Gone to Texas
Gone to Texas (often abbreviated GTT), was a phrase used by Americans immigrating to Texas in the 19th century[1] often to escape debt[2] incurred during the Panic of 1819. Moving to Texas, which at the time was part of Mexico, was particularly popular among debtors from the South and West.[3]
The phrase was often written on the doors of abandoned houses or posted as a sign on fences.[4]
Recently, the Governor's Office of Economic Development has revised the use of "Gone to Texas"[citation needed] as part of its plan to attract businesses to Texas under its current advertising campaign "Texas. Wide Open For Business".
After Davy Crockett was narrowly defeated for re-election in Tennessee, he famously said, "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas," and followed through on that pledge.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ National Gazette and Literary Register - December 29, 1825, "Col. Palmer is said to have taken French leave and gone to Texas." from online source, verified 2005-12-30.
- ↑ UTSA ITC Education Scrapbook - Texas the Shape and the Name, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Institute of Texan Cultures. 1996-2001, verified 2005-12-30.
- ↑ Samuel May Williams, Early Texas Entrepreneur, Margaret Swett Henson
- ↑ "G.T.T.", The Handbook of Texas Online. Also see Smith, Sidney (1850). The Settler's New Home : Or, Whether to Go, and Whither?. London: John Kendrick. p. 128. Retrieved 2009-05-27. discouraging emigration by noting that "'Gone to Texas' has become the proverb for a scamp#PPA674,M1 Thirty years' view; or, A history of the working of the American government for thirty years, from 1820 to 1850 (Vol. 1)Benton, Thomas Hart (1854), New York: D. Appleton and Company, p. 674 Missing or empty
|title=(help) Also see South-Western Immigration Company (Austin, Texas) (1881). Texas: Her Resources and Capabilities. New York: E.D. Slater. encouraging immigration and remarking on the "slang use" of the term a "generation ago" to refer to fugitives from justice.
Further reading
- Campbell, Randolph (2003). Gone To Texas - A History of the Lone Star State. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513843-0.
- Hughes, Thomas (1884). G. T. T. Gone to Texas: Letters from Our Boys. New York: MacMillan. Retrieved 2009-05-23.