The Mexican government encouraged settlement in Texas through the empresario system, granting land based on family size. Under the Coahuila y Tejas colonization laws (1823 & 1825), settlers received 4,428 acres per family plus 1,107 acres per enslaved person. Although Mexico was moving toward abolition, Anglo settlers circumvented the law by classifying enslaved people as “indentured servants for life” to maintain slavery in Texas.