Economy
For the most part, only enough food was grown for use in the area; little was exported. This was partially due to labor shortages and partly due to raids from native tribes. Wild game was abundant, and many families survived by hunting, keeping a few head of livestock, and subsistence farming.
Within Texas, the economy depended heavily on the cultivation of cotton. In 1834, Texas exported over 7,000 bales of cotton. Ranching was also lucrative, and Texas exported over 5,000 head of cattle in 1834. Lumber was exported in small quantities, primarily to Matamoros. In the mid-1830s, Texas imported approximately $630,000 worth of goods. Exports amounted to only about $500,000. The trade deficit resulted in a lack of currency in Texas; in a report to his superiors Juan Almonte estimated that only about 10% of transactions within Texas were conducted with specie.
Much of the trade was run by recent immigrants; few Tejanos were involved in exporting or industry. The newcomers may have had increased access to capital markets and to transportation, and may have had closer ties with, or at least a better understanding of, foreign markets.
Many inhabitants of the Mexican frontier chafed at rules that limited trade with the United States. As these areas, including Texas, were far from federal – and often state – control, smuggling was rampant. Coahuila did not have a coastline, and thus could not import goods from other countries. From 1823 through 1830, Texas settlers had an exemption on tariffs for some goods. Tariffs could not be collected on other goods because there was no customs house to collect the duties. A customs house was established in Anahuac in 1830, but the soldiers were expelled by settlers in 1832. A similar incident occurred in 1835, again resulting in the closure of the customs house. Texas continued to serve as a smuggling haven, with some of the goods being sent into the Mexican interior and into the territory of New Mexico.
Read more about this topic: Coahuila Y Tejas
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)