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History of Texas

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History of Texas
Spanish Texas
Mexican Texas
Republic of Texas
Texas>State of Texas
The history of Texas or Texas history began around 10,000 BC when the first humans arrived in what is now Texas. 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. Before the arrival of Europeans, the state was a meeting point of many Native American cultural groups, notably the Plains and Southeastern cultural groups. In recent history the state has been shaped by the interactions of Mexican, Southern, Southwestern, Tejano, and German culture.

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.

Spanish Texas

Spanish Texas is the name given by Texas History scholars for the period between 16901821 when Texas was governed as a province of the Spanish colony of New Spain. 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 longterm annexation of the area by the U.S. In 1812-13, the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition attempted to separate Texas from the Spanish Empire.

Important dates

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 18211835, 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' 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. Northern and East Texas, meanwhile, remained largely in the hands of Native American tribes, some of whom were hostile to Spanish and then Mexican rule. The Mexican government had an uneasy relationship with these early settlers. In the 1830s, seeking additional settlers as a means of stabilizing the area, Mexico reached an agreement with Stephen F. Austin that allowed several hundred families from the United States, known as Texians, to move into the region. This move would backfire, however, as word of mouth about rich lands in Texas would spread across the United States. Thousands of additional settlers flooded into Texas. The Mexican government had an uneasy relationship with early settlers, in part because of the settlers being largely Protestant in officially Catholic Mexico. When Mexico abolished slavery nationwide, some immigrants from the U.S. refused to comply with the law and resisted governmental efforts to enforce their national abolition of slavery in the territory. This was coupled with complaints about the tightening political and economic control over the territory by the central government in Mexico City.

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 politcal 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.

Important dates

Republic of Texas

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

Important dates

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 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.

Important dates

Civil War and Reconstruction: 1860–1876

During the American Civil War, Texas seceded from the United States on February 1, 1861, and joined the Confederate States of America March 2, 1861. Texas was most useful for supplying hardy soldiers for Confederate forces (veterans of the Mexican War), and in cavalry. As a whole, 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 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, well after Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

Reconstruction

Clampitt (2005) suggests 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.)

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.

Important dates

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 millions were thrown out of work. 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. [link] Thousands left the region forever to seek economic opportunities along the West Coast.

Immediately preceding and during WWII, existing military bases in Texas were expanded and numerous new training bases were built, especially for Naval and Military Aviation training. Many Americans and allied troops (including Free French Air Forces) came to Texas as part of the military mobilization.

Important dates

Texas Modernizes: 1945–2006

From 1950 through the 1960's, 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]

References

Bibliography

Surveys

Pre 1865

1865-1920

1920-2006

Primary source collections

See also

  1. redirect[[Template:Portal]]

External links

State of Texas
Texas Topics | History | Republic of Texas | Geography | Government | Politics | Economy | Texans
Capital Austin

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See also: List of Texas counties

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