| I | INTRODUCTION |
Texas, one of the West South Central states of the
United States. It borders Mexico on the southwest and the Gulf of Mexico on the
southeast. To the west is New Mexico, to the north and northeast lie Oklahoma
and Arkansas, and Louisiana bounds Texas on the east. Austin is the capital of
Texas. Houston is the largest city.
Texas is the size of Ohio, Indiana, and all
the New England and Middle Atlantic states combined, and its vast area
encompasses forests, mountains, deserts and dry plains, and a long, humid,
subtropical coastal lowland. Texas’s wealth of mineral resources is almost
unequaled among the other states. The rapid economic development stimulated by
these resources and the state’s vast size have made Texas an American legend.
Oil wells, chemicals, ranches, and cattle have played a major part in that
legend.
For more than 100 years, Texas was part of the
Spanish Empire in America. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in
1821, Texas was for a while joined to Mexico. The section from San Antonio
southward retains the flavor of the Hispano-Mexican period in its architecture,
foods, and festivals.
The name Texas is derived from
tejas or teyas, the rendering by the Spanish in the mid-16th
century of the Caddo people’s word for friends or allies. It
gradually became used to denote the region north of the Río Grande and east of
New Mexico, and was officially applied as Texas when the area was organized as a
republic in 1836. Texas was an independent republic until it joined the Union on
December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. Its single-star flag dates from its
independent period and has given Texas the nickname the Lone Star State.
| II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Texas is the second largest state in the
nation, after Alaska, and has an area of 695,622 sq km (268,581 sq mi),
including 13,095 sq km (5,056 sq mi) of inland water and 1,046 sq km (404 sq mi)
of coastal water over which it has jurisdiction. Extending for 1,240 km (770 mi)
from east to west and for 1,290 km (800 mi) from north to south, the state
comprises 7 percent of the land area of the United States. The mean elevation is
520 m (1,700 ft).
| A | Natural Regions |
Texas can be divided into four natural
regions, or physiographic provinces: the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Central
Lowland, the Great Plains, and the Basin and Range province.
The Gulf Coastal Plain, a subdivision of
the Coastal Plain, makes up most of eastern and southern Texas and occupies more
than one-third of the state. Near the coast this region is mostly flat and
low-lying. It rises gradually to 300 m (1,000 ft) farther inland, where the land
becomes more rolling. Belts of low hills cross the Gulf Coastal Plain in many
areas. In these higher areas the stream valleys are deeper and sharper than
those along the coast.
The Central Lowland, a subdivision of the
Interior Plains, occupies much of north-central Texas. The section of the
Central Lowland in Texas is known as the Osage Plains. The land in this region
has elevations ranging from 150 m (500 ft) in the east to 800 m (2,600 ft) on
the western edge. Several belts of low hills cross the Central Lowland, running
in a north-to-south direction.
The Great Plains, also a subdivision of
the Interior Plains, extends over most of northern and central Texas. The part
of the Great Plains that occupies northern Texas, or the Panhandle, is called
the High Plains. Another name for this area is Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain.
The elevation of the High Plains ranges from 750 m (2,500 ft) to more than 1,200
m (4,000 ft). The land is flat, except for a few eroded river valleys.
The southern part of the Great Plains in
Texas can be divided into the Edwards Plateau and the Central Texas section. The
Edwards Plateau is generally level and differs from the rest of the Great Plains
in that it is underlaid with hard limestone, rather than with softer and more
porous rock. The Central Texas section, which is hillier and rockier than the
rest of the Great Plains in Texas, is often called the Hill Country. The eastern
edge of the Edwards Plateau and of the Central Texas section is marked by the
long ridge known as the Balcones Escarpment. It divides these regions from the
lower Gulf Coastal Plain.
Two small subdivisions of the Great Plains
are seen in Texas, the Pecos Valley in the southwest and the Plains Border in
the northeastern corner of the Panhandle. The Pecos Valley is mostly flat and
rocky. The Plains Border is level or gently rolling.
The Basin and Range province, a
subdivision of the Intermontane Plateaus, lies to the west of the Great Plains
in the extreme western part of Texas. Running through the central part of this
region are several rugged mountain ranges. Between the mountain ridges and to
the west of them are high dry basins or plateaus. The Basin and Range province
in Texas is divided into two sections, the Mexican Highland and the Sacramento
section. The Sacramento section has more extensive plateaus than the Mexican
Highland, and contains the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, at 2,667 m
(8,749 ft) above sea level.
| B | Rivers and Lakes |
Texas’s largest river is the Río Grande,
which flows southeastward for 2,100 km (1,300 mi) along the border between Texas
and Mexico. The Río Grande carries little water during most of the year, but
floods occur after periods of heavy rain.
The principal rivers that flow across the
central part of the state from the Great Plains or Central Lowland to the Gulf
of Mexico are the Colorado, Trinity, and Brazos rivers. The Colorado River is
particularly important because it has been dammed to form several large
artificial lakes. Two other large rivers are the Red River, which forms most of
the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma, and the Sabine River, which marks part
of the border between Texas and Louisiana. Shorter rivers that flow across the
Gulf Coastal Plain include the Nueces, the San Antonio, the Guadalupe, the
Lavaca, and the San Jacinto.
Most of the large lakes in Texas have been
formed by dams. Among the largest natural lakes in the state is Caddo Lake,
along the Louisiana border. Caddo Lake is not a single open body of water, but a
winding network of channels and inlets. Large artificial lakes include Lake
Texoma, on the Red River; Toledo Bend Reservoir, on the Sabine River; and Sam
Rayburn Reservoir, on a tributary of the Neches River.
| C | Coastline |
Texas has a coastline of 591 km (367 mi)
along the Gulf of Mexico. However, long narrow islands called barrier islands
extend along most of the coast; if the shoreline of all the islands and bays is
taken into account, the coastline is 5,406 km (3,359 mi) long. Between most of
the barrier islands and the mainland are shallow lagoons. The largest island
along the coast is dune-filled Padre Island, most of which has been made a
National Seashore.
| D | Climate |
Eastern Texas has a humid subtropical
climate, while a semiarid low latitude climate prevails in central areas, and an
arid low latitude climate in the extreme west. Along the coast the climate is
much milder, with fewer extremes in temperatures. Hurricanes sometimes hit the
coastal areas of Texas from late July through September, and tornadoes are
common in north-central Texas in April and May.
| D1 | Temperature |
Summers are hot throughout the state,
and temperatures exceeding 35°C (95°F) are relatively common. Average July
temperatures range from 28° to 30°C (82° to 86°F) over most of Texas. Winters
are generally mild, except in the extreme northern parts of the state. The
coldest winter weather is brought by north winds, called northers, that sweep
down the Great Plains. The winds get warmer as they pass over the state,
however, and by the time they reach the coast, temperatures are generally above
freezing. Average January temperatures range from 16°C (60°F) in the extreme
south to 1°C (34°F) in the northern Panhandle.
| D2 | Precipitation |
Precipitation in Texas decreases
steadily from east to west. Along the Texas-Louisiana border almost 1,400 mm (55
in) of rain falls each year. The central part of the state has 640 mm (25 in) of
precipitation, and the extreme western part of the state has less than 250 mm
(10 in). Rainfall is generally greatest during the summer. Snow is fairly
uncommon in Texas, except in the higher mountains and in the High Plains.
| D3 | Growing Season |
The growing season, or the period
between the last killing frost in spring and the first killing frost in fall,
ranges from 320 days along the coast to 180 days in the Panhandle. In most of
the state the first killing frost in fall comes in about the middle of November
and the last hard frost in spring occurs toward the end of March.
| E | Soils |
Much of eastern Texas and the Gulf Coastal
Plain has red and yellow soils that are mostly sandy and reasonably productive
with the proper use of fertilizers. Parts of the Gulf Coastal Plain and central
Texas section have soils based on weathered decayed limestone. This limestone,
with its thick cover of native grasses, has formed a rich, nearly black soil. It
is one of the best types of farming soil in Texas, although it becomes hard when
dry. When wet, it becomes gummy and difficult to plow.
Many of the soils of southern Texas are
rich, especially along the lower Río Grande, which has fertile alluvial soils.
However, the soils in this area are often not productive because of scanty
rainfall.
Most of the High Plains has rich
reddish-chestnut soils that are productive with adequate water. Farther south,
the Edwards Plateau has thin, poor soils. Most of the land in this area is used
for grazing livestock. The Basin and Range province has some fertile alluvial
soils in the river valleys of the Pecos and the Río Grande. In most other parts
of the area the soil is too salty for farming.
| F | Plant Life |
Texas’s vegetation changes gradually from
east to west as the climate becomes more arid. Forests cover just 10 percent of
the state’s land area. Eastern Texas has forests largely made up of loblolly
pines and shortleaf pines. The undergrowth of these forests usually includes
several types of ferns. West of the pinewoods is an area of mixed pine and
hardwood forests called the post oak belt. Several kinds of oaks, as well as
sweetgums, hickories, and elms, grow there. Farther west the forests are thinner
and the trees smaller. Mistletoe, a parasitic plant, often grows on the trees of
this region. Much of central Texas is grassland, with thickets of junipers known
as “cedar breaks.” Southern Texas and parts of the Great Plains are mainly
grasslands, with clumps of mesquite trees. The mesquite is highly efficient in
extracting water and minerals from the soil and therefore grows well in arid
climates. The most common grasses are the big bluestem, found in the less arid
regions, and the little bluestem.
Some parts of western Texas have desert
vegetation. The plants in this region generally have few leaves and flower only
in moist seasons. They send their roots far into the earth to gather as much
water as possible. Some, such as the cacti, have thick spongy tissues that store
water. The higher elevations of western Texas have some fir and pine trees.
The fields and roadsides of central Texas
have many colorful wildflowers, especially in late spring. Among the most
notable wildflowers are the bluebonnet, which is the state flower; the Indian
paintbrush; and the prickly pear, a type of cactus that is common in dry areas
and that bears large yellow flowers on the edges of its thorny leaves.
| G | Animal Life |
Texas’s wild animals have been greatly
reduced in number by settlement and by extensive hunting and trapping. The
white-tailed deer is by far the most important game animal. There are also many
coyotes, which live mostly in the rough country of southwestern Texas. Other
large animals still occasionally found include pronghorns, cougar, and black
bear.
Smaller animals include the rabbit,
squirrel, skunk, and raccoon. The prairie dog, a rodent that once existed in
huge colonies on the prairies, has become relatively scarce. Two unusual Texas
animals are the nine-banded armadillo, a small slow-moving creature with a scaly
shell-like skin, and the peccary, or javelina, which resembles a small pig.
Texas has a variety of reptiles. Probably
the best known is the western diamondback rattlesnake, one of the most dangerous
poisonous snakes. Other poisonous snakes in Texas include the coral snake, the
copperhead, and the cottonmouth. There are more than 85 species of nonpoisonous
snakes in the state. Many alligators live in the lakes, rivers, and bayous of
eastern and coastal Texas, and there are several kinds of turtles. Small
reptiles include a variety of lizards, notably the horned lizard.
Texas’s birdlife is the most varied of any
state. Among the best-known birds that live in Texas all year is the
mockingbird, which is the state bird. Jays, wrens, woodpeckers, sparrows, and
titmice are common in the eastern and central parts of Texas.
Among the large migratory birds that
winter in Texas, especially around the lakes and lagoons of the Gulf Coast, are
many species of ducks and geese, as well as the nearly extinct whooping crane, a
great white bird that stands about 1.5 m (about 5 ft) tall and whose numbers are
slowly recovering through rigid protection. Birds found in the interior of Texas
include the wild turkey and the roadrunner. A few golden eagles live in the
mountains of the Basin and Range province.
Fish are plentiful in the waters off the
Texas coast. Commercial marine catch includes shrimp, crab, oyster, snapper,
flounder, and drumfish. Among the most popular saltwater game fish are the
tarpon and sea-trout. Of the freshwater fish caught in Texas the most common are
catfish, bass, and sunfish.
| H | Conservation |
Texas’s most serious environmental problem
is the establishment of an adequate supply of water. More than 200 reservoirs
are maintained for water supply, recreation, flood control, and irrigation.
Underground water supplies are also widely used for irrigation.
Soil conservation and the protection of
Texas’s wildlife are also of primary concern. There are state organizations,
notably Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as well as federal agencies
involved in Texas’s conservation program. Soil conservation in the state is
carried out by 212 soil conservation districts, which cover about 99 percent of
the state’s total land area. Among the various soil conservation projects are
the reseeding of grasses and rangelands to control wind and water erosion, the
terracing of croplands in hilly areas, and the rotation of crops in areas where
the fertility of the soil has been impaired by extensive growing of a single
crop.
The Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission is the major state agency involved in controlling environmental
pollution.
In 2006 the state had 43 hazardous waste
sites on a national priority list for cleanup due to their severity or proximity
to people. Progress was being made in efforts to reduce pollution; in the period
1995–2000 the amount of toxic chemicals discharged into the environment was
reduced by 20 percent.
| III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
Few states possess as wide a variety of
resources as Texas, and few support economic activities of comparable variety.
The economy of Texas has closely reflected key technological developments that
have occurred during the state’s history. The widespread use of barbed wire in
the 1880s enabled improvements in cattle breeding and ranching. By the 1920s the
ravages of the boll weevil elsewhere in the southern United States, combined
with advances in irrigation techniques, led to greatly increased cotton
production in the state, sustaining a major industry that has endured to the
present. Commercial production of oil began in 1894. However, the first
large-scale production resulted from the discovery of petroleum at Spindletop,
near Beaumont, in the southeastern part of the state, in 1901. During the 20th
century Texas became the leading oil-producing and oil-refining state in the
United States. At the same time, the state’s economy shifted gradually from
dependence on agriculture and lumbering to large-scale manufacturing, spurred by
industries associated with petroleum, such as the production of petrochemicals
and the manufacture of equipment for the oil and gas industry. Oil, cotton, and
cattle have now been joined by hundreds of other business and industrial
activities. Some of these reflect further technological developments, such as
those of the aerospace and computer industries. A further stimulus to
diversification was the decline of oil prices in the mid-1980s, which hurt the
state’s energy-producing industries. The Texas economy benefited from the many
federal military installations located in the state and from other U.S.
facilities such as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, near Houston. A number of
major corporations have headquarters in Texas, especially in Houston and the
Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Texas had a work force of 11,487,000 in
2006. The service industries, which include such activities as dry cleaning and
computer programming, contributes the largest share of the state’s gross product
and employs the most workers (38 percent). Another 20 percent work in wholesale
or retail trade; 17 percent in federal, state, or local government, including
those in the military; 9 percent in manufacturing; 19 percent in finance,
insurance, or real estate; 6 percent in construction; 20 percent in
transportation or public utilities; 3 percent in farming (including agricultural
services), forestry, or fishing; and 2 percent in mining.
In 2005, only 5 percent of the workers in
Texas were unionized. The state has a right-to-work law, which prohibits union
membership as a condition of employment.
| A | Agriculture |
In 2005 there were 230,000 ranches and
farms in Texas. Some 32 percent had annual sales of more than $10,000. Many of
the others were sidelines for operators who held other jobs. Farmland occupied
52.5 million hectares (129.8 million acres). Most of the land on farms was
rangeland, and only 30 percent was cropland.
Texas ranked second among the states in
income from sales of all farm products, fifth in income from crop sales, and
first in income from sales of livestock and animal products in 1997. The crops
grown range from those typical of temperate climates, such as the wheat and
sorghum grain grown in the High Plains, to those that thrive along the
subtropical Gulf Coast, such as rice and citrus fruits. Texas leads the nation
in the production of cattle and of sheep and lambs. It is also an important
producer of cotton, sorghum grain, wheat, dairy products, rice, corn,
vegetables, poultry and eggs, greenhouse and nursery products, hogs, peanuts,
hay, and oranges. Cattle, cotton lint, poultry and eggs, and dairy products are
the leading sources of farm income. Proceeds from livestock sales accounted for
67 percent of total farm income in 2004.
The ranches of Texas raise Hereford,
Shorthorn, Angus, and Brahman cattle. The Santa Gertrudis, the only recognized
breed to be started in the United States, was developed on the King Ranch in
south Texas. Cattle production has shifted from the drier areas of western Texas
to the more humid eastern sections. Cattle ranching is heavily concentrated
along the Gulf Coast and in the southern Río Grande plain south of the Edwards
Plateau. The drier areas in western Texas, notably the Edwards Plateau, have
remained important for the production of sheep and goats. Texas is especially
famous for its Angora goats, which yield most of the mohair produced in the
United States.
| A1 | Patterns of Farming |
One of the most important developments
in Texas’s agriculture has been the westward movement of cotton production. This
shift has been stimulated by the increased use of irrigation, employed on 14
percent of the state’s cropland. Cotton, long the chief crop in the Black
Prairies of eastern Texas, has become a major crop in the irrigated areas of the
High Plains. Grain sorghum is the other major crop on these irrigated lands.
Irrigation agriculture is also important in portions of the lower Río Grande
Valley, where vegetables, citrus fruits, sugarcane, and cotton are grown.
Farther north, in the area known as the Winter Garden, centered on Crystal City,
vegetables and melons are the leading crops. They are also grown under
irrigation. Around El Paso and Pecos, lands are irrigated mainly for cotton
production. Rice culture, also under irrigation, dominates the Texas Gulf Coast
from the Louisiana-Texas border to Lavaca Bay.
Most of the corn and wheat grown in
Texas is dryfarmed, or grown without irrigation. Corn is grown in central and
eastern Texas, and wheat, also irrigated in places, comes mainly from the plains
of the Panhandle.
| B | Fisheries |
With its long Gulf coastline, which
includes numerous bays and estuaries, commercial fishing in Texas is almost
exclusively a saltwater business. Shellfish are the most valuable catch, with
shrimp accounting for nearly nine-tenths of the income from fishing in 1997.
Smaller quantities of crabs and oysters are taken. The most important commercial
finfish include snapper, black drum, and tuna. Leading centers of commercial
fishing are Brownsville-Port Isabel, Aransas Pass-Rockport, and Freeport.
Menhaden, an inedible fish used for animal feeds, industrial oils, and
fertilizer, is also caught.
| C | Forestry |
Peak production in lumber was reached in
the early years of the 20th century, and thereafter it declined as a result of
the severe depletion of forest resources. The cut has increased, however, since
the 1930s because of the emphasis placed on the scientific cutting of trees and
on reforestation practices. The yellow pine is the most valuable tree crop.
Harvested from the forests of eastern Texas, in the area of Lufkin and Camden,
the timber is used chiefly in the manufacture of pulp and paper. Some hardwood
is also cut and utilized for furniture and construction lumber.
| D | Mining |
Texas has for many years led all other
states in the value of mineral production. Petroleum, natural gas, and natural
gas liquids accounted for 93 percent of the mineral value in 1997. However, the
reserves of oil and gas that were recoverable under existing economic and
technological conditions were increasingly being depleted in the late
1990s.
The most valuable non-fuel minerals
extracted in 1997 were portland cement, crushed stone, sand and gravel used for
construction, salt, lime, and magnesium metal. Texas is the country’s leading
supplier of magnesium. Texas is the second largest producer among the states of
portland cement, crushed stone, salt, sulfur, gypsum, crude helium, ball clay,
and talc.
Because a vast amount of equipment and
relatively few workers are required in petroleum operations, only 2 percent of
Texas wage earners are employed in mining activities. Mineral resources are
widely distributed throughout the state, with some form of mineral wealth found
in almost all of the 254 counties of Texas. Petroleum, the leading mineral, is
produced in approximately 200 counties. However, there are three major
petroleum-producing areas in the state: the East Texas Oil Field, centering on
the city of Kilgore; the Texas Gulf Coast region; and the Permian Basin in
western Texas. Of the seven leading petroleum-producing counties, all but one
are in the west. In the interests of conservation, Texas closely regulates its
petroleum production. Natural gas production in Texas is also widespread, but it
is more highly concentrated than petroleum production. The leading gas producing
counties are in the Gulf Coast and Permian Basin areas.
| E | Manufacturing |
Manufacturing has expanded rapidly in
Texas. In 1996 income generated by manufacturing in the state was $117 billion
dollars; about 1,055,000 people earned wages in manufacturing companies. In
terms of the numbers of workers employed, the leading industries in Texas are
the manufacturers of industrial machinery, electrical equipment, fabricated
metals, processed foods, and chemicals. In terms of total industrial income
generated in the state, however, the chemical industry leads. It is followed by
petroleum refineries, makers of machinery, food processors, electronic goods
manufacturers, and firms making fabricated metals and transportation
equipment.
A well-defined belt of manufacturing
activity extends along the Gulf Coast, encompassing the Beaumont-Port
Arthur-Orange area, Houston, the Galveston-Texas City area, Freeport, Port
Lavaca, and Corpus Christi. The development of these areas has been spurred by
the presence of raw materials, the availability of natural gas for the
generation of electric power, and the fact that the coastal cities have access
to the sea and can reach world markets. Chemical products, especially
petrochemicals, or those made from petroleum, are major products of the Gulf
Coast. One of the major end products is synthetic rubber, of which Texas
accounts for much of the nation’s production. Although oil refining is found in
almost every part of the state, one of the world’s densest concentrations of
refineries is in the Houston-Beaumont area. Houston is also a noted manufacturer
of oil-field equipment and other products for the oil industry, such as storage
containers. Tugs and barges used in offshore drilling operations are produced in
Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Galveston.
The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) operates the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The center has attracted many aerospace industries that require highly trained
specialists, and research plays an important part in its operations.
A second belt of manufacturing cities
extends from south to north, all the way to the Oklahoma border, and includes
such cities as Sherman, Denison, Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin, and
San Antonio. Dallas has factories that manufacture oil-field equipment,
automobiles, and cotton-gin equipment, and the city is a leading center for the
electronics and aerospace industries. Other industries in Dallas include cement
manufacturing, chemical production, and food processing. Fort Worth is one of
the major producing centers for airplanes and helicopters in the United States,
and it also has a share in Texas’s aerospace industry. The primary center in
Texas for meat packing is Fort Worth. Another leading city in this north-south
industrial belt is San Antonio. The diversified manufactures of this city
include petroleum products, food products, and portland cement. However, San
Antonio is most noted as the home of a number of large Army and Air Force bases
that employ thousands of civilian and military personnel.
Away from the major manufacturing belts
are several other important industrial centers. These include Odessa and
Midland, in the western Texas petroleum district, which specialize in oil
refining, oil-field equipment, and the manufacture of chemicals. Lubbock is the
center for cotton trade and marketing for the High Plains area and is among the
world’s largest centers for cottonseed-oil production. Amarillo, in the
Panhandle, is a leading food-processing center and the commercial center of the
region.
Because of its ample electric power
supply, Texas has become an important processor of ores brought in from other
states and from foreign countries. One of the world’s largest copper refineries
is in El Paso, and the only tin smelter in the United States is located in Texas
City. Copper is also refined at Amarillo, where there is a plentiful local
supply of natural gas. Corpus Christi has zinc-smelting operations and plants
that process bauxite into finished aluminum.
| F | Electricity |
Texas’s large supply of natural gas,
together with its ample lignite reserves, has enabled the state to meet rapidly
increasing demands from its growing population and industries for electric
power. Texas ranks first among the states in electricity production. In 2005, 89
percent of the electricity generated in the state came from conventional steam
power plants fueled by natural gas or by coal. The state’s 4 nuclear power
plants produce 10 percent of the electricity generated. Two nuclear plants are
at Glen Rose, near Fort Worth, and two at Bay City, in southeastern Texas. Only
0.3 percent of Texas’s electrical generation comes from hydroelectric
facilities. Large hydropower plants are at Buchanan Dam on the Colorado River
and at Possum Kingdom Dam and Whitney Dam on the Brazos River.
| G | Transportation |
Texas has a good highway system that
reaches all parts of the state but is especially dense in the more populous
eastern sections. In 2005 the state had 489,516 km (304,171 mi) of highway, more
than any other state. The total included 5,203 km (3,233 mi) of the federal
interstate highway system, which connects the largest cities with adjacent
states and Mexico.
Texas also has more railroad track than
any other state, some 16,489 km (10,246 mi) in 2004. Of the goods shipped by
rail and originating in the state, 35 percent are chemicals and 21 percent are
nonmetallic minerals.
Air transportation has been especially
important to Texans because of the great distances they must often travel from
one city to another. There are 31 airports in Texas, including private airports.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was the nation’s third busiest airport
in 1996, handling 26.6 million passengers. Two airports in Houston also rank
among the nation’s busiest.
| H | Pipelines |
One of the most interesting aspects of
freight transportation in Texas is the intensive use made of pipelines to
transport oil and natural gas. From the time that natural gas began to be
utilized as a fuel, instead of being wasted during petroleum-extracting
operations, pipelines were constructed to transport the natural gas. It is
estimated that gas from Texas reaches three-quarters of the United States by
pipeline. Pipelines also move crude oil from fields in Texas to refineries along
the Gulf Coast and to various points outside Texas. Refined petroleum products
also move by pipeline into the interior of the United States. One of the most
ambitious pipeline projects undertaken to date, about 2,480 km (about 1,540 mi)
long, was built in the early 1960s. It brings refinery products from Houston to
points in the eastern United States, including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and
New York City, which is the pipeline’s terminus.
| I | Trade |
Water transportation plays an important
part in Texas commerce. The state has 13 deepwater ports along the Gulf Coast,
which have access to the Atlantic Ocean. They are also served by the Gulf
Intracoastal Waterway, a section of the Intracoastal Waterway system. This
sheltered water route stretches the length of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts,
enabling barges to shuttle among Gulf Coast ports and easily reach ports on the
Mississippi River and on the East Coast.
Houston is Texas’s busiest port and
ranks among the top three ports of the United States. Corpus Christi, Texas
City, Port Arthur, and Beaumont are next in importance after Houston. The other
deepwater ports are Freeport; Galveston; Harbor Island; Port Lavaca; Brownsville
and Port Isabel, in the extreme south of the state; and Orange and Sabine Pass,
near the Louisiana border. Ships reach the ports of Houston and Beaumont by
means of ship canals, because these ports lie inland from the Gulf of Mexico.
Victoria, on the Guadalupe River, is an important port for inland waterborne
commerce.
The greater part of the tonnage handled
by Texas ports is destined for other parts of the United States. Petroleum and
petroleum products make up a large part of these shipments. Texas ports also
handle a large volume of ores, such as aluminum, imported from foreign
countries. They export large quantities of wheat, sorghum, sulfur, and
cotton.
| IV | THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS |
The total population of Texas has increased
greatly over the years. In 1900 there were only 3,048,710 persons in the entire
state. In 2000 the population was 20,851,820, an increase of 22.8 percent over
ten years earlier. The state ranks second among the states in population, after
California. The average population density is 35 persons per sq km (90 per sq
mi).
The first Texans were Native Americans, but
there remains only one small reservation in the state, in Polk County, where
members of the Alabama and Coushatta peoples still live. The French and Spanish
were the first Europeans to reach Texas, but few of them settled in this land;
most were explorers, missionaries, soldiers, or traders. Indeed, most of the
people who live in Texas are descendants of people who came from other parts of
the United States or from Mexico. The largest number of Mexicans and Mexican
Americans live in southern Texas, especially along the Río Grande and in such
cities as San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Many of them still speak Spanish in
their homes and read the Spanish-language newspapers published in several
southern Texas cities. Many families emigrated from Germany and other parts of
central Europe to central Texas in the middle of the 19th century. The names of
some of the towns in central Texas, such as New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, and
Schulenburg, reflect their German origin.
In 2000 whites constituted 71 percent of
the population, blacks 11.5 percent, Asians 2.7 percent, Native Americans 0.6
percent, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.1 percent, and those of
mixed heritage or not reporting race 14.2 percent. Hispanics, who may be of any
race, were 32 percent of the people.
| A | Population Patterns |
The first towns in Texas grew up along
rivers and near springs, where there was plentiful water. There was little early
settlement on the dry plains of western Texas. Later, with the coming of the
railroads, new towns sprang up along the railroad routes. Still later a new
generation of towns was built or expanded in the parts of Texas where large oil
fields were discovered.
In 1910 more than three-quarters of the
population lived on farms or in rural communities of less than 2,500 people. By
1970 only one-fifth of the people lived on farms or in small towns, a proportion
that has remained fairly stable. In 2000 urban areas were home to 83 percent of
the state’s population. This shift to larger cities was due to two factors.
Farming was mechanized and industries in the cities grew very rapidly, thus
providing employment for rural dwellers leaving the farms.
| B | Principal Cities |
The Gulf Coast section of the Coastal
Plain is dominated by a belt of seaport cities, almost all of which are large
oil and natural-gas centers.
Houston, with a population of 2,144,491
in 2006, is the dominant city on the coast. It is a shipping point for goods
produced throughout the Southwest and has the central administrative offices of
many oil, gas, and pipeline companies. Beaumont, with 109,856 people, and Port
Arthur, with 55,745, are twin seaport cities in southeastern Texas. Galveston,
with 57,523 people, and Texas City, with 44,274, are seaports on Galveston Bay
south of Houston. Galveston is located on an island, and its long beaches on the
Gulf side of the island make it a popular summer resort. Texas City leans more
toward manufacturing. Corpus Christi, with 285,267 people, is the major city in
the southern part of the Gulf Coast section.
The Black Prairies, stretching down the
northwestern edge of the Coastal Plain, originally constituted Texas’s richest
cotton-farming country. The farm population has declined there, but the cities
have grown. Dallas, with 1,232,940 people in 2006, for example, is at the center
of one of the fastest growing regions of the country. Just west of Dallas,
between Dallas and Fort Worth, is Arlington, with a population of 367,197.
Arlington is an industrial and tourist center.
San Antonio, with 1,296,682 people in
2006, was first settled by Spaniards. It became the capital of their Texas
territory during the late 18th and 19th centuries. Later its growth was spurred
by the development of the surrounding rich Black Prairies farming area. Austin
has a population of 709,893 and is the capital city of Texas. Waco, with 121,496
people, is a transportation and distribution center.
Fort Worth, with 653,320 people in 2006,
is the major metropolitan center of the Central Lowland. Although Fort Worth and
Dallas are only 50 km (30 mi) apart, Dallas tends to face east in its business
interests and Fort Worth is more concerned with the farmlands, ranchlands, and
oil fields to the west. Wichita Falls, with 99,354 people, is another large city
in the Central Lowland. Its rapid growth has been spurred by the discovery of
large petroleum deposits nearby.
The Basin and Range province is largely
unpopulated. Great expanses of land are too mountainous and dry to support human
habitation. Some scenic parts of this country are held in state and national
parks, yet there are also important ranchlands there. El Paso, with 609,415
people in 2006, is the major city in the Basin and Range province.
The eastern Texas section of the Coastal
Plain, or that portion of the Coastal Plain lying inland from the Gulf Coast and
east of the Black Prairies, was one of the first parts of the state to be
settled by farmers from states to the east. It was a cotton-growing region, and
after the abolition of slavery many of the cotton lands were farmed by black and
white tenant farmers, operating largely as sharecroppers. In 1930, in some of
the counties of eastern Texas, as many as 60 percent of the farmers were
tenants. It is in this part of Texas that the farm population has declined the
most. Farm tenancy has also dropped sharply. Some counties have lost as much as
half their population since the 1930s.
The southern Texas section of the Coastal
Plain is much more thinly populated than the Gulf Coast section. There are no
seaports, except at the mouth of the Río Grande, and not many large towns.
Generally this land is ranching country. There are only two sizable
concentrations of population, the city of Laredo and a cluster of cities near
the mouth of the Río Grande. Laredo, with a 2006 population of 215,484, is
located on the Mexican border. Through the city is funneled a great deal of
traffic and trade between Mexico and the United States. Brownsville, with
172,437 people, is the largest of a belt of cities that dominates the Río Grande
Valley from the Gulf Coast to a point 100 km (60 mi) inland.
The High Plains section of the Great
Plains extends over most of the Texas Panhandle. The population has increased
considerably as ranching has given way to crop farming. More important, several
towns and cities have grown very rapidly as agricultural or petroleum and
natural gas centers. Amarillo, with 185,525 people in 2006, has been replaced by
Lubbock, with 212,169 people, as the largest city of the High Plains. Lubbock
has grown rapidly with the development of irrigated cotton farming in the
surrounding area.
The Edwards Plateau, the rough southern
part of the Texas Great Plains, is thinly populated. Some people in the rugged
Hill Country support themselves through tourism. San Angelo, with 88,300 people,
is the only city of substantial size on the plateau.
| C | Religion |
About one-third of those participating in
religion in Texas are Baptists, while about one-quarter are Roman Catholics. The
Methodists, Pentecostals, and Lutherans also have membership of significant
size.
| V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS |
Although the president of the Republic of
Texas, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, urged the Texas congress to establish public
schools in 1838, public education was little developed until the annexation of
Texas to the United States. Private schools, known as Cornfield schools,
provided teachers who rotated among the plantations and communities during the
1840s and 1850s.
| A | Education |
The public educational system was launched
by a law passed in 1854. Then, under the constitution of 1876, a state board of
education was created and part of the revenue raised from taxation and from the
sale of public lands was set aside to support public education. The discovery of
oil on the lands that were earmarked for the support of schools and colleges
subsequently increased the value of the Permanent School Fund and the University
Endowment Fund.
A commissioner of education, appointed by
the governor, and 15 elected members of the state board of education oversee the
public education system of Texas. Some school districts are directly responsible
to this agency, and others are supervised by locally elected county
superintendents. Progress has been made to improve educational facilities for
the rural population, as well as for the rapidly growing urban population.
Significant developments have been the enforcement of compulsory attendance laws
for children from the age of 6 to 18, the closing of all one-room schools, and a
drastic reduction in the number of school districts. Private schools enroll 6
percent of the state’s children.
In the 2002–2003 school year Texas spent
$8,598 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,299.
There were 15 students for every teacher (the national norm was 15.9 students
per teacher). Of those older than 25 years of age in 2006, 78.6 percent had a
high school diploma, while the average for the nation as a whole was 84.1
percent.
| A1 | Higher Education |
Texas has a comprehensive system of
colleges and universities. In 2004–2005 the state had 109 public and 99 private
institutions of higher education. The oldest institution of higher education in
Texas is Southwestern University, in Georgetown, founded in 1840. Other notable
schools include Baylor University, in Waco; Rice University, University of
Houston, and Texas Southern University, all in Houston; Texas Christian
University, in Fort Worth; and Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. The
Texas A&M University System includes Texas A&M University, in College
Station, and nine other campuses. The University of Texas has principal campuses
in Arlington, Austin, Brownsville, Dallas (in Richardson), Edinburg (University
of Texas-Pan American), El Paso, Odessa (University of Texas of the Permian
Basin), San Antonio, and Tyler. Lamar University, in Beaumont; University of
North Texas and Texas Woman’s University, in Denton; Sam Houston State
University, in Huntsville; Southwest Texas State University, in San Marcos;
Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches; and Texas Tech University,
in Lubbock, are also highly regarded public universities.
| B | Libraries |
There are 557 tax-supported public library
systems in the state, circulating each year an average of 4.5 books for each
resident. The largest public libraries are in Dallas, Houston, and San
Antonio.
The libraries of the University of Texas
at Austin, the sixth largest research library in North America, consist of four
separate collections that include more than seven million volumes.
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and
Museum is also located on the Austin campus. The Armstrong Browning Library at
Baylor University has original manuscripts by 19th-century English poet Robert
Browning.
| C | Museums |
The Houston Museum of Natural Science, the
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Dallas Museum of Natural History, the Dallas
Museum of Art, and Science Place in Dallas are only some of the many museums in
these cities. Valuable art collections have been acquired by the Amon Carter
Museum in Fort Worth, the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, the
Elisabet Ney Museum in Austin, and the El Paso Museum of Art. Of historical
interest are the Texas Memorial Museum of the University of Texas at Austin, the
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum at Canyon, and the Witte Museum in San
Antonio.
| D | Communications |
Texas journalism had its start in 1813,
when two newspapers, Gaceta de Tejas and El Mejicano, were
published in Nacogdoches. An early English-language newspaper of significance
was the Telegraph and Texas Register, first published at San Felipe in
1835. The state had 77 daily newspapers in 2002. Those with the largest
circulations were the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas
Morning News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the San
Antonio Express-News, and the Austin
American-Statesman.
In 2002 Texas had 213 AM and 294 FM radio
stations and 101 television stations. The first radio station in the state, WRR
in Dallas, began operation in 1920. The first commercial television station was
WBAP-TV in Fort Worth, which went on the air in 1948.
| E | Music and Theater |
Interest in music and drama is a vital
part of Texas’s cultural tradition, and the state has contributed significantly
to national achievements in these fields. Most sizable cities and most colleges
and universities have local concert series and theaters. The most prominent
locally supported orchestras are the Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio symphony
orchestras. The Dallas Opera and Houston Grand Opera provide opera seasons. The
Kalita Humphreys Theater, designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright,
houses the Dallas Theatre Center. Other active groups are the Casa Mañana at
Fort Worth, the Alley Theater in Houston, and the Little Theater in San
Antonio.
| VI | RECREATION AND PLACES OF INTEREST |
Many recreational and scenic attractions
are found in Texas. There are tall pine forests in the eastern part of the
state, rugged mountains and colorful deserts in the southwest, and interesting
historic landmarks in such cities as San Antonio.
In about 350 places the Texas landscape has
been altered with artificially created lakes. The lakes have greatly expanded
the facilities for fishing and all kinds of other water sports. Hunting is a
popular seasonal sport in all parts of Texas, particularly in the central and
southern sections, where deer and other wildlife abound. Boating, bathing, and
deep-sea fishing draw large numbers of visitors to the winter resorts along the
lower Gulf Coast. Other winter vacation centers have been developed in the Lower
Río Grande Valley between Brownsville and Mission. These cities are gateways to
Mexico, as are Laredo, Del Rio, and El Paso.
| A | National Parks and Forests |
Noted for its rugged scenery and
beautiful wild flowers, Big Bend National Park along the Río Grande, is a major
tourist attraction. A relatively recent addition to the national park system is
Padre Island, a barrier island 180 km (110 mi) long and linked by causeway with
Corpus Christi. About 130 km (80 mi) of beach has been included in Padre Island
National Seashore. Another park is the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in the
southwest. National recreation areas provide access to Amisdad Reservoir on the
Río Grande and Lake Meredith on the Canadian River.
The National Park Service administers
several important historic sites in Texas. The San Antonio Missions National
Historical Park preserves four Spanish missions built during the 18th century.
An important post in the 19th-century defensive system of West Texas is
contained in the Fort Davis National Historic Site. The Lyndon B. Johnson
National Historical Park in Johnson City and Stonewall includes the birthplace,
boyhood home, and ranch of Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th U.S. President.
Four national forests, Sabine, Davy
Crockett, Sam Houston, and Angelina, all in eastern Texas, offer recreational
facilities. Agencies of the federal government also administer a national
preserve, five national grasslands, and 14 national wildlife refuges.
Aransas-Matagorda Island National Wildlife Refuge, north of Rockport, is the
winter home of the only flock of Canadian-nesting whooping cranes in the
world.
| B | State Parks |
State-protected lands include more than
110 state parks and five state forests. Palo Duro State Park, one of the largest
state parks, covers 6,100 hectares (15,000 acres) in the High Plains. Water
sports may be enjoyed at Caddo Lake, Atlanta, Possum Kingdom, Lake Whitney, and
many other state parks, and bay fishing is available at Goose Island State
Park.
A number of state parks preserve the
missions, forts, and historic buildings of Texas. In San Antonio is the famous
mission-fortress known as The Alamo. Several historic sites associated with the
Republic of Texas are included in Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park. East of
Houston the San Jacinto Monument commemorates the defeat of the Mexican general
Antonio López de Santa Anna in 1836, during the Texas Revolution. Other state
historic parks include such sites as the Port Isabel Lighthouse; the Fannin
Battleground, near Goliad; and the birthplace of President Dwight D. Eisenhower,
in Denison.
| C | Other Places to Visit |
The large meteor crater near Odessa is
one of the few known meteor sites in the United States. Once a prosperous
mercury-mining town, Terlingua is one of Texas’s ghost towns. The W. J. McDonald
Observatory on Mount Locke is operated by the University of Texas.
| D | Annual Events |
The earliest version of the rodeo is
supposed to have taken place in Pecos in 1884. Most Texas events combine rodeos
and barbecues with elements of the Spanish fiesta. These colorful events include
Laredo’s Washington Birthday Celebration, a ten-day fiesta celebrated jointly
with residents across the border in Mexico; and Brownsville’s costume festival,
known as Charro Days, held during the week before Lent. Fiesta San Antonio spans
ten days in late April. This major event includes art exhibitions, coronation of
King Antonio, pilgrimage to The Alamo, concerts, band festivals, and three
parades.
Many Texas festivals are associated with
livestock auctions and state fairs. More than 600,000 cattle move through
Texas’s largest livestock auction, in Amarillo. The State Fair of Texas, held in
Dallas during the fall, draws more than three million people annually.
Traditional fair exhibits include prize livestock and horse show performances,
and a huge midway. Livestock events draw more crowds to the East Texas Fair in
late September, in Tyler.
Some annual events have a sports and
recreation emphasis. A series of fishing competitions, including tarpon,
billfish, and surf fishing tournaments, occupy Port Aransas from June to
September. The July Hot Air Balloonfest in Mesquite attracts thousands of pilots
and onlookers from all over the United States for the aircraft flyovers,
parachute jumps, arts, crafts, and musical entertainment. The activities of
Dallas’s Cotton Bowl Week commence late in December and are climaxed by the New
Year’s Day football game.
Other festivals in the state highlight
the arts. The Houston International Festival each April celebrates the
performing and visual arts with a ten-day outdoor festival of multicultural
music, dance, arts and crafts, and food. Texas’s dramatic scenery serves as the
backdrop for outdoor drama in several cities. Galveston brings musicals to life
at Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals; the spectacular Franklin Mountains are the
backdrop for open-air McKelligon Canyon Amphitheater near El Paso.
| E | Sports and Recreation |
Major league professional sports teams in
Texas include the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers baseball teams; the Dallas
Cowboys football team; the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio
Spurs basketball teams; and the Dallas Stars hockey team. The Babe Didrikson
Zaharias Memorial Museum, near Beaumont, honors Zaharias, a leading athlete of
the first half of the 20th century. The Texas Sports Hall of Fame is in
Waco.
| VII | GOVERNMENT |
Texas is governed under a constitution
adopted in 1876, as amended. Four earlier constitutions had been adopted, in
1845, 1861, 1866, and 1869. An amendment to the constitution may be proposed by
the legislature. To become effective, the amendment must be approved by a
majority of people voting on the issue in an election.
| A | Executive |
The chief executive of Texas is a
governor, who is elected to a term lasting four years and may be reelected any
number of times. The lieutenant governor, who succeeds the governor should the
latter resign, die, or be removed from office, is also elected, as are the
attorney general, treasurer, comptroller of public accounts, commissioner of
agriculture, and commissioner of general land office. The influential Texas
Railroad Commission, made up of three people popularly elected to six-year
terms, regulates the state’s production of petroleum, natural gas, and coal, as
well as its railroads and trucking industry.
| B | Legislative |
The Texas legislature is composed of a
Senate and a House of Representatives. The 31 senators are popularly elected to
four-year terms, and the 150 representatives are elected to two-year terms. The
legislature convenes in January.
| C | Judicial |
The highest tribunals in Texas are the
Supreme Court and the Court of Criminal Appeals, each with nine justices
popularly elected to six-year terms. The state’s intermediate court of civil
appeals is composed of judges popularly elected to six-year terms, and the major
trial courts, called district courts, are made up of judges elected to four-year
terms. Among the other tribunals in Texas are corporation courts and municipal
courts.
| D | Local Government |
Texas is divided into 254 counties, more
than any other state, and some 1,171 cities and towns. Each county is governed
by an elected commissioners court consisting of a county judge or administrator
and four commissioners. Other elected county officers include the county
attorney, treasurer, sheriff, and assessor-collector of taxes. Many of the
cities used the council-manager or commissioner-manager form of government.
| E | National Representation |
Texas elects two senators and 32
representatives to the Congress of the United States. The state casts 34
electoral votes for president.
| VIII | HISTORY |
| A | Early Inhabitants |
Analysis of bones found near the
present-day western Texas town of Midland suggests that humans lived in the area
as early as 15,000 years ago. Between 1000 bc and the arrival of Europeans several
Native American cultures existed in different parts of what is now Texas. A
well-developed society existed in the wooded areas of eastern Texas. Abundant
rainfall allowed the inhabitants, whom archaeologists call Mound Builders, to
raise corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. They built houses of poles, thatch, and
mud plaster. They made beautiful pottery and used stone implements. Several
mounds, each about 3.8 m (12 ft) high and 46 m (150 ft) long, are thought to
have been made by these prehistoric people.
Along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico
early inhabitants lived principally on seafood and practiced ceremonial
cannibalism. They made pottery that was waterproofed with asphalt. In central
Texas large middens, or refuse piles built up over many years, have
revealed advances in technology during the Stone Age. More advanced stone
implements were found in the top layers of the refuse, and cruder ones were
found at the bottom. Dwellings made of stone slabs were discovered along the
Canadian River in the Texas Panhandle. The people who lived there hunted and
planted corn and beans. An early people, whom archaeologists call Basket Makers,
settled in the Texas Panhandle and along the Pecos River. They lived in caves or
built shelters of poles and adobe mud. They made baskets, bags, and sandals from
the yucca and other plants and raised corn and squash and killed game with a
dart-thrower.
When the first European explorers
arrived, they found that the settled, agricultural Native Americans living in
Texas were usually peaceful. The peoples of eastern Texas belonged to the
Caddoan linguistic group and were loosely organized into two confederacies, the
Caddo of the Texarkana area and the Hasinai on the upper Angelina and Neches
rivers. When Spanish explorers first met the Hasinai, the Spaniards were greeted
with the word techas, or allies. The Spanish pronounced the word as Tejas
(Texas), and adopted it for both the area and the people. These people lived in
small villages with 7 to 15 dome-shaped huts. They were accomplished farmers and
raised many different crops. Deer, bears, and fish were plentiful, and these
peoples sometimes made long trips to hunt buffalo.
The Karankawa lived along the coast of
the Gulf of Mexico. They used dugout canoes to catch seafood from the lagoons
along the shore, smearing their bodies with fish oil to repel mosquitoes.
The Wichita and Tonkawa of central
Texas hunted and planted beans and corn, but they depended less on farming than
did their eastern neighbors. The Coahuiltecan, who lived south of present-day
San Antonio, ate beans, cacti, and small animals. The Lipan peoples, who were
related to the Apache of the southwest United States, inhabited the western part
of Texas. Late in the 18th century, bands of Comanche entered the Texas area and
pushed the Apache southward. The Apache and the Comanche depended on the buffalo
for food and used its hide for shelter and clothing. The Comanche, in
particular, became expert horsemen.
| B | Spanish Exploration |
The Spanish were the first Europeans to
explore present-day Texas. In 1519 a group led by Alonzo Álvarez de Piñeda
mapped the coast of the Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Vera Cruz, spending 40
days at the mouth of the river they named Rio de las Palmas (probably the
present-day Río Grande). In 1528 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and other members of
an expedition led by Pániflo de Narváez were shipwrecked on the Texas coast.
Cabeza de Vaca and three others made their way across Texas, wandered through
what would become the southwestern United States, and in 1536 reached a Spanish
settlement in Mexico. The native inhabitants told Cabeza de Vaca tales about
cities full of gold and jewels, which interested the Spaniards. In 1540 an
expedition led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado marched northward from Mexico in
search of these cities, called the Seven Cities of Cíbola (actually a village of
the Wichita in present-day Kansas) and the city of Quivira (actually a pueblo of
the Zuni people in present-day New Mexico). The group spent much time wandering
over the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain, of western Texas and eastern New
Mexico in 1541, but found no evidence of cities full of treasure.
At about the same time, the Spanish
adventurer Hernando de Soto was exploring the Mississippi River. After de Soto
died of fever, his men tried to reach Mexico by an overland route. They traveled
through eastern Texas, but when they reached the plains area, they turned back
to the Mississippi. The Spanish lost interest in the territory after the
disappointing reports of the two expeditions, although in 1598, Juan de Oñate
explored the area above the Río Grande.
| C | Mission Settlements |
In 1682 the Spanish established the
first mission in Texas at Ysleta, a village near present-day El Paso, to bring
Christianity to the native peoples. In 1685 the French explorer René-Robert
Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, built Fort Saint Louis near Matagorda Bay and
claimed for France all the lands drained by the Mississippi River and its
tributaries. Soon afterwards La Salle was killed on another expedition, and the
men at the fort died from disease or were killed by the native inhabitants. The
French claim alarmed the Spanish, however, and they sent several expeditions to
find and destroy the French fort. In 1690 churchmen from these expeditions
established the first of several missions among the Tejas people of eastern
Texas.
The missions were difficult to maintain
and were quickly abandoned. The eastern province of what was called New Spain
was ignored until 1714, when a French trading expedition crossed Texas and
founded a settlement on the Río Grande near present-day Eagle Pass. Again the
Spanish were alarmed by the French activities. In 1716, fearing more French
incursions into their territory, the Spanish re-created the eastern Texas
mission system. More than 30 new missions were established, the most prominent
of which was near San Antonio, which was founded as a Spanish town in 1718.
No official boundary had ever been set
between the territories claimed by Spain and those claimed by France, and when
the United States bought the Louisiana territories from the French in 1803, the
boundary was still unknown (see Louisiana Purchase).
| D | Spanish Decline |
Between 1800 and 1820 Spain’s weak hold
on the province of Texas became even more insecure. During that time several
expeditions by adventurers from the United States entered Texas. One of the
earliest of these so-called filibustering expeditions (armed invasions by groups
of private citizens) was led in 1800 by Philip Nolan, who was captured and
executed by the Spanish. In 1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and his
followers, many of whom were in Texas, tried to declare Mexican independence
from the Spanish Empire. Although that revolt was crushed, unrest in Texas and
in the rest of Mexico under Spanish rule continued. Several times Mexicans
seeking freedom from Spain joined American adventurers to try to set up
governments in Texas. In 1813, for example, the Republican Army of the North,
led by Bernardo Gutiérrez, a Mexican liberal, and by Augustus W. Magee, a former
United States Army officer, took control of Nacogdoches, Goliad, and San
Antonio. The leaders declared Texan independence and adopted a constitution.
However, on August 18, 1813, the revolutionaries were wiped out by Spanish
forces at a battle near the Medina River.
In 1819 James Long of Natchez,
Mississippi, led the last filibustering expedition into Texas. He captured
Nacogdoches, set up a republic, and proclaimed himself president, but Spanish
soldiers soon drove him out as well. Long fled to Galveston Island, the base of
the French pirate Jean Lafitte, to ask for Laffite’s help in the revolution
against Spain, but he refused. Long left Galveston to return to Texas and fight
for independence. He was eventually captured and sent to prison in Mexico, where
he was killed by a guard. His wife, Jane Long, had remained at Point Bolivar
near Galveston when he had returned to the mainland. There she gave birth to a
daughter in 1821, the first known Anglo-American birth in Texas.
| E | Anglo-American Settlement |
Although Spain had claimed Texas for
more than 300 years, there were only three settlements between the Río Grande
and the Sabine rivers: San Antonio, Goliad, and Nacogdoches. Spanish officials
realized that more settlers were needed to prevent other countries from trying
to claim the land. In 1820 Moses Austin, a United States citizen, asked the
Spanish government in Mexico for permission to settle in Texas. Austin died soon
after making his request, but his son, Stephen Fuller Austin, was permitted to
continue with the project in 1821. Mexico gained its independence from Spain in
a revolution that same year, and Austin negotiated a contract with the new
government to settle 300 families in Texas (see Mexico: War for
Independence). This was the beginning of the empresario system.
Empresarios were people who contracted with the Mexican government to bring
Roman Catholic settlers to Texas in exchange for 9,300 hectares (23,000 acres)
of land for each 100 families that they brought. The first Anglo-American
settlements were at Washington and San Felipe de Austin, on the Brazos River,
and at Columbus, on the Lower Colorado River. Other American empresarios who
founded colonies in Texas included Green DeWitt, Martin de Leon, and Haden
Edwards, each of whom was responsible for settling several hundred
families.
| F | Mexican-U.S. Friction |
From 1821 to 1836 the population of
Texas increased from about 4,000 to between 35,000 and 50,000 people. Most of
the immigrants were from the southern United States. They only pretended to be
Catholic, spoke English, did not have much respect for authority, and refused to
assimilate. Most importantly, they brought black slaves with them to cultivate
cotton. Mexicans, having fought only recently for their freedom from Spain,
opposed slavery.
The Anglo-Americans were worried about
promised land titles, and as population increased, they wanted to be separate
from the Mexican state of Tejas y Coahuila, to which Texas had been joined.
Mexican officials, however, were usually too busy with internal political
problems to give much attention to the new settlers.
In 1826 the Fredonian Rebellion, a
short-lived attempt by a small group of Anglo-Americans in Texas to create the
independent Republic of Fredonia, increased Mexican suspicion that settlers were
not loyal to Mexico. Realizing that there were more Anglo-Americans in Texas
than Mexicans, the Mexican government stationed Mexican troops there, and passed
a law that restricted further Anglo-American immigration and prohibited the
importation of slaves. In October 1832 a convention of Anglo-Americans met at
San Felipe de Austin and petitioned for the repeal of the law. Stephen Fuller
Austin, who at first urged the colonists to remain loyal to Mexico, was sent to
Mexico City to present the petition, and after several months he was assured
that Mexico would take action. However, when a letter he had written advising
Anglo-Americans to organize a separate state fell into Mexican hands, he was
arrested and spent almost two years in prison. In 1835 Austin returned to Texas,
by then convinced that using force to obtain independence was justified.
| G | Texas Revolution |
In 1834 the Mexican politician and
soldier Antonio López de Santa Anna deposed the Mexican government and assumed
dictatorial powers. He was determined to crush rebellions in Texas and other
areas. This determination led to the outbreak of the Texas Revolution. In
October 1835 Mexican soldiers were sent to Gonzales, Texas, to retrieve a cannon
that had been given to the settlers for use against Native Americans. The
settlers, with a few reinforcements, forced the Mexicans to retreat in an
encounter that is considered the first battle of the revolution.
In November 1835 a convention of
Anglo-American settlers set up a provisional state government, elected a
governor and a council, and declared that Texans were fighting for the rights
due them under the Mexican Constitution of 1824. Austin and two others were sent
to the United States to secure loans. A Texan army was quickly gathered, and won
a series of battles in the fall of 1835. However, the Texas forces were defeated
at The Alamo, a former mission in San Antonio. On March 2, 1836, during the
siege of The Alamo, a convention of American Texans met at
Washington-on-the-Brazos and declared independence from Mexico. The delegates
chose David G. Burnet provisional president, named Sam Houston commander in
chief of all Texas forces, and adopted a constitution that protected the
institution of slavery, which had been prohibited by Mexican law.
The Texans defeated Santa Anna and his
troops at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Santa Anna was captured,
and forced to recognize Texas’s independence and to withdraw south of the Río
Grande.
| H | Independent Texas |
The Republic of Texas, which existed
for almost ten years before becoming part of the United States, was beset by
many problems, principally financial ones. Although Texas had much land, until
it was farmed by settlers little money would be available. To farm the land,
however, white settlers would have to remove the native inhabitants by force.
The first Texas election took place in September 1836, and Sam Houston defeated
Stephen Austin to become the first president of the new Republic of Texas.
Although the new republic was recognized by the United States and by several
European countries, Mexico refused to recognize it, arguing that the treaty
signed by Santa Anna claimed territory that was not part of the original state
of Tejas. The republic asserted that the Río Grande from its mouth to its source
was the western boundary of the new country, which would have given Texas parts
of present-day New Mexico and Colorado. Mexico maintained that the southern
boundary of Texas should be the Nueces River and not the Río Grande.
In 1841 a trading expedition of Texans
was sent to Santa Fe as the first step in a plan to secure the western
boundaries of Texas. The group was captured by Mexican troops, and the captives
were forced to march to Mexico City, where the survivors of the march were
imprisoned. Mexican soldiers also periodically crossed into Texas and for short
periods occupied San Antonio, Goliad, and Refugio. Finally, in February 1844,
the Republic of Texas and Mexico signed an armistice.
Difficulties with Mexico did not
prevent more land grants to those who settled in the Republic of Texas. The
population increased from an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 in 1821 to between
125,000 and 150,000 in 1836. German immigrants settled in central Texas, and
other Europeans also established colonies. Most of the settlers had come from
the United States to get the free land Texas was offering. Most of these new
settlers joined Houston and his political supporters, who wanted the United
States to annex the republic.
As the land was settled, Native
Americans were forced out. During the Texas Revolution, Houston had negotiated a
treaty with the Cherokee that reserved lands in east Texas for the Cherokee.
Texans had not approved the agreement, and now the republic refused to honor
it.
As settlers moved in, some Cherokee
took matters into their own hands. Perhaps as many as 300 Cherokee joined about
100 Mexicans led by Vicente Cordova to camp on an island in east Texas and
announced that they did not support the republic. A Texas army attacked and
arrested all the leaders, and distrust between the Cherokee and whites
increased.
In December 1838 the Georgia-born
soldier and politician Mirabeau B. Lamar was elected president of the republic.
Lamar had no sympathy for Native Americans. He ordered the Cherokee out of the
country. The Cherokee resisted, but at the Battle of the Neches in 1839 they
were defeated and forced to go north to what is now Oklahoma, clearing east
Texas for white settlement.
| I | Annexation and the Mexican War |
The United States Senate rejected a
treaty to annex Texas in 1844, but it reversed that decision the following year,
and Texas joined the Union on December 29, 1845. Under the treaty of annexation,
Texas was responsible for all debts incurred by the republic. Mexico immediately
broke off diplomatic relations with the United States. U.S. General (and future
U.S. President) Zachary Taylor was ordered to the Río Grande to enforce it as
the Texas boundary. Mexico, however, held that the boundary was the Nueces River
and considered Taylor’s advance a provocation. Mexico sent troops across the Río
Grande. Congress responded by declaring war on Mexico on May 13, 1846. Many
Texans participated in the Mexican War. Members of the Texas Rangers, a group
formed on the eve of the Texas Revolution by Austin to protect Anglo-Americans
from attacks by Comanche and Apache, acted as scouts for U.S. troops. Mexico was
not defeated until troops under General Winfield Scott invaded Mexico City,
which fell on September 14, 1847.
Under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,
signed on February 2, 1848, Mexico relinquished its claims to Texas, and the
United States acquired land that would become the states of California, Nevada,
and Utah, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wyoming. In addition,
the United States paid Mexico the sum of $15 million and agreed to settle all
legal claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico. Under the Compromise Measures of
1850 the United States paid Texas $10 million for territory on the Upper Río
Grande. Texas used the money to pay debt and set up a school fund.
| J | Civil War and Reconstruction |
Southern immigrants to Texas had
brought their slaves with them after 1820, but the plantation system for growing
cotton had not penetrated much farther than east Texas in 1861, when the
American Civil War began. Pro-Union sentiment was strong in west Texas, because
of the proximity to Mexico and because west Texans needed federal protection
against the attacks of Native Americans, and in central Texas, where German
settlers opposed slavery.
Houston, who had been elected governor
in 1859, was a staunch Unionist and strongly opposed secession, withdrawal from
the United States. Nevertheless, at a convention held in February 1861,
delegates voted to secede and join the Confederate States of America. Houston,
despite his long service to Texas, was removed from office.
The majority of Texans supported the
Confederacy once secession took place. General John B. Hood’s Texas Brigade and
Benjamin Franklin Terry’s Texas Rangers made notable contributions to
Confederate forces. Early in 1862 an expedition of Texas troops, under General
Henry H. Sibley, captured Santa Fe, New Mexico, but they were later forced to
withdraw.
Among the few Civil War battles fought
in Texas were the Confederate victory at the Battle of Sabine Pass along the
Texas-Louisiana border, and the capture of Galveston by Union forces, and its
recapture by the Confederates. Because soldiers had not yet heard the news that
the war had ended, the last battle of the Civil War occurred near Brownsville
more than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered in
Virginia. Black people in Texas did not hear of the Emancipation
Proclamation—which President Abraham Lincoln had issued in 1863, to free the
slaves in Confederate states—until June 19, 1865, when the Union Army landed in
Galveston.
After the Civil War ended in 1865, the
Southern states that had seceded from the Union were governed by a combination
of appointed federal officials and the army until Congress readmitted them to
the union. Ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the
Constitution of the United States, was among the requirements for readmission of
the states. These amendments, respectively, prohibited slavery, gave citizenship
to all born or naturalized in the United States while prohibiting political
activity by those who had supported secession, and gave all citizens, regardless
of color, the right to vote. The former slaves, or freedmen, were enfranchised
(given the right to vote) by the 15th Amendment and, because the Democrats had
led the South into the Civil War, blacks joined the Republican Party. Blacks,
who could vote and hold office in Texas until they were disfranchised in the
early 20th century, were the major source of Republican voting strength. They
joined with Northern immigrants to the state and long-time opponents of Texas
secession to elect Republican Edmund Davis as governor in 1870.
The early success of the Republican
Party in Texas was due primarily to a lack of unity on the part of white voters.
Most whites objected to enfranchising blacks and joined the Democratic Party.
When white Democrats did unite, they defeated Davis in 1874 but he refused to
concede the election. He argued that organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, a
secret terrorist organization that was dedicated to white supremacy, had
intimidated black and other potential Republican voters. Angry whites armed
themselves and went to the capital in Austin to force Davis to leave office.
When he found no support from the federal government, Davis stepped down.
| K | Postwar Development |
After the Civil War, Texas grew
rapidly. Between 1870 and 1900 the population of Texas increased from 19th in
the country (818,579) to sixth (3,048,710). In the 1880s railroads opened new
lands on the Great Plains and across Texas, and farmers flocked to those areas
and planted staple crops—wheat, corn, and cotton—encouraged by new mechanical
reapers, barbed wire (which helped control wandering cattle), and better farming
techniques. One spur to growth was the end of Native American raids.
During the Civil War and
Reconstruction, settlers on the poorly protected western frontier were harassed
by Native Americans and were forced to leave the area. Although the U.S.
government had begun in 1845 to build a string of forts from the Red River to
the Río Grande, the forts had never been a satisfactory method of dealing with
the Plains Native Americans. Comanche, Apache, and Kiowa raiding parties easily
slipped between the forts to attack settlements. In 1868 a reservation in the
Indian Territory (now in Oklahoma) was set aside for the Comanche and the Kiowa,
but they continued raiding across the border into Texas, and the Apache left
reservations in New Mexico to raid into Texas. In the early 1870s, U.S. troops,
which included the all-black 10th and 11th units known as Buffalo Soldiers,
began a vigorous campaign to keep Native Americans on the land set aside for
them. Federal forces also fought Native Americans with the assistance of the
Texas Rangers.
The most effective weapons against
Native Americans on the Plains were the decision to exterminate the buffalo by
General William Tecumseh Sherman and the expansion of the railroad into the
West. These actions destroyed Native American food supplies and forced them onto
reservations. It is estimated that almost ten million bison were killed between
1871 and 1880 for sport, for food to feed people laying tracks for the railroad,
and for the animals’ hides.
The cattle industry also grew after the
Civil War. Since the days of the Spanish missions, there had been cattle in
Texas, but because of the long distance to markets, the cattle had little value,
except for hides and tallow. Ranching had been neglected during the Civil War,
and vast herds of wild cattle roamed southwestern Texas, where the famed
longhorn breed originated.
Before the Civil War, cowboys riding
horses had rounded up the cattle and driven them from East Texas to Louisiana
markets, but after railroads were built from Chicago to Kansas it was possible
to send beef to the large Chicago market. The first major cattle drive all the
way from Texas to Kansas took place in 1866. As the railroads pushed farther
west, the cowboys drove their herds to the railroad terminal points, called cow
towns. The cow towns Wichita, Dodge City, and Abilene became identified with
cowboys and the cattle trails from Texas. Until railroads began arriving in
Texas in the 1880s to make the drives unnecessary, thousands of Texas cattle
were herded north each year on various trails, of which the best known was
perhaps the Chisholm Trail from San Antonio to Abilene, Kansas.
Cotton, however, not cattle, was the
most important influence on the economy of Texas. As the railroads pushed west,
they opened new land for growing cotton, which could be shipped to Galveston,
Houston, or transported to St. Louis and then into the international trade. In
addition, the state gave lands to railroad companies to encourage the companies
to lay more tracks. Those companies then sold the land cheaply to settlers who
would later ship their farm goods on the trains. By 1890 Texas produced more
than 33 percent of the cotton grown in the United States. The crop financed the
growth of Texas cities, especially Dallas and Houston.
| L | Postwar Political Development |
As Texas grew, many of its new
immigrants came from other Southern states. Southerners were attracted to the
state because it had seceded from the Union, the land had not suffered damage
during the Civil War, and its economy and racial views were similar to those of
other Southern states. The new immigrants were usually Democrats, and as Texas
slowly became a one-party state, political battles took place within that party
for control of the local and state governments.
In the 19th century, factions, or
groups, rather than parties, dominated Texas politics. During the years of the
republic and early statehood, sentiment was divided between factions who
supported or opposed Sam Houston. The Whig Party had some strength in cities and
among the German population, but most Texans disliked the fact that national
Whig leaders had opposed annexation of Texas in 1845. Members of the American
Party (or Know-Nothings) wanted to prevent foreign-born citizens from holding
political office and to reduce what they believed to be foreign influences and
ideas, and they gained support in the state in the 1850s. Many Know-Nothings
were former Whigs who could neither support the Democrats nor join the
developing Republican Party, which most Southerners considered antislavery.
Others were followers of Houston, who did not like the drift of the Southern
Democrats towards secession.
Hardin R. Runnels, a man who supported
the anti-Union, or Calhoun Democrats (named after former Vice President John
Calhoun of South Carolina), was elected governor in 1856. Houston challenged
Runnels for governor in 1860 and Houston won, but he resigned in 1861 rather
than agree to secession. The governors during the Civil War were all
anti-Houston men, and after the war ended, they moved into the Democratic Party.
In 1874 Richard Coke was elected governor. Coke and his followers were known as
Conservative, or Redeemer Democrats. Their policies emphasized economic
expansion through government aid to business, noninterference in private
enterprise, and few government services. With no other major party for
disgruntled voters, opponents of such policies fought the establishment by
trying to control the local or state Democratic Party organization. Often,
however, they created third parties. Farmers made up the bulk of voters in these
third-party movements.
Farm prices fell in the 1880s, as
production of staple crops increased around the world, creating a surplus. In
Texas, as in the South generally, one result of falling cotton prices was an
increase in tenant farming and sharecropping. Sharecroppers raised part of the
landlord’s crop and were paid a share of the profits after deductions for living
expenses and the cost of tools and supplies. A tenant farmer sold the crop
himself and paid the landlord a share of the profits as rent. The landlord chose
what crop to raise, and the choice was almost always cotton. Even if the profit
was low, the landlord got his share first. The cropper or tenant took what was
left or, if none was left, took out a loan to keep going until the next harvest.
Unfortunately, cotton prices stayed depressed until the end of the century. Thus
the tenants and sharecroppers found themselves in a cycle of debt from which
they could not escape. More than 50 percent of both black and white Texas
farmers were tenants by the 20th century.
Dissatisfied farmers across the nation
responded to these developments by organizing third parties to challenge the
Democrats and the Republicans. Both the Greenback Party in the 1870s and the
Populist Party in the 1890s advocated an inflated currency to make debts easier
to repay, government ownership of the railroads that controlled the prices for
transporting crops, and other reforms, such as the direct election of senators.
In Texas the Greenback and Populist parties courted Republican voters, mostly
blacks. These parties did not advocate outright racial equality, but many
Populists argued that economic progress would benefit all who were poor, black
and white.
Some leaders of the Democratic Party in
Texas responded to the challenges of third parties by advocating similar reforms
within their own party. They were called Agrarian Democrats and their most
important leader in Texas was James Stephen Hogg. As Texas attorney general
(1887-1891), he had successfully prosecuted several railroad companies for
anticompetitive activities and helped write the Texas antitrust law in 1891, the
second such law in the nation. In his 1890 campaign for governor, he promised
stricter regulation of monopolies, including railroads. After his victory Hogg
appointed former U.S. Representative and Senator John H. Reagan as chairman of
the newly created Texas Railroad Commission. Reagan had achieved national
recognition for sponsoring legislation to establish the U.S. Interstate Commerce
Commission, which oversaw the operations of railroads across the nation. The
Texas Railroad Commission regulated railroads in the state so successfully that
it was later given the job of controlling state petroleum production.
In 1892 Hogg defeated challenges from
both the Populists and the Conservative Democrats, but when he retired in 1894,
the Populist Party threatened to defeat the state Democratic Party in 1894 and
1896 by taking advantage of farmer discontent created by a depression in 1893.
In 1894 the Populists elected 22 representatives and two senators to the state
legislature. Although Democrat Charles Culberson won the election for governor,
the Populist candidate, Thomas L. Nugent, ran a very close second.
The 1896 race for governor was a
particularly vicious one. The Populists formed a biracial coalition with black
Republicans to unite all tenant farmers in support of wide-ranging economic
reforms. In response, the Democrats charged the Populists with racial betrayal
and argued that Populist economic reforms were too radical. In an election
marked by ballot fraud and racial violence, the Democrats won the election. The
Populists tried to reorganize, but returning prosperity in 1897 and endorsement
by the Democratic Party of moderate reforms left populism with no political
base.
At the end of the 19th century, black
Texans suffered from increasing discrimination. In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that laws creating what were called
separate-but-equal facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the 14th
Amendment. Consequently Texas passed laws that segregated all public facilities
and transportation, authorized segregated residential neighborhoods, and
restricted black Texans in all aspects of life. The Democratic Party in Texas,
as in the South, promised to white voters that these segregation laws—or Jim
Crow laws as they were called—would be enforced.
The political contests of the 1890s had
already begun to prevent blacks from voting prior to the Plessy v.
Ferguson decision. In the bitter and often dishonest local elections of
the 1890s, white men’s associations used violence to keep blacks from voting.
Democrats argued that the violence and corruption of local elections could be
prevented if voters registered by paying poll taxes and nominated candidates by
using party primaries. The party wanted primaries to be for whites only to
remove the issue of race. The Democratic Party authorized all-white primaries,
Texas voters approved a poll tax, and the Terrell Election Laws (1903-1907)
mandated party primaries for statewide offices. Black Texans could then vote in
general elections that were meaningless, since the state only elected Democratic
candidates; but they could not vote in Democratic primaries, which chose state
office-holders and the party’s nomination for the U.S. Congress. By the 20th
century, Texas had defined blacks as second-class citizens without voting power
and had created elaborate legal codes that segregated blacks in all public and
private facilities.
Mexican Texans also faced
discrimination. Before the Texas Revolution, they had been farmers, small
ranchers, and skilled laborers. As Anglo-American ranchers and farmers settled
in Texas, the Mexican Texans faced increased competition—as well as taxes,
fraud, legal fees, and battles over water rights. Over time most Mexican Texans
joined an unskilled labor pool. Disfranchising Mexican Texans after the Civil
War proved relatively easy, because most Mexicans in Texas retained their
Mexican citizenship. Those who were citizens fell victim to the whites-only
primary and the poll tax.
| M | Texas in the Early 20th Century |
Many important Texas politicians
endorsed moderate reforms that would increase the power of the state government
and allow it to take a more active role in preventing social and economic
injustice. These Democrats called themselves Progressives and controlled the
party before World War I (1914-1918). The reforms they advocated were mostly
those of white middle-class Texans, who were not particularly concerned about
racial injustice. Nationally, progressivism was largely an urban movement. In
Texas, however, there were no particularly large cities: In 1920 fewer than 33
percent of Texans lived in metropolitan areas, fewer than 20 percent lived in
cities of 10,000 or more, and only three of those—Houston, Dallas, and San
Antonio—had populations between 200,000 and 300,000 inhabitants.
As a result, progressivism in Texas
stressed reforms that changed state institutions, enfranchised white women, and
most importantly prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages, called Prohibition.
Texas progressives believed that the sale of alcohol corrupted democratic
society and was a moral evil.
Prohibitionists began campaigning for a
dry state in 1887. In 1918, influenced by the charge that alcohol interfered
with the effort to support World War I, which the United States was fighting in
Europe, the legislature passed a law forbidding the sale of alcohol anywhere in
the state. In January 1920 the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
prohibited the sale of intoxicating alcoholic beverages throughout the
country.
Middle-class Texas women played a major
role in the prohibition movement. Although they could not vote, women could
campaign for legislation. Their visibility in the prohibition campaigns, and
their active participation in organizations that advocated reforms of education
and charitable institutions, increased their desire to vote themselves. The
Texas Woman Suffrage Association was organized in 1903 and lobbied hard in 1915
and 1917 to force the legislature to enfranchise women. In 1918 the legislature
extended the franchise to women in primary elections, and in 1919 the
legislature ratified the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave
women the vote throughout the country.
The coalition of progressive Democrats
that enacted prohibition in Texas also passed laws creating orphanages and state
institutions to care for the mentally ill. Progressives voted money for colleges
and universities, in particular for scientific agriculture at Texas A&M
College (established in 1876) and professional education at the University of
Texas (established in 1883). The legislature standardized curriculum in the
public schools and extended more state control over them.
The state also reformed the prison
system. The convict lease system, under which criminals were rented out for
private labor, was abolished, and the state segregated prisoners by sex, age,
race, and nature of the offense. All of these reforms extended state control
over social institutions and became politically contentious later in the
century. Progressive Democrats also passed other legislation that created
agencies to improve roads and conserve forests and other natural resources.
| N | Texas in World War I and the 1920s |
Most Texans enthusiastically supported
World War I. Texas had voted for Woodrow Wilson, Democratic governor of New
Jersey, when he won the presidential election in 1912. Wilson was a Southerner
and chose several Texans to serve in his administration. Almost 200,000 Texans
served in the military services during the war, including more than 400 women
who volunteered as nurses. A number of important army bases were built in Texas,
and San Antonio in particular retained active military sites after the war
ended. World War I created a connection between the Texas economy and the
defense industry, and most Texans, including farmers, prospered in both the
years preceding and during the war.
Racial and ethnic tensions, however,
increased during the war years. Around military posts in the South, black
soldiers objected to Jim Crow laws being applied on army posts and in the
surrounding communities. A riot provoked by discrimination in Houston involving
the all-black Third Battalion of the 24th United States Infantry ended with a
court-martial that severely punished the soldiers involved.
The same surge of patriotism that
demanded endorsement of the war effort identified German surnames as
un-American. The legislature recommended that books or pamphlets praising German
culture, for example, be withdrawn from the public schools, and some Germans in
the Texas Hill Country and San Antonio were harassed and beaten.
The Mexican Texans of South Texas were
affected by border troubles. The fighting that followed the Mexican Revolution
in 1910 had pushed immigrants north of the border to escape the war. In 1916
President Wilson sent the U.S. Army to pursue the rebel Mexican General
Francisco (Pancho) Villa, who had raided several Texas towns, and Texas Governor
James Ferguson dispatched the national guard and the entire Texas Ranger force
to South Texas to maintain order. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed on
both sides. Suspecting the new immigrants and the Hispanic population of
complicity with the raiders, white Texans violated civil rights in attempts to
identify bandit leaders. The Texas Rangers, in particular, were accused of
indiscriminately brutalizing Mexican Texans; as a result, many Mexican Texans
came to distrust legal authority, in particular the Rangers. After an
investigation, the legislature reorganized the Rangers, reducing it to 4 regular
companies of 17 men each.
The intolerance continued into the
early 1920s. Provoked by the Communist revolution in Russia during the war, many
Texans saw any unusual idea as dangerous. The result was the persecution of
those who belonged to labor unions, the Socialist Party, or to civil rights
organizations. Intolerance was also encouraged by the perception that the values
of the city were intruding upon the morality of rural America.
In 1920 the Ku Klux Klan was reborn and
spread through the Midwest into rural areas and into the South, Texas, and the
Southwest. The organization chose for its leader, or grand wizard, Hiram Evans
of Dallas and promised to restore Christian morality to the nation. In Texas the
Klan promised to enforce prohibition, stop gambling, discourage divorce, and
prevent immoral conduct. It was antiforeign, anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic as well
as antiblack. By 1924 Klan supporters in Texas had elected a U.S. senator and
may have controlled the police forces and governments of every city except San
Antonio and Galveston.
The issue of the Ku Klux Klan and
enforcement of prohibition dominated politics in the early 1920s. “Farmer” Jim
Ferguson, who had been governor of the state from 1915 to 1917 but had resigned
after he was accused of misconduct in office, led much of the fight against the
Klan. Ferguson was still a force to be reckoned with despite the fact that he
had been banned from public office. In 1924 his wife Miriam “Ma” Ferguson ran
for governor, and aided by her husband’s popularity, she defeated the Klan
candidate to become the second woman governor in the United States and the first
elected to that office. Her victory sealed the Klan’s fate as a public political
force.
Dan Moody defeated Ferguson in 1926 and
won reelection in 1928. His administration reformed the highway department and
modernized both the state administration of schools and the prison system.
Texas Democrats generally did not
support the party’s presidential candidate in 1928, New York Governor Alfred E.
Smith. Smith opposed prohibition and was a Roman Catholic, both of which
irritated many Texans. Some Texas Democrats who opposed Smith organized as
“Hoovercrats” to support the Republican nominee, Commerce Secretary Herbert
Hoover. Texas voted for Hoover in 1928, the first year that the state supported
a Republican candidate for the presidency.
| O | The Great Depression and World War II |
At the onset of the Great Depression,
the economic downturn of the 1930s, many Texans assumed that the downturn was an
eastern financial collapse and would not affect Texas. By the winter of
1930-1931, however, the price of cotton had dropped to less than a nickel a
pound. More than 350,000 Texans were out of work by mid-1932, and at least 25
percent of them had no resources to survive unemployment. Dwindling tax revenues
and the lack of industries limited public funds, and private charities had no
funds.
Consequently Texans, like other
Americans, were anxious for federal aid, and they voted overwhelmingly for
Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election over the
incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover. Roosevelt promised a New Deal for Americans
in his inaugural address, and his domestic programs profoundly affected the
Texas economy in the 1930s. Under Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation, the federal
government provided direct relief payments to states and individuals for the
first time in history. Programs such as the Works Progress Administration and
others hired the unemployed to work on public projects.
Putting people back to work meant that
many minority Texans were included in the public work projects. At first local
white leaders wanted blacks and Mexican Americans excluded from government
employment. But under pressure from federal administrators and organizations
such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which
were located in Eastern cities in which blacks could vote, state administrators
relented and included minorities in federal programs. Black voters, as a result,
switched their allegiance in the 1930s from the Republican Party to the
Democrats. Federal courts struck down the all-white primary in 1944. The number
of black voters in Texas increased during the early 1940s, particularly in urban
areas, where blacks had begun to move during the 1920s. By 1950 blacks were
nearly 20 percent of the population of most Gulf Coast cities and nearly that
high a percentage in Dallas and Fort Worth.
Many Mexicans in Texas were deported
to Mexico during the Great Depression. Large-scale roundups of immigrants,
particularly in rural areas, included Texan Mexicans. Federal projects were
prohibited from aiding immigrants, and since many Mexican Texans could not prove
citizenship, they did not benefit from Roosevelt’s New Deal as much as other
poor people. Nevertheless a group of bicultural business leaders in San Antonio
and in the Río Grande Valley organized the League of United Latin American
Citizens (LULAC) to fight segregation and to create a stronger voice for
Hispanics in Texas and in national politics. Members of LULAC tended to vote
Democratic, and they financed the first court challenge to the segregation of
Mexican American children in separate schools. In 1948 LULAC and members of the
Mexican American Legal Defense Fund won lawsuits ending official segregation of
Mexican Americans in public facilities in Texas.
The New Deal changed Texas politics in
other ways as well. Aided by the National Labor Relations Board (a federal
commission that oversaw business-labor relations), higher percentages of Texas
workers joined labor unions than ever before. These workers also became ardent
Democrats.
Some changes were more subtle. The
Agricultural Adjustment Act, for example, began planning deliberate scarcities
to raise crop prices. Much of the land taken out of cultivation was marginal
land farmed by tenants. Texas farmers began the great migration to the cities
and to California. The speed of the migration increased during World War II
(1939-1945) when defense-related jobs were created in many cities. Texas, 60
percent rural in 1930, would be 60 percent urban in 1950. After 1950 agriculture
remained one of the three legs supporting the Texas economy (farming, oil, and
defense-related industries), but it no longer dominated all other economic
enterprises. Tenant farming, moreover, had all but disappeared from the
state.
Although the oil industry was
important to the economy of the Gulf Coast, it did not dominate the state’s
economy before 1930. In that year, the great East Texas oil field near Kilgore
began production, and the Permian Basin field was discovered in the late 1930s.
Much of the Permian field was on state land, and as a result much of the
royalties from the field financed education in Texas. So, too, did the income
from the tidelands oil, and petroleum became the state’s leading export.
During World War II, Texas benefited
from the rapid construction of defense-related factories. An estimated 1,250,000
troops trained at 15 Army military bases. San Antonio became a center for the
United States Army Air Force, and clear skies and available land encouraged the
construction of more than 40 air bases. The Gulf Coast became a center of naval
activity. Although some of these military sites were shut down after the war
ended, many remained open, providing jobs as the nation geared up for the Cold
War, the economic and diplomatic struggle between the United States and the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), that followed World War II.
The demand for oil and petrochemicals
(chemicals based on oil or natural-gas) during and after the war made the strip
from Houston to Lake Charles in southwestern Louisiana the most industrialized
area in the South. The need for paper and pulp products revitalized the East
Texas lumber industry. These defense industries hired workers and turned the
state away from its rural economic base toward an urban-industrial one.
| P | Politics in Texas |
The political landscape of Texas
changed dramatically with the New Deal, World War II, and its aftermath. When
Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932, U.S. congressmen from the South, who had
possessed little power under Republican administrations, began to have national
influence. In 1936 Texas representatives chaired nine congressional committees,
and Texan John Nance Garner was vice president. Democrat Sam Rayburn also became
a national figure, serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives three
times (1940-1947, 1949-1953, and 1955-1961) during his 48 years in Congress.
This political power obtained defense contracts, military bases and New Deal
relief money for the state. A number of young Texan politicians, notably future
U.S. president Lyndon Baines Johnson, adopted a national outlook. These people
believed that the future of Texas, because it was now connected to the national
economy, was no longer either predominately rural or Southern.
Opposition to the New Deal centered in
third-party activity, and it remained there throughout the 1950s. In Texas, the
third-party factions called themselves Texas Regulars in 1944 and Dixiecrats in
1948. Their strategy was to vote for third-party electors in presidential
elections and vote for Democratic candidates for state and local office. That
way the elites could retain local and state political influence.
The third-party strategy had little
success in Texas. Roosevelt won in 1940 and 1944 with more than 70 percent of
the popular vote, and President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) defeated the
Dixiecrats just as soundly. In 1952 and 1956 more traditional Democrats, led by
Governor Allen Shivers, voted for the Republican Dwight David Eisenhower for
president rather than Democrat Adlai Ewing Stevenson. The success of President
Eisenhower failed to create support for the state Republican Party, however, and
Democrats retained control of local, state, and congressional offices.
Throughout the 1950s, the Texas
Democratic Party became more moderate. Traditional Democrats were challenged by
a liberal wing of the party that supported government-directed social programs
and complete integration of public facilities. Although they could only muster
about 40 percent of the popular vote, liberals could defeat any very
conservative candidate who ran for statewide office. Under their pressure,
however, the state government provided more money to education, established
minimum salaries for school teachers, and expanded and improved colleges and
universities. The state government reduced its own costs, updated the prison
system, and improved the highway system.
Shivers is considered the first of the
modern Texas governors; yet he opposed racial integration. His successor, Price
Daniel, Sr. (1957-1963), reorganized the agency responsible for welfare, and
during his term the legislature enacted a sales tax, guaranteeing a dependable
source of revenue for the state. More importantly, no Texas governor after
Shivers ever considered passing legislation that would interfere with
integration. Both Texas senators and most Congress members refused to sign the
infamous Southern Manifesto, a pledge never to support Brown v. Topeka
Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court ruling that ordered
desegregation of public schools.
| Q | Texas Politics 1961-1985 |
| Q1 | Moderate Democrats |
Moderate Democrats continued to
control Texas politics in the 1960s. United States Senator John Kennedy of
Massachusetts selected U.S. Senator Lyndon Johnson from Texas as the Democratic
vice-presidential nominee in 1960, and the Democratic ticket narrowly carried
both Texas and the nation. Despite the influence of moderate Democrats in Texas,
Dallas won a national reputation as a center of right-wing extremism after Lee
Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy while he was riding in a
presidential motorcade through the city in November 1963. City and state leaders
worked hard after the assassination to erase that image and demonstrate that
Texas was a modern and moderate state.
Johnson assumed the presidency and
won reelection in 1964, overwhelming Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee.
Johnson’s War on Poverty program, a series of measures to promote economic
development in depressed urban areas, and his Great Society plan, which included
a new housing bill, a Medicare program to help provide medical care for the
elderly, and additional antipoverty measures, were controversial in Texas. The
majority of Texas Democrats supported them despite reservations because Johnson
was a native son and because a label of extremism might dampen economic
growth.
Nevertheless, a number of white
Texans objected to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a sweeping civil rights bill
outlawing racial discrimination in public accommodations and by employers,
unions, and voting registrars. They also opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
which suspended use of voter-qualification tests that had sometimes served to
keep blacks off voting lists. Many white Texans also objected to policies that
favored minority-owned companies and job applicants as well as aid to minority
citizens, hallmarks of the Johnson presidency. Texas strongly supported the
Vietnam War (1959-1975), and the state’s leadership had little patience with the
antiwar demonstrations common in the late 1960s. Like many other Americans,
social changes in the 1960s bothered many Texans, but a strong conservative
reaction only came in the 1980s.
Black Texans and Mexican Texans made
significant political gains in the 1960s. The successful attack on voting
restrictions sent several blacks, including Barbara Jordan of Houston, to the
Texas legislature, and in 1966 Jordan was the first black woman elected to the
state senate. In 1972 Jordan was elected to the United States House of
Representatives, where she earned national attention for her eloquent speech in
favor of impeaching President Richard M. Nixon (1969-1974) during the Watergate
affair. She also delivered the keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National
Convention.
Texas passed a state law
specifically declaring segregation illegal in 1969, but most white Texans
thought the civil rights movement had gone far enough. Blacks, however, were
registered to vote and were an integral part of the Democratic Party. So too
were Mexican Americans, who had become more militant, with many of the young
calling themselves Chicanos and speaking of Brown Power. The militancy
had subsided by the early 1970s, but not before the organization of a political
party, La Raza Unida. These new Hispanic voters registered as Democrats and
controlled local and state politics south of San Antonio. The Democratic Party
had to remain moderate once the registration of minorities increased.
John Connally, President Johnson’s
long-time friend and political protégé, won the 1962 election for governor. He
was more cautious about government-sponsored social change than the president,
but went along with the civil rights legislation.
He was the state’s most
forward-looking governor in economic terms. Connally worked to expand the
community-college system, upgrade the university system (in particular the
University of Texas and Texas A&M University), increase pay for teachers,
and institute other measures to support scientific and specialized training.
Connally spent most of his energy attempting to create a business climate that
would bring new industry into the state.
Most historians believe that
Connally’s political success delayed the growth of the Republican Party in Texas
for at least a decade. Johnson had persuaded the legislature to pass a law in
1960 that would allow him to run for vice president and for reelection to the
U.S. Senate at the same time. When he was elected vice president, he resigned as
a U.S. senator, and was replaced by John Tower, a Republican.
| Q2 | Growth of the Republican Party |
Senator Tower was the first
Republican to be elected U.S. senator from Texas since Reconstruction. Tower won
two more terms to the U.S. Senate, demonstrating that a Republican could win in
Texas. By 1963 there were more than 100 local Republican clubs that were opposed
to regulation of oil and gas and the integration of public schools. Their growth
was limited by the popularity of Governor Connally, but more conservative
Democrats began to donate money to Senator Tower’s campaigns in the late 1960s.
In general, club members endorsed the Republican candidate, U.S. Senator Barry
Goldwater of Arizona for president in 1964.
In 1968 both President Johnson and
Governor Connally announced their retirement from public life. Texans voted for
Minnesota Democrat and U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey for the presidency,
but former Vice President Richard Nixon won the election. When Nixon was
reelected in 1972, he carried Texas and most of the rest of the nation. The pall
of the Watergate scandal caused the state to vote for Democrat Jimmy Carter in
1976, but the election disguised a growing state Republican Party that won new
adherents in the suburbs, and recruited well among more conservative Democrats.
These new Republicans supported the conservative Republican Ronald Reagan,
former governor of California.
The new Texas Republican Party
showed its strength in 1978 when Republican Bill Clements, a Dallas oilman and
friend of Ronald Reagan, was elected governor. Clements was not a particularly
successful governor. He battled with the Democratic legislature, failed to pass
much of his program, and his abrasive personality alienated many potential
voters. He did, however, give the Republican Party credibility by demonstrating
that Republicans could win statewide elections. He lost his first reelection
attempt and then won again in 1986. By that time the nature of Texas politics
and the Texas economy had begun to change drastically.
| R | The Texas Economy |
| R1 | The 1960s |
In the 1960s the population of Texas
passed that of Ohio and Illinois to become the third largest state in the nation
by 1975. In 1970 slightly more than 70 percent of Texans, both black and white,
lived in urban areas, the same percentage as in the rest of the nation. About 12
percent of Texans were black, compared to 35 percent in 1870, but the Mexican
American population had grown to 20 percent, up from less than 5 percent in
1900.
The character of Texas cities had
changed, too. No city had adequate public transportation. Private automobiles
encouraged the growth of interstate highways, although new highway systems often
divided established neighborhoods. Whites escaped both school integration and a
perceived crime threat by moving from city centers to the suburbs. Each year the
inner cities housed a higher percentage of the poor and black and Hispanic
people while tax revenues declined.
In the 1960s the economy of Texas
remained centered on oil, defense and agriculture. Oil created new jobs, which
attracted new settlers, which in turn encouraged real estate, financial, and
manufacturing booms. Farms continued to grow in size, and the 1970 U.S. census
reported that less than 3 percent of the population owned farms. East Texas and
west Texas became almost uninhabited, with an occasional island city that served
the vast territory. No one discounted the importance of agriculture to the Texas
economy, however; somewhere between 20 and 25 percent of the state was involved
in the $33 billion “agribusiness” industries. Many towns or cities, for example
San Antonio, listed military bases as their major employer. In addition, the
location of the manned-space center near Houston and the 1958 development of the
microchip attracted high-tech defense contractors to the Houston and Dallas-Fort
Worth areas. Although the economy was much different than that of prewar Texas,
it remained one based on raw materials and defense.
| R2 | The 1970s and 1980s |
In the mid-1970s and early 1980s,
the Texas economy and population grew spectacularly. In 1973 members of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) placed an embargo on oil to
the United States and other supporters of Israel, ending the stability in oil
prices that had existed for the previous 25 years. The price of Texas oil
tripled and then doubled again after 1979. Texas oil profits caused real estate
prices to soar, construction to skyrocket, and banks to enjoy unprecedented
growth. Texas agriculture, however, suffered from the high oil prices, which
increased the cost of running machinery and petrochemical fertilizers and
pesticides. Nevertheless, the economic boom brought 2.5 million people to Texas
between 1970 and 1985.
In the early 1980s, after world oil
demand decreased and the embargo collapsed, oil prices dropped quickly. Real
estate and banking fell into a depression that was accented by a reduction in
the increase in defense spending, particularly after the end of the Cold War. By
the mid-1980s the Texas economy had been badly damaged.
The collapse in oil prices cut the
state’s revenue 20 percent. Governor Mark White, Jr., who had defeated Bill
Clements in 1982, made a temporary sales tax increase permanent and tried
innovative ways to raise new revenue. At the same time, advised by a committee
including billionaire Texan H. Ross Perot, White introduced and passed a number
of public school reforms, a pay raise for public school teachers, and other
measures to improve public services, including the prison system. He was
defeated in 1986 by Clements.
| S | Recent Developments |
Successive governors—Democrat Ann
Richards (1991-1995) and Republican George W. Bush (1995-2000)—pledged to not
institute an income tax, and state revenues did not expand. When the state was
affluent in the 1970s and 1980s, governors after Connally did not seem concerned
about improving the state’s infrastructure and services. They agreed that
gradual improvement could take place with expanding revenues. The collapse of
the economy left Texas with roads and bridges needing repairs and relatively low
salaries for state employees.
In addition, the state was under a
court order to improve and modernize state prisons, which had been neglected
since 1950. Governor Richards allotted more funds to improve prisons, roads, and
bridges, but that decreased money for public and higher education. In the 1990s,
Texas voters increased their opposition to taxes and spending for public
services.
Beginning in 1989 the state’s economy
improved, and lost its reliance on raw materials industries. Service industries,
high-tech companies, finance, and trade all prospered in the 1990s. The number
of people in trade and trade-related jobs increased, and many areas of Texas
benefited from the North American Free Trade Agreement(NAFTA). This 1994
agreement signed by Canada, the United States, and Mexico called for the gradual
removal of tariff and trade barriers. The areas of Texas that benefited were
concentrated in the industrial triangle of Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San
Antonio. Other parts of the state—east Texas, south Texas, and the Panhandle—did
not fully recover from the economic collapse and have not received the expected
benefits from NAFTA. Areas along the border, in particular, have lost
manufacturing and assembly plants to Mexico, and the growth of new service
industries has not eased high unemployment.
Texas has also continued to lose
petroleum-related and defense jobs. In addition, Texas farmers faced drought
conditions in the late 1990s. West Texas agriculture was hit hardest by
extremely dry weather in 1998, although most other regions of the state were
also affected.
Despite these few problem areas, the
general economic recovery in Texas since 1989 has attracted new immigration to
the state. White immigrants continued to move from the Northern states into
Texas, mostly to the suburbs of the large cities in the industrial triangle.
These newcomers tended to vote Republican, joining with Republican voters in
west Texas to make the Republican Party important in state elections. That
growth matched the national trend, and the majority of Texans voted for the
Republican candidate Ronald Reagan and his running mate, the Texan
vice-presidential candidate, George Bush, in the 1984 and 1988 presidential
elections. Bush’s son, George W. Bush, was elected governor in 1994 and
reelected in 1998. When Bush was elected president of the United States in 2000,
he resigned the governorship, and Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry became
governor. Perry is also a Republican. The state has two Republican U.S. senators
, Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, and the party has made strong gains in
the state legislature and county elections. Texas is changing from a largely
Democratic state to a largely Republican one, and Texas Republicans usually
represent the most conservative wing of the national Republican Party.
Texas’s population grew by 1.5 million
in the early 1990s, making the state the second largest in the country—after
California. In the 1980s and 1990s the largest immigrant group came from south
of the U.S. border, mostly from Mexico, but also from other Latin American
countries. Mexican immigration to Texas, both legal and illegal, has made
Hispanics the largest minority in the state. An increase in the Asian
population, primarily from the countries of Southeast Asia, began in the 1980s
and continued in the 1990s. Demographers predict that by 2010 Texas will have a
population composed of 36.7 percent non-Hispanic whites; 9.5 percent blacks;
45.9 percent Hispanics (who may be of any race); and 7.9 percent of other racial
and ethnic groups.
The new immigrants tended to join
black Texans in the inner cities, or settle in the Río Grande Valley, south of
San Antonio. They usually vote Democratic and have a much lower income level
than whites who live in suburbs. Texas thus confronts the problem, as does the
nation, of politically powerful and affluent suburbs that surround poor cities
in which the inhabitants have been historically disenchanted with the political
process.
In 1993 a 51-day standoff between
federal law-enforcement officials and members of the religious group the Branch
Davidians took place near Waco, resulting in the deaths of as many as 80 group
members and four federal agents. The Branch Davidians, a religious movement that
had split from the Seventh-Day Adventists in the 1930s, had moved to Waco in
1934. In the early 1990s anticult activists, including some former Branch
Davidian members, accused the group of various abuses, including illegal
ownership of weapons. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF)
decided to search their compound in Waco for illegal weapons. The ATF raid on
February 28, 1993, however, turned into a gunfight in which four agents were
killed along with as many as five Davidians. The raid was followed by a lengthy
standoff between agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
Branch Davidians. The standoff ended on April 19, when federal agents injected
tear gas into the buildings in an attempt to force the occupants out. A fire
broke out, and although some escaped the blaze, 75 Branch Davidians remained
inside and perished, including 25 children. Both the FBI and U.S. Attorney
General Janet Reno came under heavy criticism for the siege of the Waco
compound. In late October and early November 1995 the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee held hearings concerning the ATF’s procedures, and representatives for
the ATF argued that their procedures had been changed to prevent any similar
situations from occurring.
The history section of this article
was contributed by Robert A. Calvert. The remainder of the article was
contributed by Robin W. Doughty.
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