Jim Bowie James “Jim” Bowie was a real life Jack of all trades. He was a pioneer, soldier, a smuggler, slave trader, and a notorious land speculator. Most importantly, he was an prime figure in the Texas Revolution in his defending of the Alamo. Many stories have been told about Bowie, some true and some slightly stretched, but it is these stories that have made in such a legend in Texas and a hero to American history. Jim Bowie was born in Kentucky on March 10, 1796. He was the ninth of ten children that were born to his mother and father. From a very young age, his family moved several times, usually far distances from each place preceding the next. They finally settled in Louisiana, where Jim spent most of his following years. The Bowies all learned how to fish, plant crops, and run a plantation, the good qualities of frontiersmen. This is also when Jim became very skilled with weapons of all sorts. Their parents were very adamant about giving their children a good education as well. All of the Bowie children could read and write. Yet, Jim could read, write, and fluently speak both Spanish and French. In 1814, Bowie and his brother Rezin enlisted in the Louisiana militia in accordance to President Jackson’s pleading for more fighters to participate in the War of 1812. By the time the Bowie brother reached New Orleans, it was too late to join in on any of the fighting. That December a treaty was signed and the war was over. After finishing his short service in the militia, he decided to make a living sawing lumber and wood planks, and floating them down the bayou to sell. Jim soon became bored of his simple pioneer lifestyle so he decided to better his economic situation through land speculation. Jim and Rezin Bowie were intelligent enough to see the rising population of Louisiana and figure out a way to personally benefit from this rise. They did this through land speculation. They only had one problem. They did not have enough money to buy the large tracts of land required for their scheme. It was then that they decided to partner with Jean Lafitte, a French pirate who smuggled slaves and other goods. At this time, the United States had recently outlawed the importation of slaves. Therefore, southern states would reward those who informed of illegal slave traders by giving these informers half the earnings that the slave would sell for at market. Through this Jim Bowie saw a manipulative path to success. He would bring the illegal slaves to customs directly after he bought them from Jean Lafitte, informing authorities of his own illegal action. Then when the custom officers would offer the slaves for sell, Jim would buy them and get half the money back that he paid for them, as according to the law. Now he could legally bring the slaves to the trade in New Orleans and sell them at a higher market price. Using this same strategy every occasion, the Bowie brothers ended up making over sixty-thousand dollars to put towards their land speculation. Jim Bowie and his brother were caught up in several court cases involving the issue of their land speculation. The Arkansas Superior Court received approximately 126 claims from people who were said to have bout land in Spanish grants, from the Bowie brothers. Although at the time most of the claims were confirmed, it was later reversed due to the fact the court was unable to prove that either Jim Bowie or his brother had ever owned the land and that the documents had been forged. In 1830, Bowie left Louisiana for good and took up residence in Texas. When he moved to Texas he renounced his American citizenship and became a Mexican citiz. Mexico had banned all religions from being practiced, besides Roman Catholicism, so Jim was baptized under this religion. He then partnered with a man to build cotton mills and wool mills across the province of Texas. Jim Bowie also sunk back to some of his old land speculation ways when he was granted eleven leagues of land for being an established Mexican citizen. He became land hungry so he convinced several other people to apply for land and give it to him. All in all he ended up with about 700,000 acres to use for land speculation once more.