Stephen F. Austin, often called "the father of Anglo-American Texas" is a symbol of both Anglo resourcefulness and Anglo stereotype.

Austin took over the job of bringing in the first coherent group of Anglo settlers to Mexican Texas after the death of his father, Moses. Remarks in Stephen's letters hint at his motive.

In Texas he seemed, at first, to be on the side of a peaceful solution to the settlers' troubles and most willing to be a citizen of Mexico in a Mexican state. After a number of events, including his imprisonment in Mexico on insurrectionist charges, he opted for revolution.

But even before coming to Texas, a couple of years before his father started the project, Stephen had an Anglo North America on his mind. Speaking at a July 4, 1818, Independence Day celebration in Potosi, Missouri, then part of the Louisiana Territory, the young man revealed some early thoughts on Spanish Texas. He was most direct. For closing remarks, he claimed the "same spirit that for a time blazed forth in France . . . the same spirit that unsheathed the sword of Washington . . . will also flash across the Gulph of Mexico . . . [to] rescue Spanish America from the dominion of tyranny." He may have had in mind the Mexican revolution, which was foundering at the time. But like many Anglos, he was probably thinking of something else.

Stephen F. Austin brought more to Texas than a hope for a new life or settlers—he brought an Anglo Independence Day.