While much is made in history books about German immigration to Texas during the antebellum period, it was surprisingly limited. According to the 1860 census, Texas had an overall population of 604,000, having rapidly grown during the 1850s by almost 400k. However, the number of residents who were foreign born was a little over 40k. Approximately 20k were originally born in one of the German states, while over 12k had been born in Mexico, with the others having been born in other various European countries. While immigration to Texas was somewhat significant when compared to other southern states, it was very small compared to most northern states. Wisconsin, for instance, was being settled and its frontier being civilized during this same period as Texas. However, the 1860 census shows that Wisconsin, out of 775K residents, had over 250k residents who were foreign born, with over 120k being originally from German states. The foreign immigration fueled the growth of towns and cities, especially Milwaukee.
While the lack of slavery and the abundance of cheap good land available to the small farmer made Wisconsin more attractive to the immigrants from Europe, I wonder if there was anything that promoters in Texas could have done to have siphoned off a bigger chunk of the immigrants coming to America? What would have been necessary to attract another 50k to 75k German and other European immigrants to Texas during this antebellum period? And then, if Texas ended up with 2 to 3 times the number of immigrants on the eve of the Civil War, could this much larger immigrant population have kept Texas in the Union? Or could Texas have gone the way of Virginia with its Western and Northern counties seceding from the rest of the state? Would love to hear some opinions.
While the lack of slavery and the abundance of cheap good land available to the small farmer made Wisconsin more attractive to the immigrants from Europe, I wonder if there was anything that promoters in Texas could have done to have siphoned off a bigger chunk of the immigrants coming to America? What would have been necessary to attract another 50k to 75k German and other European immigrants to Texas during this antebellum period? And then, if Texas ended up with 2 to 3 times the number of immigrants on the eve of the Civil War, could this much larger immigrant population have kept Texas in the Union? Or could Texas have gone the way of Virginia with its Western and Northern counties seceding from the rest of the state? Would love to hear some opinions.