January 21, 2016

The United States provoked a war with Mexico to settle the dispute over the Texas border. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war, set the current border of Texas at the Rio Grande. Mexico also sold its northern provinces to the United States.

Governor Sam Houston was the dominant political figure in Texas with the state’s political leaders dividing into pro- and anti-Houston factions.

The issue dividing the nation when Texas joined the Union was slavery. Texas was a slave state. In 1860, the state’s population included 183,000 slaves and 422,000 free persons.

In 1861, Texas joined with other southern states in seceding from the Union. The Texas Declaration of Secession makes it clear that Texas left the Union to protect the institution of slavery

On June 19, 1865, federal troops landing in Galveston proclaimed freedom for the estimated 250,000 Texas slaves.

The legal status of Texas changed several times. Which of the lists below is in the correct chronological order? A) Mexico, Spain, Independent, Confederacy, United States B) Spain, Mexico, Independent, Confederacy, United States C) Spain, Mexico, Independent, United States, Confederacy D) Spain, Mexico, United States, Independent, Confederacy, United States The answer is C.

Texans immediately after the Civil War proceeded to elect former Confederates as state officials and adopt laws designed to restrict the activities of former slaves. Blacks could not vote, hold office, serve on juries, or marry white persons.

The U.S. Congress responded by ordering military rule in the South. Former Confederate soldiers and officials were kept from voting and holding office. Newly freed blacks and unionists proceeded to elect a Republican governor and legislature. E. J. Davis, Republican governor of Texas during Reconstruction.

The Davis administration reformed the penal system and established the state’s first system of public education. Old-line Texans complained that state government taxed too heavily, spent too much, and went too deeply in debt.

Reconstruction ended in Texas in 1872 and Democrats regained control, electing former Confederate General Richard Coke as governor. The forces that ran Texas before the Civil War were back in power.

E. J. Davis is most closely associated with which of the following events? A) Lone Star Republic B) Civil War C) Reconstruction D) Texas Revolution The answer is C.

The Texas legislature gave land to the railroads so they could lay track and expand transportation in the state. The railroads provided a means to haul cotton and cattle to market.

The legislature passed Jim Crow laws requiring racial segregation in public accommodations and schools.

The Ku Klux Klan was active in Texas, resorting to racial violence to control the African American population.

Conservative Democrats dominated Texas politics in the late nineteenth century. The association of the Republican Party with the Union side during the Civil War and Reconstruction doomed it to irrelevance. Conservative Democrats passed laws to restrict labor unions.

The Texas Grange was formed to protect the interests of small farmers from corporations, especially the railroads.

Reformer James S. Hogg was elected governor in 1890 and During his administration, the legislature created the Railroad Commission to regulate railroads.

At about the same time, the Populist Party emerged to challenge the Democrats for control of state government. The Populists championed the interests of ordinary people against big business.

The Grange was most closely associated with which of the following? A) Big business B) Railroads C) African Americans D) Small farmers The answer is D.

In January 1901, oil was discovered at Spindletop near Beaumont. Major new oil fields were soon discovered in many parts of the state, including both East and West Texas. The state soon became the world’s leading oil producer.

State policies favored small producers, often called wildcatters, over big oil companies such as Standard Oil.

The state adopted some progressive legislation, including minimum wage and child labor laws.

However, the state adopted a poll tax (a tax on the right to vote) designed to keep low- income people from voting. Because of the poll tax, the number of African American voters fell from 100,000 to 5,000. The poll tax undercut support for the Populist Party.

Texas also adopted the white primary, an election system that limited voting in the Democratic primary to whites. Because the Democratic primary usually determined election outcomes, the policy effectively disfranchised African Americans entirely.

Spindletop is most closely associated with which of the following? A) Texas oil industry B) Texas cattle industry C) Texas cotton industry D) Texas railroads The answer is A.

Texas was a major training site for U.S. troops in both World War I and World War II. Many Texans fought in both wars as well.

Texas became the center of Ku Klux Klan activity in the 1920s. The Klan expanded its list of targets to include immigrants and Catholics as well as African Americans. Klan march in Baytown

Texas was not as hard hit by the Great Depression as the rest of the nation because it was still primarily agricultural and rural. Moreover, the oil industry remained strong during the period.

Controversy broke out in the 1930s between large and small oil producers over production volume. The big producers needed high prices to stay in business and they favored production controls. The small producers favored high volume of production.

The Railroad Commission, whose regulatory authority had been expanded to include the oil and gas industry, set out to regulate production and prices to protect the interests of both large and small producers.

* What events determined the current borders of Texas? * How did the Civil War and Reconstruction affect the development of the state? * How did the Texas oil industry change the state? * How did racial conflict affect the development of the state?