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103 O n 2 1 A p r i l 1 8 3 6 F e r n a n d o D e L e ó n, son of the founder of the empresario colony of Victoria, lost his position as land commissioner. With the end of Mexican rule in Texas, the thirty-eight-year-old no longer held in his hands the fates of hundreds of new Anglo-American settlers. He could no longer determine who would receive land or where it would be located. His leadership in the new Republic of Texas and control over land, the single most important source of power, prestige, and wealth in Texas, was gone almost overnight.1 Leadership can take many forms, but in Fernando’s case the loss of the position as land commissioner had left him with no leadership at all. Fernando De León had not become the leader or patriarch of the De León family, which he should have been as the eldest son. His mother, Doña Patricia de la Garza De León, retained the power within the family and saw to it that everyone was cared for, something Fernando may have failed to do. Unlike his brother-in-law Plácido Benavides, Fernando had never been a military leader, although he did support Texian ideals and, had he not been jailed, might have fought with Benavides and the Texians. Unlike his brother-in-law José María Jesús Carvajal, Fernando had not been involved in state politics, although he provided Carvajal with his support while Carvajal was serving in the state congress in Monclova. Unlike his wife, Luz Escalera, Fernando appears to have paid little attention to serving as a religious leader by providing godparenthood protection to the Tejano community. Unlike José Antonio Navarro, who joined the new Texian settlers in their congress and provided a voice for the Tejanos in the Anglo political world, Fernando left Texas and did not return until after statehood. When he returned, however, he used the land he had retained to pay for lawyers to fight lengthy court battles for the one thing he knew and understood—the land. Over the years he regained over 50,000 acres, more land than anyone in the Victoria area. What had happened to Fernando? Perhaps his years in New Orleans had changed him, or perhaps it was his desire to be accepted within the Anglo community. Had he adopted the Anglo view of the FE RNANDO DE LEÓN leadership lost Carolina Castillo Crimm 1 0 4 · c a r o l i n a c a s t i l l o c r i m m land as a source of private wealth and prestige rather than a family heritage? The English laws of primogeniture demanded that the land be handed down to the eldest son intact, even if the rest of the family was left without any inheritance. For the Tejanos, the land was to be shared with others, or passed on to heirs, or used to help the Tejano community. Where did Fernando’s leadership lie? The Spanish and Anglo cultures that came into contact in Texas had radically different views of land ownership. To the Spanish, land had always belonged to the king and was granted to his subjects that they might bring prosperity to themselves and to their monarch. On the frontier one’s social standing determined the amount of land one received, but everyone received land. Once Mexico had achieved its independence from Spain, the idea of owning land merely to señorear (show off) without producing taxable goods had disappeared. Gone also was the king’s fifth, a 20 percent tax on the goods produced. Land was given to those who would settle on it and provide goods that could be traded throughout the new country. The only cost was the survey and the paperwork, a concept foreign to the AngloAmericans . For the Anglo-Americans land was the source of wealth, power, influence, and social standing. Land ownership brought with it greed, violent land wars, and exclusion of those who desired to share the sources of water. In the United States all land belonged to the government and was sold for revenue. In 1819, in order to offset the effects of the recession then gripping the country, the federal government lowered the price of western lands to $1.25 an acre and sold the land in 640-acre tracts. Land speculators...

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