Transcript History of Texas, IIx

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GOVT 2306, Module 1
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The United States
provoked a war with
Mexico to settle the
dispute over the Texas
border. The Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, which
ended the war, set the
current border of Texas at
the Rio Grande. Mexico
also sold its northern
provinces to the United
States.
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Governor Sam Houston
was the dominant
political figure in Texas
with the state’s political
leaders dividing into
pro- and anti-Houston
factions.
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The issue dividing the
nation when Texas
joined the Union was
slavery. Texas was a
slave state. In 1860,
the state’s population
included 183,000 slaves
and 422,000 free
persons.
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In 1861, Texas joined
with other southern
states in seceding from
the Union. The Texas
Declaration of Secession
makes it clear that
Texas left the Union to
protect the institution
of slavery
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On June 19, 1865,
federal troops landing in
Galveston proclaimed
freedom for the
estimated 250,000 Texas
slaves.
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The legal status of Texas changed several times.
Which of the lists below is in the correct
chronological order?
A) Mexico, Spain, Independent, Confederacy, United
States
B) Spain, Mexico, Independent, Confederacy, United
States
C) Spain, Mexico, Independent, United States,
Confederacy
D) Spain, Mexico, United States, Independent,
Confederacy, United States
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The answer is C.
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Texans immediately
after the Civil War
proceeded to elect
former Confederates as
state officials and adopt
laws designed to restrict
the activities of former
slaves. Blacks could not
vote, hold office, serve
on juries, or marry
white persons.
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The U.S. Congress
responded by ordering
military rule in the South.
Former Confederate
soldiers and officials were
kept from voting and
holding office. Newly
freed blacks and unionists
proceeded to elect a
Republican governor and
legislature.
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E. J. Davis, Republican governor
of Texas during Reconstruction.
The Davis administration
reformed the penal
system and established
the state’s first system
of public education.
Old-line Texans
complained that state
government taxed too
heavily, spent too much,
and went too deeply in
debt.
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Reconstruction ended in
Texas in 1872 and
Democrats regained
control, electing former
Confederate General
Richard Coke as
governor. The forces
that ran Texas before
the Civil War were back
in power.
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E. J. Davis is most closely associated with which
of the following events?
A) Lone Star Republic
B) Civil War
C) Reconstruction
D) Texas Revolution
The answer is C.
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The Texas legislature
gave land to the
railroads so they could
lay track and expand
transportation in the
state. The railroads
provided a means to
haul cotton and cattle
to market.
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The legislature passed
Jim Crow laws requiring
racial segregation in
public accommodations
and schools.
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The Ku Klux Klan was
active in Texas,
resorting to racial
violence to control the
African American
population.
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Conservative Democrats
dominated Texas politics in
the late nineteenth
century. The association
of the Republican Party
with the Union side during
the Civil War and
Reconstruction doomed it
to irrelevance.
Conservative Democrats
passed laws to restrict
labor unions.
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The Texas Grange was
formed to protect the
interests of small
farmers from
corporations, especially
the railroads.
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Reformer James S. Hogg
was elected governor in
1890 and 1892. During
his administration, the
legislature created the
Railroad Commission to
regulate railroads.
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At about the same time,
the Populist Party
emerged to challenge
the Democrats for
control of state
government. The
Populists championed
the interests of ordinary
people against big
business.
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The Grange was most closely associated with
which of the following?
A)
B)
C)
D)
Big business
Railroads
African Americans
Small farmers
The answer is D.
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In January 1901, oil was
discovered at Spindletop
near Beaumont. Major
new oil fields were soon
discovered in many
parts of the state,
including both East and
West Texas. The state
soon became the world’s
leading oil producer.
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State policies favored
small producers, often
called wildcatters, over
big oil companies such
as Standard Oil.
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The state adopted some
progressive legislation,
including minimum wage
and child labor laws.
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The poll tax undercut support
for the Populist Party.
However, the state
adopted a poll tax (a
tax on the right to vote)
designed to keep lowincome people from
voting. Because of the
poll tax, the number of
African American voters
fell from 100,000 to
5,000.
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Texas also adopted the
white primary, an
election system that
limited voting in the
Democratic primary to
whites. Because the
Democratic primary
usually determined
election outcomes, the
policy effectively
disfranchised African
Americans entirely.
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Spindletop is most closely associated with which
of the following?
A)
B)
C)
D)
Texas oil industry
Texas cattle industry
Texas cotton industry
Texas railroads
The answer is A.
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Texas was a major
training site for U.S.
troops in both World
War I and World War II.
Many Texans fought in
both wars as well.
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Texas became the
center of Ku Klux Klan
activity in the 1920s.
The Klan expanded its
list of targets to include
immigrants and
Catholics as well as
African Americans.
Klan march in Baytown
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Texas was not as hard
hit by the Great
Depression as the rest of
the nation because it
was still primarily
agricultural and rural.
Moreover, the oil
industry remained
strong during the
period.
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Controversy broke out in
the 1930s between large
and small oil producers
over production volume.
The big producers
needed high prices to
stay in business and they
favored production
controls. The small
producers favored high
volume of production.
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The Railroad
Commission, whose
regulatory authority had
been expanded to
include the oil and gas
industry, set out to
regulate production and
prices to protect the
interests of both large
and small producers.
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* What events determined the
current borders of Texas?
* How did the Civil War and
Reconstruction affect the
development of the state?
* How did the Texas oil
industry change the state?
* How did racial conflict affect
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the development of the
state?