History of Texas (1865–99)
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Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
lived in what is now
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
more than 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of prehistoric
Leanderthal Lady Leanderthal Lady is the skeletal remains of a prehistoric woman discovered in January 1983 by the Texas Department of Transportation at the Wilson-Leonard Brushy Creek Site (an ancient Native American campsite) in the city of Cedar Park, Texas, a ...
. In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish
conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
s in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. The name ''Texas'' derives from ''táyshaʼ'', a word in the
Caddoan language The Caddoan languages are a family of languages native to the Great Plains spoken by tribal groups of the central United States, from present-day North Dakota south to Oklahoma. All Caddoan languages are critically endangered, as the number of ...
of the
Hasinai The Hasinai Confederacy (Caddo: ) was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans who occupied territory between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas. Today, their descendants are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma an ...
, which means "friends" or "allies." In the
recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hist ...
of what is now the U.S. state of Texas, all or parts of Texas have been claimed by six countries: France, Spain, Mexico, the
Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
, the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the United States of America. The first European settlement was established in 1681, along the upper
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
river, near modern
El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...
. The settlers were exiled Spaniards and Native Americans from the
Pueblo of Isleta Pueblo of Isleta ( tix, Shiewhibak , kjq, Dîiw'a'ane ; nv, Naatoohó ) is an unincorporated community and Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established in the . The Southern Tiwa name of the pueblo ...
after the Pueblo Revolt, from
Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México ( en, Holy Faith of New Mexico; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a Kingdom of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory of independent Mexico. The ...
(the northern part of present-day
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
). In 1685,
Robert de La Salle The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
(1643–1687), established a French colony at Fort Saint Louis, after sailing down and exploring the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
from
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spai ...
(modern Canada) and the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
. He planted this early French presence at Fort Saint Louis near
Matagorda Bay Matagorda Bay () is a large Gulf of Mexico bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, east-southeast of San Antonio, south-southwest of Houston, and south-southeast ...
, along the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
coast (near modern Inez, Texas), even before the establishment of
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
. The colony was killed off by Native Americans after three years, but Spanish authorities felt pressed to establish settlements to keep their claim to the land. Several Roman Catholic missions were established in
East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...
; they were abandoned in 1691. Twenty years later, concerned with the continued French presence in neighboring
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, Spanish authorities again tried to colonize Texas. Over the next 110 years, Spain established numerous villages, '' presidios'', and missions in the province. A small number of Spanish settlers arrived, in addition to missionaries and soldiers. Spain signed agreements with colonists from the United States, bordering the province to the northeast ever since their
Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
from the Emperor
Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
and his
French Empire French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to: * First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 * Second French Empire, led by Nap ...
(France) in 1803. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexican Texas was part of the new nation. To encourage settlement, Mexican authorities allowed organized immigration from the United States, and by 1834, over 30,000 Anglos lived in Texas, compared to 7,800 Mexicans. After Santa Anna's dissolution of the Constitution of 1824 and his political shift to the right, issues such as lack of access to courts, the militarization of the region's government (e.g., response to Saltillo-Monclova problem), and self-defense issues resulting in the confrontation in Gonzales, turned public sentiment in Mexican and Anglo Texans towards revolution. Santa Anna's invasion of the territory after putting down the rebellion in Zacatecas provoked conflict in 1836, and between 1835 and 1836, the Texian forces fought and won the Texas Revolution. Although not recognized as such by Mexico, Texas declared itself an independent nation, the
Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
. Attracted by the rich lands for cotton plantations and ranching, tens of thousands of immigrants arrived from the U.S. and from Germany as well. In 1845, Texas joined the United States, becoming the 28th state, when the United States annexed it. Only after the conclusion of the Mexican–American War, with the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
in 1848, did Mexico recognize Texan independence. Texas declared its secession from the United States in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America. Only a few battles of the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
were fought in Texas; most Texas regiments served in the east. When the war ended, enslaved African Americans were freed after ratification of the
Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
. Texas was subject to
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
after the Civil War was over. Later on, White Democrats gained political dominance and passed laws in the late 19th century creating second-class status for blacks in a
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
system of segregation which included disenfranchising them from voting in 1901 through passage of a
poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
. Black residents were excluded from the formal political system until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. In early Texas statehood, things such as cotton, ranching, and farming dominated the economy, along with railroad construction. After 1870, railroads were a major factor in the development of new cities away from rivers and waterways. Toward the end of the 19th century, timber became an important industry in Texas as well. In 1901, a petroleum discovery at
Spindletop Hill Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindlet ...
, near Beaumont, was developed as the most productive oil well the world had ever seen. The wave of oil speculation and discovery that followed came to be known as the " Texas Oil Boom", permanently transforming and enriching the economy of Texas. Agriculture and ranching gave way to a service-oriented society after the economic boom years of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Segregation would end in the 1960s due to federal legislation. Politically, Texas changed from virtually a one-party Democratic state achieved following disenfranchisement policies, to a highly contested political scene, until the early 1970s when it shifted to becoming solidly Republican. The population of Texas continued to grow rapidly throughout the 20th century, becoming the second-largest state in population in the United States by 1994. Also during the 20th century, the state continued to become economically highly diversified, with a growing economic base in
emerging technologies Emerging technologies are technologies whose development, practical applications, or both are still largely unrealized. These technologies are generally new but also include older technologies finding new applications. Emerging technologies ar ...
in the 21st century.


Texas lies at the juncture of several major

cultural area In anthropology and geography, a cultural region, cultural sphere, cultural area or culture area refers to a geography with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities (culture). Such activities are often associated ...
s of
Pre-Columbian North America In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
: the
Southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
, Southern Plains,
Southeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the nor ...
, and Aridoamerica. Several major precontact groups with ties to Texas, known from Indigenous
oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
, linguistics, and
archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
, include: * Ancestral Pueblo peoples from the upper
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
region, centered west of Texas * Mound Builders of the
Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
which spread throughout the Mississippi Valley and its tributaries; the
Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, wh ...
nation are considered among its descendants * Indigenous peoples of Aridoamerica, with south and western Texas being part of the region of Aridoamerica. Some of these tribes had trade and cultural connections with the more densely populated
Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
in Mexico and
Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
. The influence of
Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...
, in Mexico, peaked around AD 500 and declined over the 8th to 10th centuries. The Paleo-Indians who lived in Texas between 9200 and 6000 BC may have links to
Clovis Clovis may refer to: People * Clovis (given name), the early medieval (Frankish) form of the name Louis ** Clovis I (c. 466 – 511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler ** Clovis II (c. 634 – c. 657), ...
and
Folsom Folsom may refer to: People * Folsom (surname) Places in the United States * Folsom, Perry County, Alabama * Folsom, Randolph County, Alabama * Folsom, California * Folsom, Georgia * Folsom, Louisiana * Folsom, Missouri * Folsom, New Jersey * ...
cultures; these
nomadic people A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
hunted
mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
s and bison latifrons using atlatls. They extracted Alibates flint from quarries in the
panhandle A salient (also known as a panhandle or bootheel) is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on ...
region. Beginning during the
4th millennium BC The 4th millennium BC spanned the years 4000 BC to 3001 BC. Some of the major changes in human culture during this time included the beginning of the Bronze Age and the invention of writing, which played a major role in starting recorded history. ...
, the population of Texas increased despite a changing climate and the extinction of giant mammals. Many
pictogram A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and ...
s from this era, drawn on the walls of caves or on rocks, are visible in the state, including at
Hueco Tanks Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains and historic site in El Paso County, Texas, in the United States. It is located in a high-altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. ''Hueco'' is ...
and Seminole Canyon. Native Americans in East Texas began to
settle Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...
in villages shortly after 500 BC, farming and building the first burial
mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher el ...
s. They were influenced by the
Mississippian culture The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
, which had major sites throughout the Mississippi basin. In the Trans-Pecos area, populations were influenced by Mogollon culture. Early Ceramics date back to ca. 500 BC. In Eastern Texas, the Tchefuncte tradition of ceramics flourished from around 500 to 100 BC. Local hunters adopted bows and arrows around the 8th century, replaced the long-distance but less accurate atlatl. Native peoples hunted
bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...
for food, clothing, shelter, and more. They imported
obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...
from suppliers in Mexico and the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
. After Spanish explorers entered the area, Texas was largely divided between six cultural groups.
Caddoan language The Caddoan languages are a family of languages native to the Great Plains spoken by tribal groups of the central United States, from present-day North Dakota south to Oklahoma. All Caddoan languages are critically endangered, as the number of ...
-speaking peoples occupied the area surrounding the entire length of the Red River, and at the time of European contact, they formed four collective confederacies of the Wichita, Natchitoches, the
Hasinai The Hasinai Confederacy (Caddo: ) was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans who occupied territory between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas. Today, their descendants are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma an ...
, and the Kadohadocho. Along the Gulf Coast region were the Atakapa tribes. Southward from the Atakapa, along the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande river, at least one Coahuiltecan tribe (a culture group primarily from Northeast Mexico) was located. The Puebloan peoples, situated largely between the Rio Grande & Peco rivers were part of an extensive civilization of tribes that lived in what are now the states of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado & Utah. While the northernmost Ancestral Pueblo groups faced a cultural collapse due to drought, many of the southern tribes survive to the present. North of the Pueblos were the Apache peoples, who included several tribes with distinct languages. By the late 17th century, in Texas Panhandle region, the Comanches settled and later expanded their territories. Native Americans determined the fate of European explorers and settlers depending on whether a tribe was kind or warlike. Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunting methods for the wild game. Warlike tribes made life difficult and dangerous for explorers and settlers through their attacks and resistance to European conquest. Many Native Americans died of new
infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...
s, which caused high fatalities and disrupted their cultures in the early years of colonization


Early Spanish exploration

The first European to see Texas was Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, who led an expedition for the governor of
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, Francisco de Garay, in 1520. While searching for a passage between the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
and Asia, Álvarez de Pineda created the first map of the northern Gulf Coast. This map is the earliest recorded document of Texas history. Between 1528 and 1535, four survivors of the Narváez expedition, including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and
Estevanico Estevanico ("Little Stephen"; modern spelling Estebanico; –1539), also known as Esteban de Dorantes or Mustafa Azemmouri (مصطفى الزموري), was the first African to explore North America. Estevanico first appears as a slave in Portu ...
, spent six and a half years in Texas as slaves and traders among various native groups. Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore the interior of Texas. In 1543, the
Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1500 – 21 May, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and '' conquistador'' who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire ...
expedition entered Texas from the east, becoming the first Europeans to visit the Caddo peoples. Searching for an overland path to Mexico, the expedition turned back to the Mississippi River after leaving Caddo territory and finding nomadic tribes without food stores to sustain the Spanish.


French colonization of Texas (1684–1689)

Although Álvarez de Pineda had claimed the area that is now Texas for Spain, the area was essentially ignored for over 160 years. Its initial settlement by Europeans occurred by accident. In April 1682, French nobleman
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, ...
had claimed the entire
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
Valley for France. The following year, he convinced King
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
to establish a colony near the Mississippi, essentially splitting
Spanish Florida Spanish Florida ( es, La Florida) was the first major European land claim and attempted settlement in North America during the European Age of Discovery. ''La Florida'' formed part of the Captaincy General of Cuba, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, ...
from New Spain. La Salle's colonization expedition left France on July 24, 1684, and soon lost one of its supply ships to Spanish
privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
. A combination of inaccurate maps, La Salle's previous miscalculation of the latitude of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and overcorrecting for the Gulf currents led the ships to be unable to find the Mississippi. Instead, they landed at
Matagorda Bay Matagorda Bay () is a large Gulf of Mexico bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, east-southeast of San Antonio, south-southwest of Houston, and south-southeast ...
in early 1685, west of the Mississippi. In February, the colonists constructed Fort Saint Louis. After the fort was constructed, one of the ships returned to France, and the other two were soon destroyed in storms, stranding the settlers. La Salle and his party searched overland for the Mississippi River, traveling as far west as the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
and as far east as the Trinity River. Disease and hardship laid waste to the colony, and by early January 1687, fewer than 45 people remained. That month, a third expedition launched a final attempt to find the Mississippi. The expedition experienced much infighting, and La Salle was ambushed and killed somewhere in
East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...
. The Spanish learned of the French colony in late 1685. Feeling that the French colony was a threat to Spanish mines and shipping routes, King Carlos II's Council of war recommended the removal of "this thorn which has been thrust into the heart of America. The greater the delay the greater the difficulty of attainment." Having no idea where to find La Salle, the Spanish launched ten expeditions—both land and sea—over the next three years. The last expedition discovered a French deserter living in Southern Texas with the Coahuiltecans. The Frenchman guided the Spanish to the French fort in late April 1689. The fort and the five crude houses surrounding it were in ruins. Several months before, the Karankawa had become angry that the French had taken their canoes without payment and had attacked the settlement sparing only four children.


Spanish Texas (1690–1821)


Establishment of Spanish colony

News of the destruction of the French fort "created instant optimism and quickened religious fervor" in Mexico City. Spain had learned a great deal about the geography of Texas during the many expeditions in search of Fort Saint Louis. In March 1690,
Alonso De León Alonso de León "El Mozo" (c. 1639–1691) was explorer and governor, who led several expeditions into the area that is now northeastern Mexico and southern Texas. Early life Alonso de León González was born in 1639, in the settlement of Cade ...
led an expedition to establish a mission in East Texas. Mission San Francisco de los Tejas was completed near the
Hasinai The Hasinai Confederacy (Caddo: ) was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans who occupied territory between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas. Today, their descendants are enrolled in the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma an ...
village of Nabedaches in late May, and its first
mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
was celebrated on June 1. On January 23, 1691, Spain appointed the first governor of Texas, General Domingo Terán de los Ríos. On his visit to Mission San Francisco in August, he discovered that the priests had established a second mission nearby, but were having little luck converting the natives to Christianity. The Indians regularly stole the mission cattle and horses and showed little respect to the priests. When Terán left Texas later that year, most of the missionaries chose to return with him, leaving only three religious people and nine soldiers at the missions. The group also left behind a
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic. The angry Caddo threatened the remaining Spaniards, who soon abandoned the fledgling missions and returned to
Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...
. For the next 20 years, Spain again ignored Texas. After a failed attempt to convince Spanish authorities to reestablish missions in Texas, in 1711 Franciscan missionary Francisco Hidalgo approached the French governor of
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
for help. The French governor sent representatives to meet with Hidalgo. This concerned Spanish authorities, who ordered the reoccupation of Texas as a buffer between New Spain and French settlements in Louisiana. In 1716, four missions and a presidio were established in East Texas. Accompanying the soldiers were the first recorded female settlers in Spanish Texas. The new missions were over from the nearest Spanish settlement, San Juan Bautista.
Martín de Alarcón Martín de Alarcón was the Governor of Coahuila and Spanish Texas from 1705 until 1708, and again from 1716 until 1719. He founded San Antonio, the first Spanish civilian settlement in Texas. Texas First term Alarcón was first appointed gov ...
, who had been appointed governor of Texas in late 1716, wished to establish a way station between the settlements along the Rio Grande and the new missions in East Texas. Alarcón led a group of 72 people, including 10 families, into Texas in April 1718, where they settled along the San Antonio River. Within the next week, the settlers built mission San Antonio de Valero and a presidio, and chartered the municipality of San Antonio de Béxar, now
San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...
, Texas. The following year, the War of the Quadruple Alliance pitted Spain against France, which immediately moved to take over Spanish interests in North America. In June 1719, seven Frenchmen from Natchitoches took control of the mission San Miguel de los Adaes from its sole defender, who did not know that the countries were at war. The French soldiers explained that 100 additional soldiers were coming, and the Spanish colonists, missionaries, and remaining soldiers fled to San Antonio. The new governor of Coahuila and Texas, the
Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
, drove the French from Los Adaes without firing a shot. He then ordered the building of a new Spanish fort Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes, located near present-day
Robeline, Louisiana Robeline is a village in western Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 183 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Robeline was the capital of Texas for 50 years. ...
, only from Natchitoches. The new fort became the first capital of Texas, and was guarded by six cannons and 100 soldiers. The six East Texas missions were reopened, and an additional mission and presidio were established at Matagorda Bay on the former site of Fort Saint Louis.


Difficulties with the Native Americans

In the late 1720s, the viceroy of New Spain closed the presidio in East Texas and reduced the size of the garrisons at the remaining presidios, leaving only 144 soldiers in the entire province. With no soldiers to protect them, the East Texas missions relocated to San Antonio. Although the missionaries had been unable to convert the Hasinai tribe of East Texas, they did become friendly with the natives. The Hasinai were bitter enemies of the Lipan Apache, who transferred their enmity to Spain and began raiding San Antonio and other Spanish areas. A temporary peace was finally negotiated with the Apache in 1749, and at the request of the Indians a mission was established along the San Saba River northwest of San Antonio. The Apaches shunned the mission, but the fact that Spaniards now appeared to be friends of the Apache angered the Apache enemies, primarily the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes, who promptly destroyed the mission. In 1762, France finally relinquished their claim to Texas by ceding all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain as part of the treaty to end the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
. Spain saw no need to continue to maintain settlements near French outposts and ordered the closure of Los Adaes, making San Antonio the new provincial capital. The residents of Los Adaes were relocated in 1773. After several attempts to settle in other parts of the province, the residents returned to East Texas without authorization and founded Nacogdoches. The Comanche agreed to a peace treaty in 1785. The Comanche were willing to fight the enemies of their new friends, and soon attacked the Karankawa. Over the next several years the Comanche killed many of the Karankawa in the area and drove the others into Mexico. In January 1790, the Comanche also helped the Spanish fight a large battle against the Mescalero and Lipan Apaches at Soledad Creek west of San Antonio. The Apaches were resoundingly defeated and the majority of the raids stopped. By the end of the 18th century, only a small number of the remaining hunting and gathering tribes within Texas had not been Christianized. In 1793, mission San Antonio de Valero was secularized, and the following year the four remaining missions at San Antonio were partially secularized.


Encroachment

During the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, Texas and the Tejanos helped the Americans in the fights in British West Florida. Unlike East Florida, Texas supported U.S. independence by also fighting in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster.
; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...
and other campaigns in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. In 1799, Spain gave Louisiana back to France in exchange for the promise of a throne in central Italy. Although the agreement was signed on October 1, 1800, it did not go into effect until 1802. The following year,
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
sold Louisiana to the United States. The original agreement between Spain and France had not explicitly specified the borders of Louisiana, and the descriptions in the documents were ambiguous and contradictory. The United States insisted that its purchase also included most of West Florida and all of Texas.
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
claimed that Louisiana stretched west to the
Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
and included the entire
watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries, and that the southern border was the Rio Grande. Spain maintained that Louisiana extended only as far as Natchitoches, and that it did not include the
Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ca ...
. Texas was again considered a buffer province, this time between New Spain and the United States. The disagreement would continue until the signing of the 1819
Adams–Onís Treaty The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p.168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined t ...
, at which point Spain gave Florida to the United States in return for undisputed control of Texas. During much of the dispute with the United States, governance of New Spain was in question. In 1808, Napoleon forced the Spanish king to abdicate the throne and appointed
Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
as the new monarch. A shadow government operated out of Cadiz during Joseph's reign. Revolutionaries within Mexico and the United States unsuccessfully combined to declare Texas and Mexico independent. Spanish troops reacted harshly, looting the province and executing any Tejanos accused of having Republican tendencies. By 1820 fewer than 2,000 Hispanic citizens remained in Texas. The situation did not normalize until 1821, when Agustin de Iturbide launched a drive for Mexican Independence. Texas became a part of the newly independent nation without any violence or physical conflict, ending the period of Spanish Texas.


Spanish legacy

Spanish control of Texas was followed by Mexican control of Texas, and it can be difficult to separate the Spanish and Mexican influences on the future state. The most obvious legacy is that of the language; every major river in modern Texas, including the Red River, which was baptized by the Spaniards as Colorado de Texas, has a Spanish or Anglicized name, as do 42 of the state's 254 counties. Numerous towns also bear Spanish names. An additional obvious legacy is that of
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
. At the end of Spain's reign over Texas virtually all people living there were members of the Roman Catholic church, and Roman Catholicism is still the primary religion there today. The Spanish missions built in San Antonio to convert Indians to Catholicism have been restored and are a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
. The Spanish introduced European livestock, including cattle, horses, and mules, to Texas as early as the 1690s. These herds grazed heavily on the native grasses, allowing mesquite, which was native to the lower Texas coast, to spread inland. Spanish farmers also introduced tilling and irrigation to the land, further changing the landscape. Texas eventually adopted much of the Anglo-American legal system, but some Spanish legal practices were retained, including homestead exemption, community property, and
adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...
.


Comancheria

From the 1750s to the 1850s, the Comanche were the dominant group in the Southwest, and the domain they ruled was known as Comancheria. Confronted with Spanish, Mexican, and American outposts on their periphery in New Mexico, Texas, and
Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...
and Nueva Vizcaya in northern Mexico, the Comanche worked to increase their own safety, prosperity and power. The population in 1810–1830 was 7,000 to 8,000. The Comanche used their military power to obtain supplies and labor from the Americans, Mexicans, and Indians through thievery, looting and killing, tribute, and kidnappings. There was much violence committed by and against Comanche, before and after the European settlement of Texas. Although they made a living partially through raiding and violence, along with hunting/gathering, especially buffalo hunting, the Comanche empire also supported a commercial network with long-distance trade. Dealing with subordinate Indians, the Comanche spread their language and culture across the region. In terms of governance, the Comanche were made up of allied bands with a loosely hierarchical social organization within bands. Their empire collapsed when their camps and villages were repeatedly decimated by
epidemics An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...
of
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
in the late 1840s, and in bloody conflict with settlers, the Texas Rangers, and the U.S. Army. The population plunged from 20,000 to just a few thousand by the 1870s. The Comanche were no longer able to deal with the U.S. Army, which took control of the region after the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
ended in 1848. The long-term imprint of the Comanche on the native and Hispanic culture has been demonstrated by scholars such as Daniel J. Gelo and Curtis Marez.


Mexican Texas (1821–1836)

In 1821, the
Mexican War for Independence The Mexican War of Independence ( es, Guerra de Independencia de México, links=no, 16 September 1810 – 27 September 1821) was an armed conflict and political process resulting in Mexico's independence from Spain. It was not a single, co ...
severed the control that Spain had exercised on its North American territories, and the new country of Mexico was formed from much of the lands that had comprised
New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
, including
Spanish Texas Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a lega ...
. The
1824 Constitution of Mexico The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1824) was enacted on October 4 of 1824, after the overthrow of the Mexican Empire of Agustin de Iturbide. In the new Fr ...
joined Texas with
Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...
to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas. The Congress did allow Texas the option of forming its own state "as soon as it feels capable of doing so." The same year, Mexico enacted the General Colonization Law, which enabled all heads of household, regardless of race or immigrant status, to claim land in Mexico. Mexico had neither manpower nor funds to protect settlers from near-constant Comanche raids and it hoped that getting more settlers into the area could control the raids. The government liberalized its immigration policies, allowing for settlers from the United States to immigrate to Texas. The German settlement in Mexico goes back to the times they settled
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
when it was under Spanish rule, but the first permanent settlement of Germans was at Industry, in Austin County, established by Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fordtran in the early 1830s, then under Mexican rule. Ernst wrote a letter to a friend in his native Oldenburg, which was published in the newspaper there. His description of Texas was so influential in attracting German immigrants to that area that he is remembered as "the Father of German Immigration to Texas." Many Germans, especially Roman Catholics who sided with Mexico, left Texas for the rest of present-day Mexico after the U.S. defeated Mexico in the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
in 1848. A few Mexican Irish communities existed in Mexican Texas until the Texas Revolution. Many Irish then sided with Catholic Mexico against Protestant pro-U.S. elements. The first empresarial grant had been made under Spanish control to Moses Austin. The grant was passed to his son Stephen F. Austin, whose settlers, known as the Old Three Hundred, settled along the
Brazos River The Brazos River ( , ), called the ''Río de los Brazos de Dios'' (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Dr ...
in 1822. The grant was later ratified by the Mexican government. Twenty-three other empresarios brought settlers to the state, the majority from the United States of America. Starting in 1821, and in spite of growing Mexican limitations on slavery, U.S. immigrants brought an increasing number of slaves into Texas. By 1825, 69 slave owners owned 443 slaves. Mexico granted Texas a one-year exemption from the national edict of 1829 outlawing slavery, but Mexican president
Anastasio Bustamante Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera (; 27 July 1780 – 6 February 1853) was a Mexican physician, general, and politician who served as president of Mexico three times. He participated in the Mexican War of Independence initially as a royalist befo ...
ordered that all slaves be freed in 1830. To circumvent the law, the colonists converted their slaves into indentured servants "for life." By 1836 there were 5,000 enslaved African Americans in Texas. Bustamante outlawed the immigration of United States citizens to Texas in 1830. Several new presidios were established in the region to monitor immigration and customs practices. The new laws also called for the enforcement of customs duties, angering both native Mexican citizens (''
Tejano Tejanos (, ; singular: ''Tejano/a''; Spanish for "Texan", originally borrowed from the Caddo ''tayshas'') are the residents of the state of Texas who are culturally descended from the Mexican population of Tejas and Coahuila that lived in the ...
s'') and Anglos. In 1832, a group of settlers in East Texas led a revolt against customs enforcement in Anahuac. These Anahuac Disturbances coincided with a revolt in Mexico against the current president.
Texan Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...
s sided with the
federalists The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters called themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of de ...
against the current government and after the
Battle of Nacogdoches The Battle of Nacogdoches culminated on August 2, 1832, after a group of Texians resisted an order issued in July by the commander of the Mexican Army at Nacogdoches, Texas to surrender their arms. The situation soon escalated into a major battl ...
, drove all Mexican soldiers out of East Texas. Texans took advantage of the lack of oversight to agitate for more political freedom, resulting in the Convention of 1832. Among other issues, the convention demanded that U.S. citizens be allowed to immigrate into Texas, and requested independent statehood for the area. The following year,
Texians Texians were Anglo-American residents of Mexican Texas and, later, the Republic of Texas. Today, the term is used to identify early settlers of Texas, especially those who supported the Texas Revolution. Mexican settlers of that era are refer ...
reiterated their demands at the
Convention of 1833 The Convention of 1833 (April 1–13, 1833), a political gathering of settlers of Mexican Texas, was a successor to the Convention of 1832, whose requests had not been addressed by the Mexican government. Despite the political uncertainty succeedin ...
. After presenting their petition, courier Stephen F. Austin was jailed for the next two years in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
on suspicion of treason. Although Mexico implemented several measures to appease the colonists, President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's measures to transform Mexico from a federalist to a centralist state led the Texan colonists to revolt.


Texas Revolution

The vague unrest erupted into armed conflict on October 2, 1835, at the
Battle of Gonzales The Battle of Gonzales was the first military engagement of the Texas Revolution. It was fought near Gonzales, Texas, on October 2, 1835, between rebellious Texian settlers and a detachment of Mexican army soldiers. In 1831, Mexican authoriti ...
, when
Texan Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...
s repelled a Mexican attempt to retake a small cannon. This launched the Texas Revolution, and over the next three months, the
Texian Army The Texian Army, also known as the Revolutionary Army and Army of the People, was the land warfare branch of the Texian armed forces during the Texas Revolution. It spontaneously formed from the Texian Militia in October 1835 following the Ba ...
successfully defeated all Mexican troops in the region. On March 2, 1836, Texans signed the Texas Declaration of Independence at
Washington-on-the-Brazos Washington-on-the-Brazos is an unincorporated community along the Brazos River in Washington County, Texas, United States. The town is best known for being the site of the Convention of 1836 and the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independenc ...
, effectively creating the
Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
. The revolt was justified as necessary to protect basic rights and because Mexico had annulled the federal pact. The majority of the colonists were from the United States; they said that Mexico had invited them to move to the country, but they were determined "to enjoy" the republican institutions to which they were accustomed in their native land. Many of the Texas settlers believed the war to be over and left the army after the initial string of victories. The remaining troops were largely recently arrived adventurers from the United States; according to historian
Alwyn Barr Alwyn is a name, primarily used as a given name. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Alwyn Bramley-Moore (1878–1916), politician and soldier from Alberta, Canada *Alwyn Davey (born 1984), Indigenous Australian rules footballer ...
, the numerous American volunteers "contributed to the Mexican view that Texan opposition stemmed from outside influences." The Mexican congress responded to this perceived threat by authorizing the execution of any foreigner found fighting in Texas; they did not want prisoners of war. As early as October 27, Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna had been preparing to quell the unrest in Texas. In early 1836, Santa Anna personally led a 6,000-man force toward Texas. His force was large but ill-trained. Santa Anna led the bulk of the troops to San Antonio de Bexar to besiege the
Alamo Mission The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States. It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a pivotal event of t ...
, while General
Jose de Urrea Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...
led the remaining troops up the coast of Texas. Urrea's forces soon defeated all the Texian resistance along the coast, culminating in the Goliad massacre, where they executed 300 Texian prisoners of war.. After a thirteen-day siege, Santa Anna's forces overwhelmed the nearly 200 Texians defending the Alamo, and killed the prisoners. "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" became a battle cry of the Texas Revolution. News of the defeats sparked the
Runaway Scrape The Runaway Scrape events took place mainly between September 1835 and April 1836 and were the evacuations by Texas residents fleeing the Mexican Army of Operations during the Texas Revolution, from the Battle of the Alamo through the decisive Ba ...
, where much of the population of Texas and the Texas provisional government fled east, away from the approaching Mexican army. Many settlers rejoined the Texian army, then commanded by General
Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
. After several weeks of maneuvering, on April 21, 1836, the
Texian Army The Texian Army, also known as the Revolutionary Army and Army of the People, was the land warfare branch of the Texian armed forces during the Texas Revolution. It spontaneously formed from the Texian Militia in October 1835 following the Ba ...
attacked Santa Anna's forces near the present-day city of
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
at the Battle of San Jacinto. They captured Santa Anna and forced him to sign the
Treaties of Velasco A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...
, ending the war.


Republic of Texas (1836–1845)

The
1st Congress of the Republic of Texas The First Congress of the Republic of Texas, consisting of the Senate of the Republic of Texas and House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas, met in Columbia at two separate buildings (one for each chamber) and then in Houston at the pres ...
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 Washington-on-the-Brazos is an unincorporated community along the Brazos River in Washington County, Texas, United States. The town is best known for being the site of the Convention of 1836 and the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independenc ...
,
Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the List of c ...
, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia) before President
Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
moved the capital to
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
in 1837. In 1839, the capital was moved to the new town of
Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
by the next president, Mirabeau B. Lamar. The 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 co-existence with Native Americans. Although Texas governed itself, Mexico refused to recognize its independence. On March 5, 1842, a Mexican force of over 500 men, led by Ráfael Vásquez, invaded Texas for the first time since the revolution. They soon headed back to the Rio Grande after briefly occupying San Antonio. 1,400 Mexican troops, led by the French mercenary general
Adrian Woll Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the main ...
launched a second attack and captured San Antonio on September 11, 1842. A Texas militia retaliated at the
Battle of Salado Creek Salado Creek ( ) is a waterway in San Antonio that runs from northern Bexar County for about to the San Antonio River near Buena Vista.Dawson massacre. The Mexican army would later retreat from the city of San Antonio. To protect the Texas national archives, President Sam Houston ordered them out of Austin. Fearing that Houston planned to move the capital, Austin residents forced the archives back to Austin at gunpoint. The Texas Congress admonished Houston for the incident, and the incident solidified Austin as Texas's seat of government for the Republic and the future state.


Statehood, war, and expansion (1845–1860)

On February 28, 1845, the U.S. Congress narrowly passed a bill that authorized the United States to annex the Republic of Texas if it so voted. 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 Texas approved a proposed constitution. This constitution was later accepted by the U.S. Congress, making
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
a U.S. state on the same day annexation took effect (therefore bypassing a territorial phase). Texas was annexed as the 28th state in the United States of America. The Mexican government had long warned that annexation would mean war with the United States. When Texas joined the U.S., the Mexican government broke diplomatic relations with the United States. The United States now assumed the claims of Texas when it claimed all land north of the Rio Grande. In June 1845, President
James K. Polk James Knox Polk (November 2, 1795 – June 15, 1849) was the 11th president of the United States, serving from 1845 to 1849. He previously was the 13th speaker of the House of Representatives (1835–1839) and ninth governor of Tennessee (183 ...
sent General
Zachary Taylor Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...
to Texas, and by October, 3,500 Americans were on the
Nueces River The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nueces'' ...
, prepared to defend Texas from a Mexican invasion. On November 10, 1845, Polk ordered General Taylor and his forces south to the Rio Grande, into disputed territory that Mexicans claimed as their own. Mexico claimed the
Nueces River The Nueces River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas, about long. It drains a region in central and southern Texas southeastward into the Gulf of Mexico. It is the southernmost major river in Texas northeast of the Rio Grande. ''Nueces'' ...
—about north of the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...
—as its border with Texas. On April 25, 1846, a 2,000-strong Mexican cavalry detachment attacked a 70-man U.S. patrol that had been sent into the contested territory north of the Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River. The Mexican cavalry routed the patrol, killing 16 U.S. soldiers in what later became known as the
Thornton Affair The Thornton Affair, also known as the Thornton Skirmish, Thornton's Defeat, or Rancho Carricitos was a battle in 1846 between the military forces of the United States and Mexico west upriver from Zachary Taylor's camp along the Rio Grande. ...
. Both nations declared war. In the ensuing
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
, there were no more battles fought in Texas, but it became a major staging point for the American invasion of northern Mexico. One of the primary motivations for annexation was the Texas government's huge debts. The United States agreed to assume many of these upon annexation. However, the former Republic never fully paid off its debt until the Compromise of 1850. In return for $10 million, a large portion of Texas-claimed territory, now parts of
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
,
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
,
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, and
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
, was ceded to the Federal government.


Migration

Intensified migration to Texas after statehood raised the population to about 150,000. Societies such as the Texas Emigration and Land Company now pledged to settle colonists who would agree to constitute a militia for defense against the Indians; in return they would receive a grant of 320 acres of choice land. Most of the newcomers continued to migrate from the states of the lower South; slavery was granted legal protection by the Texas constitution of 1845. The Texas population by 1860 was quite diverse, with large elements of European whites (from the American South), African Americans (mostly slaves brought from the east), Tejanos (Hispanics with Spanish heritage), and about 20,000 recent German immigrants. The new state grew rapidly as migrants poured into the fertile cotton lands of east Texas. With their investments in cotton lands and slaves, Texas planters established cotton plantations in the eastern districts. The central area of the state was developed more by subsistence farmers who seldom owned slaves. Texas in its Wild West days, attracted settlers who could shoot straight and possessed the zest for adventure, "for masculine renown, patriotic service, martial glory and meaningful deaths."


German immigration

The Germans were the largest group immigrating directly from Europe. According to the ''Handbook of Texas'': :The Germans who settled Texas were diverse in many ways. They included peasant farmers and intellectuals;
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
,
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
,
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and atheists;
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
ns,
Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
, Hessians, and Alsatians; abolitionists and slaveholders; farmers and townsfolk; frugal, honest folk and ax murderers. They differed in dialect, customs, and physical features. A majority had been farmers in Germany, and most arrived seeking economic opportunities. A few dissident intellectuals fleeing the 1848 revolutions in Germany sought political freedom, but few, save perhaps the Wends, went for religious freedom. The German settlements in Texas reflected their diversity. Even in the confined area of the Hill Country, each valley offered a different kind of German. The Llano valley had stern, teetotaling German Methodists, who renounced dancing and fraternal organizations; the Pedernales valley had fun-loving, hardworking Lutherans and Catholics who enjoyed drinking and dancing; and the Guadalupe valley had atheist Germans descended from intellectual political refugees. The scattered German ethnic islands were also diverse. These small enclaves included Lindsay in Cooke County, largely
Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...
n Catholic; Waka in Ochiltree County, Midwestern
Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...
; Hurnville in Clay County, Russian German
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
; and Lockett in Wilbarger County, Wendish Lutheran.


Czech immigration

The first Czech immigrants started their journey to Texas on August 19, 1851, headed by Jozef Šilar. Attracted to the rich farmland of Central Texas, Czechs settled in the counties of Austin, Fayette, Lavaca, and Washington. The
Czech-American Czech Americans ( cz, Čechoameričané), known in the 19th and early 20th century as Bohemian Americans, are citizens of the United States whose ancestry is wholly or partly originate from the Czech lands, a term which refers to the majority o ...
communities are characterized by a strong sense of community, and social clubs were a dominant aspect of Czech-American life in Texas. By 1865, the Czech population numbered 700; by 1940 there were more than 60,000 Czech-Americans in Texas.


Civil War and Reconstruction (1860–1876)

In the summer of 1860, a slave panic erupted in North and East Texas amid rumors of arson by slaves and abolitionists. Between 30 and 100 blacks and whites were lynched by vigilantes in the so-called "Texas Troubles". The events were used to arouse support for secession. Yet at least one fire was proven at the time to be due to a new kind of match that self-ignited in that season's unusual heat and wind, stopping the Denton lynch mob in that case. As an essential part of the southern cotton industry, farmers depended on slave labor to do the massive amount of field work. In 1860, 30% of the total state population of 604,215 were enslaved. Slave owners were also politically dominant: During the 1860s, between 60 and 80% of state legislators came from a slave owning family, and 10–15% belonged to the Planter class. 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 Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Texas declared its secession from the United States on February 1, 1861, and joined the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
on March 2, 1861. With few battles in its territory, 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. After the capture of New Orleans in 1862, slave owners with means to move forced the resettlement of enslaved people to Texas to escape the Union Army's reach. The last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Palmito Ranch, was fought in Texas on May 12, 1865. The 2nd Texas Cavalry Battalion (U.S.) (one of only two from the state) took part.


Unionism

Many Texan unionists supported the Confederacy after the war began, but many others also clung to their
unionism Unionism may refer to: Trades *Community unionism, the ways trade unions work with community organizations *Craft unionism, a model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on a particular craft or trade * Dual unionism, the develop ...
throughout the war, especially in the northern counties, the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
districts in
Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ameri ...
, and the
Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
areas. Local officials harassed unionists and engaged in large-scale massacres against unionists and German immigrants. In
Cooke County Cooke County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. At the 2020 census, its population was 41,668. The county seat is Gainesville. The county was founded in 1848 and organized the next year. It is named for William Gordon Cooke, a soldier du ...
, 150 suspected unionists were arrested; 25 were lynched without trial and 40 more were hanged after a summary trial. Draft resistance was widespread, especially among Texans of German or Mexican descent; many of the latter went to Mexico. Potential draftees went into hiding, Confederate officials hunted them down, and many were shot. On August 1, 1862, Confederate troops executed 34 pro-Union
German Texans German Texan (german: Deutschtexaner) is both a term to describe immigrants who arrived in the Republic of Texas from Germany from the 1830s onward and an ethnic category that includes their descendants in today's state of Texas. The arriving Ger ...
in the " Nueces Massacre" of civilians. Texas's most famous unionist was state Governor at the time,
Sam Houston Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
. After refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, he was deposed as governor.


Reconstruction

Even after news of the
Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War. The Proclamation changed the legal sta ...
arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, creating the celebration of Juneteenth, slave owners withheld the news. It was not uncommon for them to delay telling the formerly enslaved people until after the harvest, according to historian Elizabeth Hayes Turner in her comprehensive essay, "Juneteenth: Emancipation and Memory"." The State suffered little during the war, but trade and finance were 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; outlaws based in the
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
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, Congress restored Texas to the Union. Many free blacks were able to become businessmen and leaders. Through the young
Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...
, blacks rapidly gained political power. Indeed, blacks comprised 90% of the Texas Republican Party during the 1880s. Norris Wright Cuney, an African American from Galveston, rose to the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party and even the national committeeman.


Democrats regain control after Reconstruction

Like other Southern states, by the late 1870s white Democrats regained control of the state legislature. They passed a new constitution in 1876 that segregated schools and established a
poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
to support them, but it was not originally required for voting. Within the Republican Party the ''
Lily-white movement The lily-white movement was an anti-black political movement within the Republican Party in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a response to the political and socioeconomic gains made by African-Americans foll ...
'' emerged, a movement to wrest control of the party by whites and eliminate black influence altogether. The movement had its origins in Texas but spread across the nation. This in addition to wider efforts to restrict the influence of non-whites rapidly reversed the fortunes of the black population.


Historiography

During the 20th century, national historiographical trends influenced the scholarship on the Civil War in Texas. Beginning in the 1950s, historians focused on military campaigns in Texas and other areas of the Southwest, a region previously neglected. Since the 1970s, scholars have shifted their attention to South Texas, exploring how its relations with Mexico and Mexican Americans affected both Confederate and Union Civil War military operations. Also since the 1970s, the "New Social History" has stimulated research in war-related social, economic, and political changes. This historiographical trend is related to a growing interest in local and regional history.


Late 19th century (1876–1899)

Racial violence continued by whites against blacks as they enforced
white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...
. Despite this, freedmen pursued education, organized new churches and fraternal organizations, and entered politics, winning local offices. By the 1890s, more than 100,000 blacks were voting in state elections. In 1896 and 1898, Republican
Robert B. Hawley Robert Bradley Hawley (October 25, 1849 – November 28, 1921) was a businessman and politician from Galveston, Texas, elected as a Republican U.S. Representative (1897–1901) from Texas's 10th congressional district. He won his office in 1896 ...
was elected to Congress from the state by a plurality, when most white voters split between the Democratic and Populist parties. Democrats were determined to end competition by Republicans and Populists, and reviewed what other Southern states were doing to disenfranchise blacks and poor whites. Mississippi's new constitution of 1890 had survived a Supreme Court case, although in practice it was highly discriminatory against freedmen.


Land use politics

Much of Texas politics of the remainder of the 19th century centered on land use. Guided by the federal
Morill Act The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or se ...
, Texas sold public lands to gain funds to invest in higher education. In 1876,
the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
opened, and seven years later the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
began conducting classes. New land use policies drafted during the administration of Governor John Ireland enabled individuals to accumulate land, leading to the formation of large cattle ranches. Many ranchers ran
barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...
around public lands, to protect their access to water and free grazing. This caused several range wars. Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross guided the Texas Legislature to reform the land use policies. The coming of the railroads in the 1880s ended the famous cattle drives and allowed ranchers to market their cattle after a short drive, and farmers move their cotton to market cheaply. They made Dallas and other cities the centers of commercial activity. Ft. Worth became the gateway to the west, via the
Fort Worth and Denver Railway The Fort Worth and Denver Railway , nicknamed "the Denver Road", was a class I American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound influence on the early settlement and economic development ...
. However the passenger trains were often the targets of armed gangs. Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross had to personally intervene to resolve the Jaybird-Woodpecker War (1888–1889) among factions of Democrats in Fort Bend County; at bottom, it was a racial conflict. The majority population was black by a large margin, and had been electing county officers for 20 years. But, the white elite Democrats wanted their own people in power. Conflict became violent and the Jaybirds ordered several blacks out of town. Tensions increased and a total of seven people were killed. In the fall of 1889, the Democratic Party created "white-only pre-primary elections," which in practice were the only competitive contests in the county, and thus
disenfranchised Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...
the blacks. This situation lasted until the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruling in ''
Terry v. Adams ''Terry v. Adams'', 345 U.S. 461 (1953), was a United States Supreme Court decision that held white-only pre-primary elections to be unconstitutional. It was the last in a series of court cases addressing the system of white primaries designed to d ...
'' (1953) declared it unconstitutional in the last of the white primary cases. Under
Jim Hogg James Stephen "Jim" Hogg (March 24, 1851March 3, 1906) was an American lawyer and statesman, and the 20th Governor of Texas. He was born near Rusk, Texas. Hogg was a follower of the conservative New South Creed which became popular following ...
, the state turned its attention toward corporations violating the state monopoly laws. In 1894, Texas filed a lawsuit against
John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
's
Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
and its Texas subsidiary, the Waters-Pierce Oil Company of Missouri. Hogg and his attorney-general argued that the companies were engaged in rebates, price fixing, consolidation, and other tactics prohibited by the state's 1889 antitrust act. The investigation resulted in a number of indictments, including one for Rockefeller. Hogg requested that Rockefeller be extradited from New York, but the New York governor refused, as Rockefeller had not fled from Texas. Rockefeller was never tried, but other employees of the company were found guilty.


Texas in prosperity, depression, and WWII (1900–1945)

Galveston, the fourth-largest city in Texas and then the major port, was destroyed by a
hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
with winds on September 8, 1900. The storm created a
storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the n ...
when it hit the island, higher than any previously recorded flood. Water covered the entire island, killing between 6,000 and 8,000 people, destroying 3,500 homes as well as the railroad causeway and wagon bridge that connected the island to the mainland. To help rebuild their city, citizens implemented a reformed government featuring a five-man city commission. Galveston was the first city to implement a city commission government, and its plan was adopted by 500 other small cities across the United States. In the aftermath of the Galveston disaster, action proceeded on building the
Houston Ship Channel The Houston Ship Channel, in Houston, Texas, is part of the Port of Houston, one of the busiest seaports in the world. The channel is the conduit for ocean-going vessels between Houston-area terminals and the Gulf of Mexico, and it serves an incr ...
to create a more protected inland port. Houston quickly grew once the Channel was completed, and rapidly became the primary port in Texas. Railroads were constructed in a radial pattern to link Houston with other major cities such as Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Austin. By 1900, the Dallas population reached 38,000 as banking and insurance became major activities in the increasingly white-collar city, which was now the world's leading cotton center. It was also the world's center of harness making and leather goods. Businessmen took control of civic affairs; with little municipal patronage, there was only a small role for the Democratic Party to play. The predominantly black Republican Party was essentially closed out of politics by the disenfranchisement in 1901 of most blacks through imposition of a
poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
(see below).


Disenfranchisement

Determined to control politics in the state, reduce competition from Republicans and Populists, and close blacks out of politics, in 1901 the Democrat-dominated state legislature passed a
poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
as a requirement for voting. Given the economic difficulties of the times, the poll tax caused participation by African Americans, poor whites, and Mexican Americans to drop sharply, effectively
disenfranchising Disfranchisement, also called disenfranchisement, or voter disqualification is the restriction of suffrage (the right to vote) of a person or group of people, or a practice that has the effect of preventing a person exercising the right to vote. D ...
more than one-third of the population of the state. By the early 20th century, the Democratic Party in Texas started using a " white primary." Restricting the Democratic primary to white voters was another way of closing minorities out of politics, as the primary was the only competitive contest for office in the one-party state. By 1906, the number of black voters had dropped from more than 100,000 in the 1890s to 5,000. The state also passed a law for
white primaries White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. Statewide white primaries were established by the state Democratic Party units or by state legislatures in South Ca ...
. In 1896, 86.6% of all voters in Texas voted in the presidential election; following disenfranchisement, voter turnout in 1904 was 29.2% and in 1920 was 21.6%. When the Supreme Court ruled in 1923 that white primaries established by political parties were unconstitutional, in 1927 the Texas state legislature passed a bill that authorized political parties to establish their internal practices. The Democratic Party reinstated the white primary. That law survived until 1944 before another Supreme Court case ruled that it was unconstitutional. After 1944, the
NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
and other organizations worked to register black voters and participation increased. But the major disenfranchisement continued until passage in the mid-1960s of civil rights legislation, including the
Voting Rights Act The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...
of 1965, to provide for federal oversight in areas in which historically minorities did not vote in expected numbers based on population.


Population growth

Texas reached 4 million population in 1910, making it the fifth largest state, and continued to grow. It remained primarily rural, based on cotton farms and ranches, with 30% living in numerous villages and towns and a few cities. Galveston with 17,000 was the largest city in 1870; it recovered from the devastating hurricane of 1900, which killed 6,000 people, and reached 37,000 in 1910. Galveston became nationally famous for its modernized "commission form" of government that stressed efficiency and minimized patronage. The largest city in 1910 was San Antonio at 96,000. Houston (79,000 in 1910) was a rail and oil center; it competed with Dallas (92,000), the banking and merchandising center. Thanks to the meat packing plants that opened in Fort Worth in 1903, it reached 73,000 in 1910. El Paso counted 39,000; Austin, the capital, 30,000; and Waco 26,000. The Model T and other autos began arriving, and along with tractors they started to replace mules and horses on the farm. None of the cities had significant suburbs; instead they built street car systems to bring shoppers to the central business district. In 1911 an extremely bloody decade-long civil war broke out in Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled to Texas, raising the Hispanic population from 72,000 in 1900 to 250,000 in 1920. The number reached 700,000 in 1930, 1,400,000 in 1960, and 4 million in 1990. Blacks grew in number but declined as a proportion, falling from 22% of 1890 population in 1890 to 16% in 1920. They were increasingly segregated in public places, and lost the right to vote. Physical intimidation occurred regularly. Of the 468 lynching victims in the state between 1885, the peak, and the last episode in 1942, 339 were black, 77 white, 53 Hispanic, and 1 Indian. Much improved law enforcement after 1920 meant the violence rapidly died out, but segregation only ended in 1964.


Dallas growth

Texans in 1909 marked an icon of progress with the construction of the first skyscraper west of the Mississippi. The 190-foot steel-frame skyscraper was the 14-story
Praetorian Building The Praetorian Building, also known as Stone Place Tower, was a 15-story, high-rise constructed in 1909 at Main Street and Stone Street in the Main Street District of downtown Dallas, Texas. It was regarded the first skyscraper in Texas and th ...
, housing the Praetorian Insurance Company. Dallas became the regional headquarters of the Federal Reserve in 1914, strengthening its dominance of Texas banking. The city had reached 260,000 population by 1929 when the effects of the Stock Market Crash hit Texas, causing a sharp drop in the prices of oil, cotton and cattle; growth came to a standstill.


Oil

On the morning of January 10, 1901, Anthony F. Lucas, an experienced mining engineer, drilled the first major oil well at
Spindletop Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindleto ...
, a small hill south of
Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...
. 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 The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
. Other oil fields were later discovered in
West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...
and under the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. The resulting Texas Oil Boom permanently transformed the economy of Texas, and led to its most significant economic expansion after the Civil War.


Great Depression

The economy, which had experienced significant recovery since the Civil War, was dealt a double blow by
the Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
and the Dust Bowl. After the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the economy suffered significant reversals. Thousands of city workers became unemployed, many of whom depended on federal relief programs such as FERA,
WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...
and
CCC CCC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canada's Capital Cappies, the Critics and Awards Program in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada * ''Capcom Classics Collection'', a 2005 compilation of arcade games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox * CCC, the pro ...
. Thousands of unemployed Mexican citizens received one-way bus tickets to their home villages in Mexico. Farmers and ranchers were especially hard hit, as prices for cotton and livestock fell sharply. Beginning in 1934 and lasting until 1939, the Dust Bowl, an ecological disaster of severe wind and drought, caused an exodus from Texas and the surrounding plains, in which over 500,000 Americans were homeless, hungry and jobless. Thousands left the region forever to seek economic opportunities in California. For the majority of farmers who remained, the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
's Agricultural Adjustment Act was a crash program started in 1933 that in two weeks signed up cotton growers, even as agents and committeemen faced poor roads, bureaucratic delays, inadequate supplies, balking mules, and language barriers. It brought recovery by the mid-1930s, raising cotton prices by controls on how much farmers could plant.


World War II

World War II had a dramatic effect on Texas, as federal money poured in to build
military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...
s, munitions factories,
POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
detention camps and Army hospitals. Over 750,000 Texans left for service; the cities exploded with new industry; the colleges took on new roles; and hundreds of thousands of poor farmers left for much better-paying war jobs, never to return to agriculture. Texas needed more farm workers. The Bracero Program brought in 117,000 Mexicans to work temporarily. Existing military bases in Texas were expanded and numerous new training bases were built:
Texas World War II Army Airfields During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces established numerous airfields in Texas for training pilots and aircrews. The amount of available land and the temperate climate made Texas a prime location for year-round military training. By ...
;
Brooke Army Medical Center Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) is the United States Army's premier medical institution. Located on Fort Sam Houston, BAMC, a 425-bed Academic Medical Center, is the Department of Defense's largest facility and only Level 1 Trauma Center. BAMC ...
,
Camp Mabry Camp Mabry (ICAO: KATT) is a military installation in Austin, Texas, that houses the headquarters of the Texas Military Department, Texas Military Forces, and Texas Military Forces Museum. Established in 1892, Camp Mabry is the third-oldest activ ...
, Corpus Christi Army Depot,
Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Named in honor of William Wallace Smith Bliss, LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President ...
, Fort Hood, Fort Sam Houston, Ingleside Army Depot, Red River Army Depot, especially for aviation training. The good flying weather made the state a favorite location for Air Force training bases. In the largest aviation training program in the world, 200,000 graduated from programs at 40 Texas airfields, including 45,000 pilots, 12,000 bombardiers, 12,000 navigators, and thousands of aerial gunners, photographers, and mechanics. Fred Allison in a study of Majors Field, the Army Air Forces Basic Flying School, at Greenville during 1942–45, shows that the base—like most military bases in rural Texas—invigorated the local economy, but also changed the cultural climate of the conservative Christian town, especially around unprecedented freedom regarding alcohol, dating and dancing, and race relations. The Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant and the
Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant The Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant (LOW) was a government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) facility in Karnack, Texas that was established in 1942. The Monsanto Chemical Company selected the site in December 1941 to produce TNT. The plant produ ...
were built as part of the WWII buildup. 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. During WWII, Texas became home to as many as 78,982 enemy prisoners, mainly Germans; it held 15% of the total
POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
in the United States. There were fourteen prisoner-of-war camps in the state. The POWs in the camps were put to work to supplement the local farm labor lost to the war. Though contemporary War Department officials claimed that government attempts at denazification of the prisoners were highly successful, Nazi influence upon prisons in individual camps was common for the duration of the POW program. Walker examined Nazi activities in Texas POW camps during 1943–45 and found that the military authorities had failed to eradicate the influence of Nazi leaders. Previously a largely rural area, East Texas became more urban as workers were recruited for the oil, shipbuilding, and aircraft industries. East Texans made many contributions to the war effort, both at home and in the armed forces. High schools had patriotic programs as well, but so many teachers and older students left for the military or for defense jobs that budgets were cut, programs dropped, and the curriculum had to be scaled down. Hospitals reported a shortage of supplies and medical personnel, as many doctors and most of the younger nurses joined the services. Harmon General Hospital, one of the Army's largest, opened in Longview in November 1942 with 157 hospital buildings and a capacity of 2,939 beds. The facility was designed for the treatment of soldiers with central nervous system syphilis, psychiatric disorders, tropical illnesses, and dermatological diseases. At the end of the war, the facility was adapted for use as the campus of LeTourneau University.
Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...
, like most schools, was successful in the multiple missions of aiding national defense, recruiting soldiers, and keeping the institution operational while the war continued.
Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
likewise had many roles in the war; the most famous was the War Training Service Pre-Flight program during 1943–44. It prepared Air Force pilots for full-fledged military aviation training. The efforts of Clent Breedove and M. F. Dagley, private contractors for the Civilian Pilot Training Program at the university site since 1939, with Harold Humphries as chief pilot, brought an economic boost to Lubbock. 3,750 cadets received classroom instruction and flying time. From February 1943 to January 1944, more than 2,000 women completed training at the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps Branch Number One, Army Administration School, at Stephen F. Austin State Teacher's College in Nacogdoches. Nowhere were the wartime effects greater than in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, which in 1940 was a city of 400,000 population dependent on shipping and oil. The war dramatically expanded the city's economic base, thanks to massive federal spending. Energetic entrepreneurs, most notably George Brown, James Elkins and James Abercrombie, landed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal wartime investment in technologically complex facilities. Houston oil companies moved from being refiners and became sophisticated producers of petrochemicals. Especially important were synthetic rubber and high octane fuel, which retained their importance after the war. The war moved the natural gas industry from a minor factor to a major energy source; Houston became a major hub when a local firm purchased the federally financed Inch pipelines. Other major growth industries included steel, munitions, and shipbuilding. Tens of thousands of new migrants streamed in from rural areas, straining the city's housing supply and the city's ability to provide local transit and schools. For the first time, high-paying jobs went to large numbers of women, blacks and Hispanics. The city's African-American community, emboldened by their newfound prosperity, increased its agitation for civil rights; they backed and funded the legal case of '' Smith v. Allwright'' (1944), in which the Supreme Court ruled against the latest version of the white primary in support of voting rights. Throughout East Texas, black family growth and dissolution came more rapidly than in peacetime; blacks were more mobile as an adjustment to employment opportunities. There was a more rapid shift to factory labor, higher economic returns, and a willingness of whites to tolerate the change in black economic status so long as the traditional "
Jim Crow The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
" social relations were maintained.


Texas modernizes (1945–present)


1950s Texas drought

Beginning in 1949, Texas was hit with a devastating drought that extended until 1957. Rainfall decreased 30 to 50 percent, while temperatures rose, killing crops, livestock, and triggering a rise of
dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transporte ...
s. As a result, the number of Texas farms and ranches declined by nearly 100,000, and Texas experienced a period of mass
urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...
as the rural population moved to the city to rebuild their livelihoods. The state's rural population declined from more than a third of the population to a quarter. As a result, the Texas Water Development Board was created in 1957, and the state began a period of building a diverse system of
water conservation Water conservation includes all the policies, strategies and activities to sustainably manage the natural resource of fresh water, to protect the hydrosphere, and to meet the current and future human demand (thus avoiding water scarcity). Populati ...
plans. This included increasing access to groundwater, and creating lakes by damming rivers.


JFK assassination

On Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, at 12:30 pm Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC), Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed President
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
. The Texas Governor,
John B. Connally John Bowden Connally Jr. (February 27, 1917June 15, 1993) was an American politician. He served as the 39th governor of Texas and as the 61st United States secretary of the Treasury. He began his career as a Democrat and later became a Republican ...
, was also shot but survived. The episode caused a national outrage focused on right wing elements in Dallas that had long been hostile to Kennedy. However, Oswald was a pro Castro Marxist revolutionary and had no discernable connection to any right-wing organizations. In fact, no organizations of the right (or left) were implicated in the assassination. In the aftermath, many in media and on the political left attempted to smear the city and its citizens with accusations that "Dallas is a deceased city" or "Dallas is a city of hate". But subsequently, Oswald was found to have acted alone and had, at best, a tendential connection to the city, having lived there for only a short time. Nevertheless, for a half-century and more the people of Dallas still struggle with being branded as having some responsibility. The
Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is a museum located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building (formerly the Texas School Book Depository) in downtown Dallas, Texas, overlooking Dealey Plaza at the intersection of El ...
, located where the assassin is believed to have fired the shots, has become a historic tourist site.


Higher education

During World War II the main universities like University of Texas and Texas A&M University gained a new national role. The wartime financing of university research, curricular change, campus trainee programs, and postwar veteran enrollments changed the tenor and allowed Texas schools to gain national stature. From 1950 through the 1960s, Texas modernized and dramatically expanded its system of higher education. Under the leadership of Governor 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 John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations.


Economic and demographic change

Beginning around the mid-20th century, Texas began to transform from a rural and agricultural state to one that was urban and industrialized. The state's population grew quickly during this period, with large levels of migration from outside the state. As a part of the
Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...
Texas experienced strong economic growth, particularly during the 1970s and early 1980s. Texas's economy diversified, lessening its reliance on the
petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The larges ...
. By 1990,
Hispanics The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties former ...
overtook blacks to become the largest minority group in the state.


Shift to the Republican Party

Prior to the mid-20th century, Texas was essentially a one-party state, and the Democratic primary was viewed as "the real election". The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
had conservative and liberal factions, which became more pronounced after the
New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
. Additionally, several factions of the party briefly split during the 1930s and 40s. The state's conservative white voters began to support Republican presidential candidates by the mid-20th century. After this period, they supported Republicans for local and state offices as well, and most white citizens became Republican Party members. The party also attracted some minorities, but many have continued to vote for Democratic candidates. The shift to the Republican Party is much attributed to the fact that the Democratic Party became increasingly
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
during the 20th century, and thus was increasingly thought to be out-of-touch by the average Texas voter. As Texas was always a conservative state, voters switched to the GOP, which now more closely reflected their beliefs. Commentators have also attributed the shift to Republican political consultant
Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August 3 ...
, who managed numerous political campaigns in Texas in the 1980s and 90s. Other stated reasons included court-ordered redistricting and the demographic shift in relation to the
Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...
that favored the Republican Party and conservatism. The
2003 Texas redistricting The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade state plan that defined new congressional districts. In the 2004 elections, this redistricting supported the Republicans taking a majority of Texas's House seats for the first ...
of Congressional districts led by Republican
Tom DeLay Thomas Dale DeLay (; born April 8, 1947) is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republic ...
, was called by the ''New York Times'' "an extreme case of partisan gerrymandering". A group of Democratic legislators, the "Texas Eleven", fled the state in a
quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...
-busting effort to prevent the legislature from acting, but was unsuccessful. The state had already redistricted following the 2000 census. Despite these efforts, the legislature passed a map heavily in favor of Republicans, based on 2000 data and ignoring the estimated nearly one million new residents in the state since that date. Career attorneys and analysts at the Department of Justice objected to the plan as diluting the votes of African American and Hispanic voters, but political appointees overrode them and approved it. Legal challenges to the redistricting reached the national
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in the case ''
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry ''League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry'', 548 U.S. 399 (2006), is a Supreme Court of the United States case in which the Court ruled that only District 23 of the 2003 Texas redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act. The Court refus ...
'' (2006), but the court ruled in favor of the state (and Republicans). In the
2014 Texas elections The 2014 general election was held in the U.S. state of Texas on November 4, 2014. All of Texas's executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat, and all of Texas's thirty-six seats in the United States House of Rep ...
, the
Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...
made large gains, with numerous Tea Party favorites being elected into office, including
Dan Patrick Dan Patrick may refer to: * Dan Patrick (ice hockey) (born 1938), Canadian ice hockey player * Dan Patrick (politician) (born 1950), Lieutenant Governor of Texas and political and sports radio journalist * Dan Patrick (sportscaster) (born 1956), Ame ...
as lieutenant governor, Ken Paxton as attorney general, in addition to numerous other candidates including conservative Republican Greg Abbott as governor.


Native American self-Determination

In the late 20th century, Native American tribes regained federal recognition by organizing under the
Indian Reorganization Act The Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of June 18, 1934, or the Wheeler–Howard Act, was U.S. federal legislation that dealt with the status of American Indians in the United States. It was the centerpiece of what has been often called the "Indian ...
. They have been able to expand their government-to-government relationships with the U.S. federal government under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. Three federally recognized Native American tribes are headquartered in Texas today. They are: * Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas *
Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, based in Eagle Pass, is a federally recognized tribe that uses revenue from its gaming and business operations to provide housing, education, and social services to its members. The tribe has been held as ...
* Ysleta del Sur Pueblo The state formed the Texas Commission for Indian Affairs in 1965 to oversee state-tribal relations; however, the commission was dissolved in 1989.


COVID-19

The state of Texas confirmed its first case on February 13, 2020, and many of the state's largest cities recorded their first cases throughout March. As of late May 2021, there were 50,198 COVID-19 related deaths reported in that state. The death rate in Texas was 175 for every 100,000 people, while national COVID-19 death rate was 179 per 100,000. On March 13, Governor Abbott declared a state of disaster for all counties in Texas, invoking emergency powers for his administration, and ordered state employees to
remote work Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...
. Day cares, nursing homes, and prisons were asked to limit visitations. The state's first mobile testing center for COVID-19 opened in San Antonio. Colleges and universities throughout the state extended spring breaks with some transitioning to online instruction, including
Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...
, the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
, the University of North Texas, the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
at Austin, Texas State University, and Texas Tech University. School districts also announced temporary suspensions of classes statewide.


See also

*
Comanche history Comanche history is the story of the Native American (Indian) tribe which lived on the Great Plains of the present-day United States. In the 17th century the Eastern Shoshone people who became known as the Comanche migrated southward from Wyomin ...
*
Forts of Texas The Forts of Texas include a number of historical and operational military installations. For over 200 years, various groups fought over access to or control over the region that is now Texas. Possession of the region was claimed and disputed by t ...
*
History of vice in Texas The history of vice in the U.S. state of Texas has been an important part of the state's past and has greatly influenced its development. Vice activities, such as gambling and prostitution, have historically been a significant facet of both the ...
*
History of slavery in Texas The history of slavery in Texas began slowly at first during the first few phases in Texas' history. Texas was a colonial territory, then part of Mexico, later Republic in 1836, and U.S. state in 1845. The use of slavery expanded in the mid-nine ...
*
History of Texas forests The forests in the U.S. state of Texas have been an important resource since its earliest days and have played a major role in the state's history. The vast woodlands of the region, home to many varieties of wildlife before Europeans first showed ...
*
History of the Southern United States The history of the Southern United States spans back thousand of years to the first evidence of human occupation. The Paleo-Indians were the first peoples to inhabit the Americas and what would become the Southern United States. By the time E ...
*
History of the Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
*
LGBT rights in Texas Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Texas have some protections in state law but may face legal and social challenges not faced by others. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in the state in 2003 by the ''Lawrence v. ...
* List of historical societies in Texas * Education in Texas *
Texas divisionism Texas divisionism is a mainly historical movement that advocates the division of the U.S. state of Texas into as many as five states, as some considered to be statutorily permitted by a provision included in the resolution admitting the former Rep ...
*
Texas Historical Commission The Texas Historical Commission is an agency dedicated to historic preservation within the state of Texas. It administers the National Register of Historic Places for sites in Texas. The commission also identifies Recorded Texas Historic La ...
* Texas Oil Boom *
Women's suffrage in Texas Women's suffrage in Texas was a long term fight starting in 1868 at the first Texas Constitutional Convention. In both Constitutional Conventions and subsequent legislative sessions, efforts to provide women the right to vote were introduced, only ...
* History of African Americans in Texas *
History of Mexican Americans in Texas Indigenous peoples lived in the area now known as Texas long before Spanish explorers arrived in the area. However, once Spaniards arrived and claimed the area for Spain, a process known as ''mestizaje'' occurred, in which Spaniards and Native Am ...
;Cities in Texas * Timeline of Arlington, Texas *
Timeline of Austin, Texas The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Austin, Texas, USA. 19th century * 1839 ** Austin designated capital of the Republic of Texas. ** Waller Plan is developed as Austin's first city plan. ** December 27: Austin incor ...
*
Timeline of Dallas This article contains a timeline of major events in the history of Dallas, Texas (USA). It serves as an abridged supplement to the main history article for the city and its several subarticles on periods in the city's history. 19th century * ...
* Timeline of El Paso, Texas *
Timeline of Houston Timeline of historical events of Houston, Texas, United States: 1800-1900 *August 26, 1836 - Elizabeth and T. F. L. Parrott sell the southern half of the eastern half of the John Austin Survey to the Allen brothers. *August 30, 1836 - August ...
*
Timeline of San Antonio The following is a timeline of the history of the city of San Antonio, Texas, United States. 18th century * 1718 – San Antonio founded by Martín de Alarcón. * 1718 – Mission San Antonio de Valero founded. * 1720 – Mission San Jose f ...


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * * * Campbell, Randolph B. ''An empire for slavery: The peculiar institution in Texas, 1821–1865'' (LSU Press, 1991) * * * * * * * McComb, David G. ''The City in Texas: A History'' (University of Texas Press, 2015) 342 pp. * Mendoza, Alexander, and Charles David Grear, eds. ''Texans and War: New Interpretations of the State's Military History'' 201
excerpt
* * * Storey, John W., and Mary L. Kelley, eds. ''Twentieth Century Texas: A Social and Cultural History ''(2008); 15 specialized articles by scholars * * *


Further reading


Surveys


''Handbook of Texas Online''
(2010), thousands of articles by scholars; the most useful starting point * Campbell, Randolph B. ''Gone to Texas: a History of the Lone Star State'' (Oxford University Press, 2003, 500 pages) * De León, Arnoldo, Gregg Cantrell, Robert A. Calvert. '' The History of Texas'' (2002); short survey by scholars * Garrison, George P. ''Texas: A Contest of Civilizations'' (1903) old textbook by schola
online edition
* Hendrickson Jr., Kenneth E. ''Chief Executives of Texas: From Stephen F. Austin to John B. Connally, Jr'' (1995) * Wuthnow, Robert. ''Rough Country: How Texas Became America's Most Powerful Bible-Belt State'' (2014), by a leading sociologist.


Geography and environment

* Albert, Bruce M. "Climate, fire, and land-use history in the oak-pine-hickory forests of northeast Texas during the past 3500 years." ''Castanea'' 72.2 (2007): 82–91. *Doughty, Robin W. "Settlement and Environmental Change in Texas, 1820–1900", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1986 89(4): 423–442 * Gould, Lewis L. ''Lady Bird Johnson and the Environment'' (1988) * Guthrie, William Keith. "Flood alley: An environmental history of flooding in Texas", Ph.D. dissertation, The University of Kansas, 2006, 397 pages; AAT 3243474 * Gutmann, Myron P. and Christie G. Sample. "Land, Climate, and Settlement on the Texas Frontier", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1995 99(2): 136–172 * Horgan, Paul, ''Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History,'' (1977), * Meinig, D. W. ''Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in Cultural Geography,'' University of Texas Press, 1969, 145 pages. * Platt, Harold L. ''City Building in the New South: The Growth of Public Services in Houston, Texas, 1830–1910'' (1983) covers waste removal, sewage and clean water * Pratt, Joseph A.
Growth or a Clean Environment? Responses to Petroleum-Related Pollution in the Gulf Coast Refining Region
, ''Business History Review'' 1978 52(1): 1–29 * Rhinehart, Marilyn Dubberly. "History of the forestry movement in Texas, 1900-1950' (Dissertation, 1972
online
* Schmidly David J. ''Texas Natural History: A Century of Change'' (2002
online
* Stephens, A. Ray. ''Texas: A Historical Atlas'' (U. of Oklahoma Press, 2010) 432pp; * Steely, James Wright. ''Parks for Texas: Enduring Landscapes of the New Deal'' (1999) 274 pp. * Webb, Walter Prescott. ''More Water for Texas'' (1954) * Webb, Walter Prescott. ''The Great Plains: A Study in Institutions and Environment'' (1931
online


Ethnicity and minorities

* Alonzo, Armando C. ''Tejano Legacy: Rancheros and Settlers in South Texas, 1734–1900'' (1998) * Barr, Alwyn. ''Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528–1995'' (1996) * Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. ''Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio'' 1984
excerpt and text search
* Buitron Jr., Richard A. ''The Quest for Tejano Identity in San Antonio, Texas, 1913–2000'' (2004
excerpt and text search
* Crouch, Barry, et al. '' The Dance of Freedom: Texas African Americans during Reconstruction'' (2007) * De Leon, Arnoldo. ''Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History'' (2nd ed. 1999). * Deleón, Arnoldo. "Whither Tejano History: Origins, Development, and Status", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 2003 106(3): 348–364 * Deutsch, Sarah ''No Separate Refuge: Culture, Class, and Gender on the Anglo-Hispanic Frontier in the American Southwest, 1880–1940'' 1987 * Dysart, Jane. "Mexican Women in San Antonio, 1830–1860: The Assimilation Process" '' Western Historical Quarterly'' 7 (October 1976): 365–375. . * García, Richard A. '' Rise of the Mexican American Middle Class: San Antonio, 1929-1941'' 1991 * Glasrud, Bruce A. and
Merline Pitre Merline Pitre (born 1943) is an American historian and educator. She is a professor of history at Texas Southern University and previously served as president of the Texas State Historical Association in 2011 and 2012. Life and career Pitre was ...
. ''Black Women in Texas History'' (2008) * Hinojosa, Gilberto M.
The Enduring Hispanic Faith Communities: Spanish and Texas Church Historiography
, '' Journal of Texas Catholic History and Culture'' 1990 1(1): 20–41 * Matovina, Timothy M. '' Tejano Religion and Ethnicity, San Antonio, 1821-1860'' (1995) * Montejano, David. ''
Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986 ''Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836-1986'' is a non fiction book by David Montejano, published in 1987 by the University of Texas Press. It discusses the inter-ethnic and inter-racial relations between Mexican Americans and non-Hisp ...
'' (1987). * Márquez, Benjamin. ''LULAC: The Evolution of a Mexican American Political Organization'' (1993) * Quintanilla, Linda J., "Chicana Activists of Austin and Houston, Texas: A Historical Analysis" (University of Houston, 2005). Order No. DA3195964. * San Miguel, Guadalupe Jr. '' "Let All of Them Take Heed": Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equality in Texas, 1910–1981'' (1987). * Stewart, Kenneth L., and Arnoldo De León. ''Not Room Enough: Mexicans, Anglos, and Socioeconomic Change in Texas, 1850–1900'' (1993) * Storey, John W., and Mary L. Kelley, eds. ''Twentieth Century Texas: A Social and Cultural History'' (2008) * Taylor, Paul S. ''Mexican Labor in the United States''. 2 vols. 1930–1932, on Texas *
Taylor, Quintard __FORCETOC__ Quintard Taylor is a historian, Founder CEO, founder of BlackPast.org, an online encyclopedia dedicated to provide public with information concerning African-American history, African American history, and former professor of Univers ...
. "Texas: The South Meets the West, The View Through African American History", ''Journal of the West'' (2005) 44#2 pp 44–52. * de la Teja, Jesús F. '' San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier'' (1995). * Tijerina, Andrés. ''Tejano Empire: Life on the South Texas Ranchos'' (1998). * Tijerina, Andrés. ''Tejanos and Texas under the Mexican Flag, 1821–1836'' (1994), * Trevino, Roberto R. '' The Church in the Barrio: Mexican American Ethno-Catholicism in Houston''. (2006). 308pp. * Willett, Donald, and Stephen Curley, eds. ''Invisible Texans: Women and Minorities in Texas History'' (2005) 236pp * Winegarten, Ruthe et al. eds. ''Black Texas Women: A Sourcebook'' (1996), primary sources * Zamora, Emilio et al. eds. ''Mexican Americans in Texas History: Selected Essays'' (2000) 226pp


Historiography

* Bell, Walter F. "Civil War Texas: A Review of the Historical Literature", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 2005 109(2): 204–232. * Buenger, Walter L. and Arnoldo De León, ed. ''Beyond Texas through Time: Breaking Away from Past Interpretations'' (Texas A&M Press, 2011), essays by scholar
online
* Buenger, Walter L. and Robert A. Calvert eds. ''Texas through Time: Evolving Interpretations'' (Texas A&M Press, 1991), essays by scholars * Cantrell, Gregg and Elizabeth Hayes Turner, eds. ''Lone Star Pasts: Memory and History in Texas'' (Texas A&M Press, 2007), essays by scholars * Cox, Patrick L., and Kenneth E. Hendrickson Jr., eds. ''Writing the Story of Texas'' (University of Texas Press, 2013) 310 pp. Scholarly essays about Charles Ramsdell, Eugene Barker, Walter Prescott Webb, and Earnest Winkler, as well as Llerna Friend, J. Frank Dobie, J. Evetts Haley, Robert Maxwell, Carlos Castañeda, Robert Cotner, Joe B. Frantz, Ruthe Winegarten, and David Weber

* Crouch, Barry A. "'Unmanacling' Texas Reconstruction: A Twenty-Year Perspective", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1990 93(3): 275–302 * Cummins, Light Townsend, and Alvin R. Bailey Jr. eds ''A Guide to the History of Texas'' (1988) * Deleón, Arnoldo. "Whither Tejano History: Origins, Development, and Status", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 2003 106(3): 348–364 * Glasrud, Bruce A., and Cary D. Wintz. ''Discovering Texas History'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2014)

* Hinojosa, Gilberto M. "The Enduring Hispanic Faith Communities: Spanish and Texas Church Historiography", ''Journal of Texas Catholic History and Culture'' 1990 1(1): 20–41 * Poyo, Gerald E. and Gilberto M. Hinojosa.
Spanish Texas and Borderlands Historiography in Transition: Implications for United States History
, ''Journal of American History'' 1988 75(2): 393–416 * Sneed, Edgar P. "A Historiography of Reconstruction in Texas: Some Myths and Problems", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1969 72(4): 435–448 * Wooster, Ralph A. and Robert A. Calvert, eds. ''Texas Vistas'' (1987) reprinted scholarly essays


Business, labor and economics

* Campbell, Randolph B., and Richard G. Lowe. ''Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas'' (1977). * Glasrud, Bruce A., and James C. Maroney, eds. ''Texas Labor History'' (Texas A&M University Press, 2013) 444 pp.


Gender and social history

* Downs, Fane, and Nancy Baker Jones, eds. ''Women and Texas History: Selected Essays'' (1993). * Enstam, Elizabeth York. ''Women and the Creation of Urban Life: Dallas, Texas, 1843–1920''. (1998). 284 pp. * Jones, Nancy Baker, and Ruthe Winegarten. ''Capitol women: Texas female legislators, 1923–1999'' (U of Texas Press, 2000). * McArthur, Judith N., and Harold L. Smith. ''Texas Through Women's Eyes: The Twentieth-century Experience'' (U of Texas Press, 2010). * McComb, David G. ''The City in Texas: A History.'' (U of Texas Press, 2015). * Matovina, Timothy M. ''Tejano religion and ethnicity: San Antonio, 1821–1860'' (U of Texas Press, 2014). * Taylor, A. Elizabeth. '' Citizens at Last: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Texas'' (1987). * Turner, Elizabeth Hayes, Stephanie Cole, and Rebecca Sharpless, eds. ''Texas Women: Their Histories, Their Lives'' (U of Georgia Press, 2015). * * WHITE, MICHAEL ALLEN. "HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN TEXAS 1860-1884" (PhD dissertation, Baylor University; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1969. 7008023). * , primary sources.


Pre-1865



*

** ttps://web.archive.org/web/20140415073401/http://www.1st-hand-history.org/Hhb/16/album1.html v 16 ''History of the North Mexican States and Texas, Volume 2: 1801–1889''*
Vol. 17
* Bell, Walter F., "Civil War Texas: A Review of the Historical Literature", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'', 109 (Oct. 2005), 205–32. * Campbell, Randolph B. ''An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865'' (1989). * Campbell, Randolph B., and Richard G. Lowe. ''Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas'' (1977). * Carroll, Mark M. ''Homesteads Ungovernable: Families, Sex, Race, and the Law in Frontier Texas, 1823–1860'' (2001). * Chipman, Donald E. ''Spanish Texas, 1519–1821'' (1992) * De Leon, Arnoldo. ''The Tejano Community, 1836–1900'' (1982). * Grear, Charles David. ''Why Texans Fought in the Civil War'' (2010) 239 pages; shows how kinship ties elsewhere in the South spurred many Texans to fight for the Confederacy. * Howell, Kenneth W., ed. ''The Seventh Star of the Confederacy: Texas during the Civil War''. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2009). 348 pp.  essays by scholars * Jewett; Clayton E. ''Texas in the Confederacy: An Experiment in Nation Building'' (2002) * Jordan, Terry G. ''German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth Century Texas'' (1966). * Pace, Robert F., and Donald S. Frazier. ''Frontier Texas: History of a Borderland to 1880'' (Abilene: State House Press, 2004) 272pp. * Poyo, Gerald E., ed. ''Tejano Journey, 1770–1850'' (1996). * Silverthorne, Elizabeth. ''Plantation Life in Texas'' (1986). * Wooster, Ralph. ''Texas and Texans in the Civil War'' (1996).


Reconstruction

* Campbell, Randolph B. ''Grass-Roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865–1880'' (1997). * Crouch, Barry A. "'Unmanacling' Texas Reconstruction: A Twenty-Year Perspective", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1990 93(3): 275–302 * Crouch, Barry A. ''The Freedmen's Bureau and Black Texans.'' (1992). * Crouch; Barry A. "The 'Chords of Love': Legalizing Black Marital and Family Rights in Postwar Texas" ''The Journal of Negro History'', Vol. 79, 1994 * Gould, Lewis N. ''Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era'' (1973). * Howell, Kenneth W., ed. ''Still the Arena of Civil War: Violence and Turmoil in Reconstruction Texas, 1865–1874'' (University of North Texas Press, 2012) 445 pp. scholarly essays * McArthur, Judith N. ''Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893–1918.'' (1998). * Moneyhon, Carl H. ''Edmund J. Davis of Texas: Civil War General, Republican Leader, Reconstruction Governor'' (Texas Christian University Press, 2010) 337 pp.  * Moneyhon, Carl H. ''Texas after the Civil War: The Struggle of Reconstruction.'' Texas A. & M. U. Press, 2004. 237 pp. * Moneyhon, Carl H. "George T. Ruby and the Politics of Expediency in Texas", in Howard N. Rabinowitz, ed. ''Southern Black Leaders of the Reconstruction Era'' (1982) pp 363–92. * Pitre, Merline. ''Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: The Black Leadership of Texas, 1868–1900'' Eakin Press, 1985. * Ramsdell, Charles William. ''Reconstruction in Texas'' (1910). full text online Dunning school
Ramsdell, Charles W., "Presidential Reconstruction in Texas ", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'', (1907) v.11#4 277 – 317.
* Rice, Lawrence D. ''The Negro in Texas, 1874–1900'' (1971) * Richter, William L. ''Overreached on All Sides: The Freedmen's Bureau Administrators in Texas, 1865–1868'' 1991. * Smallwood, James M.; Crouch, Barry A.; and Peacock, Larry. ''Murder and Mayhem: The War of Reconstruction in Texas.'' Texas A. & M. U. Press, 2003. 182 pp. * Sneed, Edgar P. "A Historiography of Reconstruction in Texas: Some Myths and Problems", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1969 72(4): 435–448 * Work, David, "United States Colored Troops in Texas during Reconstruction, 1865–1867", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly,'' 109 (Jan. 2006), 337–57. *


1876–1920

* Barr, Alwyn. ''Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876–1906'' (1971) * Buenger, Walter L. ''The Path to a Modern South: Northeast Texas between Reconstruction and the Great Depression'' (2001) * Campbell, Randolph B. ''Grass-Roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865–1880'' (1997). * Gould, Lewis N. ''Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era'' (1973). * Jordan, Terry G. ''Trails to Texas: Southern Roots of Western Cattle Ranching'' (1981). * McArthur, Judith N. ''Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893–1918.'' (1998). * Martin, Roscoe C. ''The People's Party in Texas: A Study in Third Party Politics'' (1933). * Pitre, Merline. ''Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: The Black Leadership of Texas, 1868–1900'' Eakin Press, 1985. * Rice, Lawrence D. ''The Negro in Texas, 1874–1900'' (1971) * Sneed, Edgar P. "A Historiography of Reconstruction in Texas: Some Myths and Problems", ''Southwestern Historical Quarterly'' 1969 72(4): 435–448 * Spratt, John Stricklin. ''The Road to Spindletop: Economic Change in Texas, 1875–1901.'' (1955). * Utley, Robert M. ''Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers'' (2002). * Wooster, Ralph. ''Texas and Texans in the Great War'' (2010) 256pp


1920–present

* Abel, Joseph. "African Americans, Labor Unions, and the Struggle for Fair Employment in the Aircraft Manufacturing Industry of Texas, 1941–1945", ''Journal of Southern History'' 77 (Aug. 2011), 595–638. * Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. ''Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929–1939'' (1984). * Brown, Norman D. ''Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921–1928'' (1984). *
Caro, Robert A. Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote ''The Power B ...
''
The Years of Lyndon Johnson ''The Years of Lyndon Johnson'' is a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson by the American writer Robert Caro. Four volumes have been published, running to more than 3,000 pages in total, detailing Johnson's early life, education, and political career. A ...
'', 2 vols. (1990, 1991) * Cox, Patrick. ''Ralph W. Yarborough, The People's Senator.'' (2001). * Cunningham, Sean P. ''Cowboy Conservatism: Texas and the Rise of the Modern Right.'' (2010). * Dallek, Robert. ''Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908–1960''. (1991). * Davidson, Chandler.'' Race and Class in Texas Politics.'' (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'' (1979). * Hurt, Harry. "The Most Powerful Texans. The Power Game in Texas: How It Works and Who Calls the Shots." ''Texas Monthly'' (April 1976) * 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. * Miller, Char. ''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'' (2002) * Patenaude, Lionel V. ''Texans, Politics, and the New Deal'' (1983). * Perryman, M. Ray. ''Survive and Conquer, Texas in the '80s: Power—Money—Tragedy ... Hope!'' Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1990. * Reston, James. ''The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally'' (1989) * Volanto, Keith J. ''Texas, Cotton, and the New Deal'' (2005). * Volanto, Keith. "Where are the New Deal Historians of Texas?: A Literature Review of the New Deal Experience in Texas." ''East Texas Historical Journal'' 48+2 (2010): 7
online
* Whisenhunt, Donald W. ''The Depression in Texas: The Hoover Years'' Garland Publishing, 1983. * Wooster, Ralph. ''Texas and Texans in World War II'' (2005) 296pp * Wuthnow, Robert. ''Rough Country: How Texas Became America's Most Powerful Bible-Belt State'' (2014), emphasis on religion as a political force


External links


Texas Historical Commission

Texas Digital Newspaper Program

Texas State Historical Association

The Texas State History Museum
*
Texas Archive of the Moving Image The Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) is an independent 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002 by film archivist and University of Texas at Austin professor Caroline Frick, PhD. TAMI's mission is to preserve, study, and exhibit Texas film h ...

Texas Untamed: Wild at Heart
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Life magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...
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Focus on Texas History: Colonization through Annexation (online collection of primary documents from Center of American History at the University of Texas at Austin)

The Portal to Texas History

Alvin R. Bailey Jr. and Light Townsend Cummins, eds. ''A Guide to the History of Texas.'' Greenwood Press. 1988.

Texas Heritage SocietyTexas Independence WebsiteLawrence T. Jones III Texas Photographs, DeGolyer Library

Texas: Photographs, Manuscripts, and Imprints, DeGolyer LibraryGeorge W. Cook Dallas/Texas Image Collection, DeGolyer LibraryJohn Miller Morris Real Photographic Postcards and Photographs of Texas, DeGolyer Library
* {{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Texas
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...