Portal:University of Texas at Austin/Selected article

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The history of The University of Texas at Austin began in 1827 as a provision in the Constitutción de Coahuila y Texas. However, delays, inaction, and war caused the construction of the university to be postponed until 1882. Classes officially began in fall 1883.

Upon Texas's independence from Mexico, the Congress of the Republic of Texas adopted the Constitution of the Republic, which made its own provision to establish a system of public education in Texas. President Mirabeau B. Lamar's first speech to the Texas Congress iterated the need for education in a democracy; two weeks later, Ezekiel Cullen presented a report to the committee on education that contained a bill providing that twenty leagues of land be set aside for two colleges or universities. By the time Cullen’s bill became a law on January 26, 1839, Congress had agreed to set aside fifty leagues of land. In addition, forty acres in the new capital of Austin were reserved and designated "College Hill." (more...)