigrants arriving to another country would be one to scoff at. However the hard times of the 1850's would prove that myth wrong. With the turmoil in the nation between the North and South increasing in the Webster and Douglas presidencies, many Americans sought to move further west to escape the troubles of the East. Some Americans chose to take it a step further and sought to leave the country and go to Texas. Tales of the Lone Star Republic had been increasing throughout the United States with the Republic setting up an image of a wild frontier full of adventure and opportunity. While America was still a land of much opportunity that had led it to become the prime target of European immigrants, the increasing instability and the financial struggles after the Panic of 1856 made many want to move to Texas to escape these conditions and make their own place. By 1860 Americans had become the second largest immigrant group in Texas with over 683,000 immigrants. Additions to Texas were often found to be equally from the North and the South as troubles with Cotton emerging in the Deep South and loss of available land in the North prompted this leaving. Americans had little to no difficulty becoming Texanized as a majority of the Founding Fathers were American and the Texan culture nearly identical in many ways to America. What had shocked many Americans when entering this country though was that they were simply another minority with the rise of other immigrant groups. Many of the first settlers often helped the Americans manage though and soon they found new places in Texas with little initial conflict with over groups. Unlike other immigrant groups, Americans were spread out across the entirety of the Republic. Sectionalism would play a large role in settlement with Yankees traveling to California, Mormons making their way to Deseret, and Dixies making their homes in the state of Texas. Thanks to this large surge of American immigration, Texas was still able to keep its American roots and practices in its new culture. For if the Americans had not traveled to Texas then the modern nation would be something of a Hispanic-German country. In Texas history however this gradual arrival is far often ignored, for the Southern Exodus and the great amount of changes it caused is often remembered far more in the minds of Texans.
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