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Cheap and fertile land that was (almost) free for the taking and the grantors only required two concessions for their largess: # Become a Catholic. # You can't have slaves. The first was relatively easy. Stand in front of a priest and claim that you were a Catholic and by making that declaration you became a Citizen of Mexico. The second was more onerous and difficult to comply with. You could work the land yourself and in so doing eek out a living. You could bring your slaves with you, declare them as free men and enjoy the fruit of their labor and pray that they never found out that in Mexico no man could be enslaved. A rare few took advantage of the situation by claiming their slaves as Free men and paying up front their 80 dollars for a section (640 acres) for each slave adjacent to the Master's land and transferring ownership.

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16y ago

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