History of Texas

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Image:Texasflaginstate.png
History of Texas
Spanish Texas
Mexican Texas
Republic of Texas
State of Texas

The history of Texas (as part of the United States) began in 1845, but settlement of the region dates back to the end of the Upper Paleolithic Period, around 10,000 BC. Its history has been shaped by being part of six independent countries: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the United States. Starting in the 1820s, American and European immigrants began arriving in the state; joined by Hispanic Tejanos they revolted against Mexico in 1836 and defeated an invasion army. After a decade as an independent country, Texas joined the Union (the United States) in 1845. The western frontier state was characterized by large-scale cattle ranching and cotton farming. In the 20th century, it grew rapidly, becoming the second largest state in population 1994, and became economically highly diversified, with a growing base in high technology. The state has been shaped by the interactions of Southern, Tejano, African American, and German cultures. [1]

Contents

[edit] Native Americans in Texas

Native American tribes that once lived inside the boundaries of present-day Texas include the Apache, Atakapan, Bidai, Caddo, Comanche, Cherokee, Karankawa, Kiowa, Tonkawa, and Wichita. Currently, there are three federally-recognized Native American tribes which reside in Texas: the Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas, the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, and the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo of Texas.

[edit] French Texas

The French flag of the Bourbons.
Enlarge
The French flag of the Bourbons.

Although the Spanish had earlier sent a token force to the southern border of what is now Texas, the first Europeans established in the main part and heart of Texas were the French. However, the French colonial presence was short-lived. After exploring the interior of what is now the United States, French nobleman La Salle returned with a large expedition designed to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They left France in 1684 with four ships and 300 colonists. The expedition was plagued by pirates, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the West Indies, a second sank in the inlets of Matagorda Bay, where a third ran aground. They set up Fort Saint Louis of Texas, near Victoria, Texas.

La Salle led a group eastward on foot on three occasions to try to find the shortest route from Texas to the Mississippi. During the last such search his remaining 36 followers mutinied, and he was murdered by four of them near the site of modern Navasota, Texas. The colony lasted only until 1688, when Karankawa-speaking Indians massacred the twenty remaining adults and took five children as captives. Tonti sent out search missions in 1689 when he learned of the expedition's fate, but failed to reach a fort with survivors.

Despite the failure of their colony in Texas, the French continued to claim Texas, even after the Spanish arrived and colonized it. The French period of Texan history is memorialized in the Texas state seal and as the first (or second) of the traditional "six flags over Texas."

[edit] Important dates

[edit] Spanish Texas

Main article: Spanish Texas
The Spanish flag of Burgundy.
Enlarge
The Spanish flag of Burgundy.

The failure of the French colony became known throughout the world. A year thereafter, the Spanish entered Texas, eager to keep the French in Louisiana, far from the wealth of New Spain. Texas became an important but sparsely populated buffer between the claims of the world powers France and Spain. Spanish Texas lasted between 1690 and 1821 when Texas was governed as a Spanish colony separate from New Spain, known as the "Kingdom of Texas". This period begins with the expedition of the governor of Coahuila to destroy the ruins of the French colony of Fort Saint Louis and establish a Spanish presence in the area, and ends with the independence of Mexico in 1821, facilitating Mexican Texas.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, Spain and France maneuvered for control of Texas, with the Spanish based in Mexico and New Mexico and the French in Louisiana. Spain moved quickly to establish a string of missions (often with an accompanying presidio) to establish a toehold in the frontier land. During the War of the Quadruple Alliance in Europe, hostilities spread to the New World and French troops from Natchitoches briefly captured the capital of Texas, Los Adaes, in what is now Northwest Louisiana. The French were not able to wrest control of Texas from Spain, and by the early 19th century sold their North American holdings to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase, which then placed the United States as a threat to the Spanish control of Texas.

In the years following the Louisiana Purchase and the acquisition of New Orleans by the U.S., American settlers had begun to move westward into Mexican claimed territory. Some settlers were active filibusters, who sought the long-term annexation of the area by the U.S. In 1812–13, the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition attempted to separate Texas from the Spanish Empire.

[edit] Important dates

[edit] Mexican Texas

Main article: Mexican Texas
Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas."
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Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas."

Mexican Texas is the name given by Texas historians to the brief period between 1821—1835, when Texas was part of Mexico, as a part of the State of Coahuila y Tejas. The period begins with Mexico's victory over Spain in its war of independence in 1821 and ends with Texas's Declaration of Independence from Mexico in 1836, forming the Republic of Texas.

The Rio Grande and South Texas areas have had a long and turbulent history of independence movements by the local Mexican population, on account of unitary and perceived dictatorial and unconstitutional practices by the central Mexican government. North Texas and East Texas, meanwhile, remained largely in the hands of Native American tribes, some of whom were hostile to Spanish and then Mexican rule.

In the 1820s, the population in Texas was very sparse and the Mexican government had difficulty in attracting Mexicans to the area. Thus, in order to populate and develop the area Mexico sought settlers from Europe and especially the neighboring United States. When Mexico reached an agreement with Stephen F. Austin, it allowed several hundred families from the United States, known as Texians, to move into the region. Thousands of additional settlers soon flooded into Texas. When Mexico abolished slavery nationwide, some immigrants from the U.S. refused to comply with the law. This was coupled with complaints about the tightening political and economic control over the territory by the central government in Mexico City, which expected its citizens to be members in good standing of the Catholic Church, whereas the settlers from the United States were Protestant.

In 1835, Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna abolished the Constitution of 1824 and sought to centralize national power in Mexico City. This caused much political unrest throughout Mexico, an example of which was the rebellion and resulting massacre in Zacatecas. As a result, the new government's efforts to tighten political and economic control over the territory of Texas would only rouse emotions in the Texian settlers and local Tejanos, leading to the Texas Revolution.

[edit] Important dates

[edit] Republic of Texas

Main article: Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states are superimposed on the boundaries of 1836–1845.
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The Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states are superimposed on the boundaries of 1836–1845.

The first declaration of independence for modern Texas, by both Anglo-Texan settlers and local Tejanos, was signed in Goliad on December 20, 1835. The Texas Declaration of Independence was enacted at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, effectively creating the Republic of Texas.

Four days later, the two-week long Battle of the Alamo ended as Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's forces defeated the nearly 200 Texans defending the small mission (which would eventually become the center of the city of San Antonio). "Remember the Alamo!" became the battle cry of the Texas Revolution. The Battle of San Jacinto was fought on April 21, 1836 near the present-day city of Houston. General Santa Anna's entire force of 1,600 men was killed or captured by Texas General Sam Houston's army of 800 Texans; only nine Texans died. This decisive battle resulted in Texas's independence from Mexico. Sam Houston, a native of Virginia, was President of the Republic of Texas for two separate terms, 1836–1838 and 1841–1844. He also was Governor of the state of Texas from 1859 to 1861.

The first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened in October 1836 at Columbia (now West Columbia). Stephen F. Austin, known as the Father of Texas, died December 27, 1836, after serving two months as Secretary of State for the new Republic. In 1836, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas (Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia) before Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston in 1837. In 1839, the capital was moved to the new town of Austin.

Internal politics of the Republic were based on the conflict between two factions. The nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar advocated the continued independence of Texas, the expulsion of the Native Americans, and the expansion of Texas to the Pacific Ocean. Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States and peaceful coexistence with Native Americans. The first flag of the republic was the "Burnet Flag" (a gold star on an azure field), followed shortly thereafter by official adoption of the Lone Star Flag. The Republic received diplomatic recognition from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Yucatán.

[edit] Important dates

[edit] Statehood

The U.S. and Texas flags at the Texas State Capitol.
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The U.S. and Texas flags at the Texas State Capitol.

On February 28, 1845, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would authorize the United States to annex the Republic of Texas and on March 1 U.S. President James K. Polk signed the bill. The legislation set the date for annexation for December 29 of the same year. On October 13 of the same year, a majority of voters in the Republic approved a proposed constitution that specifically endorsed slavery and the slave trade. This constitution was later accepted by the US Congress, making Texas a U.S. state on the same day annexation took effect (therefore bypassing a territorial phase). One of the primary motivations for annexation was that the Texas government had incurred huge debts which the United States agreed to assume upon annexation. In 1850, in return for this assumption of debt, a large portion of Texas-claimed territory, now parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming, was ceded to the Federal government.

The annexation resolution has been the topic of some incorrect historical beliefs—chiefly, that the resolution was a treaty between sovereign states, and granted Texas the explicit right to secede from the Union. This was a right argued by some to be implicitly held by all states at the time, and until the conclusion of the Civil War. However, no such right was explicitly enumerated in the resolution. That having been said, the resolution did include two unique provisions: first, it gave the new state of Texas the right to divide itself into as many as five states (a proposal never seriously considered). Second, Texas did not have to surrender its public lands to the federal government. Thus the only lands owned by the federal government within Texas have actually been purchased by the government, and the vast oil discoveries on state lands have provided a major revenue flow for the state universities.

[edit] Important dates

[edit] Civil War and Reconstruction: 1860–1876

See the main article Texas in the Civil War and Category:Texas in the American Civil War.

Texas seceded from the United States on February 1, 1861, and joined the Confederate States of America on March 2, 1861. Texas was mainly a "supply state" for the Confederate forces until mid 1863, when the Union capture of the Mississippi River made large movements of men, horses or cattle impossible. Texas regiments fought in every major battle throughout the war.

The last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch, was fought in Texas on May 12, 1865.

Clampitt (2005) suggests that Confederate soldiers of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi in Texas after the Confederacy's collapse in April 1865 were undisciplined. Due to low morale, a lack of discipline, and a large number of desertions, disbanded regiments and deserters pillaged government and private property as they made their way homeward. Moreover, a lack of participation in the larger campaigns of the war, a feeling that their sacrifice had been a waste, and the fact that they had not been paid in more than 16 months all made the former soldiers feel entitled to take government property (however, most Texas soldiers, being from a "supply state," conducted themselves well in armies such as Lee's Army of Northern Virginia).

[edit] Reconstruction

When the news arrived in Galveston, on June 19, 1865, of the Confederate collapse, the freed slaves rejoiced, creating the celebration of Juneteenth. The State had suffered little during the War but trade and finance was disrupted. Angry returning veterans seized state property and Texas went through a period of extensive violence and disorder. Most outrages took place in northern Texas and were committed by outlaws who had their headquarters in the Indian Territory and plundered and murdered without distinction of party. President Andrew Johnson appointed Union General A. J. Hamilton as provisional governor on June 17, 1865. Hamilton had been a prominent politician before the war. He granted amnesty to ex-Confederates if they promised to support the Union in the future, appointing some to office. On March 30, 1870, although Texas did not meet all the requirements, the United States Congress readmitted Texas into the Union.

[edit] Important dates

  • 23 February 1861: In the statewide election on the secession ordinance, Texans voted to secede from the Union by a vote of 46,129 to 14,697 (a 76% majority). The Secession Convention immediately organized a government, replacing Sam Houston when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.
  • 1 August 1862: Confederate troops kill 34 pro-Union German Texans in the "Nueces Massacre" of civilians
  • 19 June 1865: Union troops landed in Galveston, Texas putting into effect the Emancipation Proclamation, which abolished slavery
  • 30 March 1870: The US Congress readmitted Texas.


[edit] Texas in Prosperity, Depression, and War: 1914–1945

Anthony F. Lucas, an experienced mining engineer drilled the first major oil well at Spindletop, on the morning of January 10, 1901 the little hill south of Beaumont, Texas. The East Texas Oil Field, discovered on October 5, 1930 is located in east central part of the state, and is the largest and most prolific oil reservoir in the contiguous United States. Other oil fields were later discovered in West Texas and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting "Oil Boom" permanently transformed the economy of Texas, and led to the first significant economic expansion after the Civil War.

The economy, which had experienced significant recovery since the Civil War, was dealt a double blow by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the economy suffered significant reversals and thousands of city workers became unemployed, many of who depended on federal relief programs such as FERA, WPA and CCC. Farmers and ranchers were especially hard hit, as prices for cotton and livestock fell sharply. Beginning in 1934 and lasting until 1939, an ecological disaster of severe wind and drought caused an exodus from Texas and Arkansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle region and the surrounding plains, in which over 500,000 Americans were homeless, hungry and jobless. [1] Thousands left the region forever to seek economic opportunities along the West Coast. Immediately preceding and during World War II, existing military bases in Texas were expanded and numerous new training bases were built, especially for aviation training. Hundreds of thousands of American (and some allied) soldiers, sailors and airmen trained in the state. All sectors of the economy boomed as the homefront prospered.

[edit] Important dates

[edit] Texas Modernizes: 1945–2006

From 1950 through the 1960s, Texas modernized and dramatically expanded its system of higher education. Under the leadership of Governor John B. Connally, the state produced a long-range plan for higher education, a more rational distribution of resources, and a central state apparatus that managed state institutions with greater efficiency. Because of these changes, Texas universities received federal funds for research and development during the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. [Blanton 2005]

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Surveys

  • Randolph B. Campbell, Gone to Texas: a History of the Lone Star State (Oxford University Press, 2003, 500 pages.
  • De Leon, Arnoldo. Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History 2nd ed. Harlan Davidson, 1999.
  • Patricia Evridge Hill. Dallas: The Making of a Modern City U of Texas Press, 1996.
  • Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History, Paul Horgan, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, reprint, 1977, ISBN 0-03-029305-7
  • Terry G. Jordan. Texas, a Geography Westview Press. 1984.
  • David G. McComb. Houston, a History U of Texas Press, 1981.
  • D. W. Meinig, Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in Cultural Geography, University of Texas Press, 1969, 145 pages.
  • Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986 University of Texas Press, 1987.
  • Wooster, Ralph A. and Robert A. Calvert, eds. Texas Vistas (1987) reprinted scholarly essays

[edit] Pre–1865

  • Baum, Dale. The Shattering of Texas Unionism: Politics in the Lone Star State during the Civil War Era Louisiana State University Press, 1998.
  • Bell, Walter F. "Civil War Texas: A Review of the Historical Literature" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 109(2): 204-232. Issn: 0038-478x
  • Buenger, Walter L. Secession and the Union in Texas. University of Texas Press, 1984.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865 Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. Sam Houston and the American Southwest HarperCollins, 1993.
  • Campbell, Randolph B., and Richard G. Lowe. Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas Texas A&M University Press, 1977.
  • Cantrell, Gregg. Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas. Yale University Press, 1999.
  • Carroll, Mark M. Homesteads Ungovernable: Families, Sex, Race, and the Law in Frontier Texas, 1823–1860 University of Texas Press, 2001.
  • Chipman, Donald E. Spanish Texas, 1519–1821 University of Texas Press, 1992.
  • Chipman, Donald E., and Harriett Denise Joseph. Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas. University of Texas Press, 1999.
  • De Leon, Arnoldo. The Tejano Community, 1836–1900 University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
  • Friend, Llerena B. Sam Houston: The Great Designer University of Texas Press, 1954.
  • Hardin, Stephen L. Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836 University of Texas Press, 1994.
  • Jordan, Terry G. German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth Century Texas University of Texas Press, 1966.
  • Kerby, Robert L. Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863–1865 Columbia University Press, 1972.
  • Lack, Paul D. The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835–1836 Texas A&M University Press, 1992.
  • Lowe, Richard G., and Randolph B. Campbell. Planters and Plain Folk: Agriculture in Antebellum Texas Southern Methodist University Press, 1987.
  • Lowrie, Samuel H. Culture Conflict in Texas, 1821–1835 Columbia University Press, 1932.
  • Poyo, Gerald E., ed. Tejano Journey, 1770–1850 University of Texas Press, 1996.
  • Siegel, Stanley. A Political History of the Texas Republic University of Texas Press, 1956.
  • Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Plantation Life in Texas Texas A&M University Press, 1986.
  • Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. Yale University Press, 1992.

[edit] 1865–1920

  • Barr, Alwyn. Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876–1906 University of Texas Press, 1971.
  • Buenger, Walter L. The Path to a Modern South: Northeast Texas between Reconstruction and the Great Depression University of Texas Press, 2001.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. Grass-Roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865–1880 Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
  • Clampitt, Brad R. "The Breakup: the Collapse of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Army in Texas, 1865" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 108(4): 498-534. Issn: 0038-478x
  • Cotner, Robert C. James Stephen Hogg: A Biography . University of Texas Press, 1959.
  • Crouch, Barry A. The Freedmen's Bureau and Black Texans. University of Texas Press, 1992.
  • Gould, Lewis N. Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era University of Texas Press, 1973.
  • Jordan, Terry G. Trails to Texas: Southern Roots of Western Cattle Ranching University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
  • McArthur, Judith N. Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893–1918. University of Illinois Press, 1998.
  • Martin, Roscoe C. The People's Party in Texas: A Study in Third Party Politics University of Texas Press, 1933.
  • Pitre, Merline. Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: The Black Leadership of Texas, 1868–1900 Eakin Press, 1985.
  • Ramsdell, Charles William. Reconstruction in Texas Columbia University Press, 1910.
  • Rice, Lawrence D. The Negro in Texas, 1874–1900 Louisiana State University Press, 1971
  • Spratt, John Stricklin. The Road to Spindletop: Economic Change in Texas, 1875–1901. Southern Methodist University Press, 1955.
  • Utley, Robert M. Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers Oxford University Press, 2002.


[edit] 1920–2006

  • Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929–1939. Texas A&M University Press, 1984.
  • Brown, Norman D. Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921–1928 Texas A&M University Press, 1984.
  • Robert A. Caro. The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) (1990); Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) (1991)
  • Cox, Patrick. Ralph W. Yarborough, The People's Senator. University of Texas Press, 2001.
  • Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908–1960. Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • Davidson, Chandler. Race and Class in Texas Politics. Princeton University Press, 1990.
  • Foley, Neil. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture University of California Press, 1997.
  • Green, George Norris. The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938–1957 Greenwood Press, 1979.
  • Knaggs, John R. Two-Party Texas: The John Tower Era, 1961–1984 Eakin Press, 1986.
  • Lee, James Ward, et al., eds. 1941: Texas Goes to War. University of North Texas Press, 1991.
  • Char Miller. Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas Trinity University Press 2004.
  • Olien, Diana Davids, and Roger M. Olien. Oil in Texas: The Gusher Age, 1895–1945 University of Texas Press, 2002.
  • Patenaude, Lionel V. Texans, Politics, and the New Deal Garland Publishing, 1983.
  • Perryman, M. Ray. Survive and Conquer, Texas in the '80s: Power—Money—Tragedy … Hope! Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1990.
  • James Reston. The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally (1989)
  • San Miguel, Guadalupe, Jr. “Let All of Them Take Heed”: Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equality in Texas, 1910–1981 University of Texas Press, 1987.
  • Whisenhunt, Donald W. The Depression in Texas: The Hoover Years Garland Publishing, 1983.
  • The End of Cheap Oil National Geographic Society, 2004.

[edit] Primary source collections

[edit] See also

Portal:Texas
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