What settlement method allowed Anglo colonists to settle in Texas under contract with the Mexican government?

• A. The homesteader allotment act.
• B. The open range grazing policy.
• C. The quartering system.
• D. The empresario system.

Answer: (D)

The method being tested is the empresario system, which the Mexican government used to encourage settlement in Texas. Under this system, the government granted land and authority to empresarios—agents who would recruit and bring in groups of settlers, organize towns, and establish communities. In return, the empresarios would receive land and often regulatory control over the colonization process. A famous example is Stephen F. Austin, who secured a contract to settle families along the Brazos and Colorado rivers. Settlers who came under these contracts typically agreed to follow Mexican laws and norms (and often to become Mexican citizens and Catholic), helping Mexico populate and defend Texas while keeping orderly growth.

The other choices don’t fit this method: the homesteader acts are U.S. policies from later periods aimed at individual land claims, not contracts with the Mexican government; open range grazing relates to cattle practices rather than how colonies were established; the quartering system isn’t a colonization method at all. The empresario system is the clear mechanism Mexico used to bring Anglo settlers to Texas under its authority.