War for Independence

Main article: Texas Revolution

In 1835, Antonio López de Santa Anna, President of Mexico, proclaimed a unified constitution for all Mexican territories, including Texas. North American settlers in Texas announced they intended to secede from Mexico rather than be forced to the new Mexican constitution and instead, asked for consideration under the original 1824 Mexican Constitution which allowed: freedom of religion, freedom of thought and the press and also enslavement, which Mexico had abolished under this new constitution. Other policies that irritated the Texans included the forcible disarmament of Texan settlers, and the expulsion of immigrants and legal land owners originally from the United States. The example of the Centralista forces' suppression of dissidents in Zacatecas also inspired fear of the Mexican government.Texas Revolution from the Handbook of Texas Online

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

On March 2, 1836, the Convention of 1836 signed a Declaration of Independence,Unanimous Declaration of Independence declaring Texas an independent nation.Convention of 1836 from the Handbook of Texas Online On April 21, 1836, the Texans won their independence when they defeated the Mexican forces of Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. A factor in the defeat of Santa Anna's army at San Jacinto was the time the Texas Army got to gather itself, thanks to a small group of defenders at The Alamo and General Sam Houston's strategy of giving up land until he had rallied an army. Santa Anna was captured and signed the Treaties of Velasco, which gave Texas firm boundaries; Mexico repudiated the treaties, considered Texas a breakaway province, and vowed to reconquer it. However, the Mexican political system was so unstable that it was never able to make good on its threats. Later in 1836, the Texans adopted a constitution that formally legalized slavery in Texas. The Republic of Texas included all the area now included in the state of Texas, and additional unoccupied territory to the west & northwest.

Annexation and Statehood

Texans strongly wanted annexation to the United States. Mexico threatened war if this happened. Great Britain tried to maintain Texas independence (as a counterweight to the United States), maintained a Texas Embassy in London, and tried to convince Mexico to stop threatening war. Texas was fast-growing but still poor, and was almost incapable of self-defense up through at least the Dawson Massacre and two recaptures of Béxar in Texas of 1842. This only helped to strengthen the resolve of Texas to join the United States. Calvert, R., De Léon, A. & Cantrell, G. (2002), The History of Texas, Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson. However, American politics intruded; strong Northern opposition to adding another slave state blocked annexation until the election of 1844 was won on a pro-annexation platform by James K. Polk. On December 29, 1845, Texas was admitted to the United States as a constituent state of the Union.Annexation from the Handbook of Texas Online The Mexican–American War followed, with decisive American victories.Mexican War from the Handbook of Texas Online Texas grew rapidly as migrants poured into the rich cotton lands.Cotton Culture from the Handbook of Texas Online

Civil War and Reconstruction

During the American Civil War, the Texas legislature authorized secession from the United States on February 1, 1861 and was accepted as a state by the provisional government of the Confederate States of America on March 1, 1861.Secession Convention from the Handbook of Texas OnlineTx Almanac. Retrieved on 2006-09-03. Texas was most useful for supplying hardy soldiers for Confederate forces (veterans of the Mexican-American War), and in cavalry. As a whole, Texas was mainly a "supply state" for the Confederate forces until mid 1863, when the Union capture of the Mississippi River made large movements of men or cattle impossible. Texas regiments fought in every major battle throughout the war.Texas Civil War Museum. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.

The last battle of the Civil War, The Battle of Palmito Ranch, was fought in Texas, on May 12, 1865, well after Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.Battle of Palmito Ranch from the Handbook of Texas Online Texas descended into near-anarchy during the two months between the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia and the assumption of authority by (Union) General Gordon Granger, as Confederate forces demobilized or disbanded and government property passed into private hands through distribution or plunder.Civil War from the Handbook of Texas Online

Juneteenth commemorates the announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas, by General Gordon Granger; nearly 1-1/2 years after the original announcement of January 1, 1863.Juneteenth from the Handbook of Texas Online On March 30, 1870, although Texas did not meet all the requirements, the United States Congress readmitted Texas into the Union.Restoration from the Handbook of Texas Online

Texas in Prosperity, Depression, and War: 1914–1945

The first major oil well in Texas was drilled at Spindletop, the little hill south of Beaumont, on the morning of January 10, 1901. Other oil fields were later discovered nearby in East Texas, in West Texas and under the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting “Oil Boom” permanently transformed the economy of Texas.Spindletop Oilfield from the Handbook of Texas Online Oil production eventually averaged three million barrels of oil per day at its peak in 1972.Oil and Gas Industry from the Handbook of Texas Online

The economy, which had experienced significant recovery since the Civil War, was dealt a double blow by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.

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

Texas modernizes: 1945—

From 1950 through the 1960s, Texas modernized and dramatically expanded its system of higher education. Under the leadership of Governor John B. Connally, the state produced a long-range plan for higher education, a more rational distribution of resources, and a central state apparatus that managed state institutions with greater efficiency. Because of these changes, Texas universities received federal funds for research and development during the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations.Blanton, Carlos Kevin. "The Campus and the Capitol: John B. Connally and the Struggle over Texas Higher Education Policy, 1950-1970" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 108(4): 468-497. ISSN 0038-478X

Geography

Main article: Geography of Texas

The geography of Texas spans a wide range of features and timelines. Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. It is in the south-central part of the United States of America. It is considered to form part of the U.S. South and also part of the U.S. Southwest.

The Rio Grande, Red River and Sabine River all provide natural state lines where Texas borders Oklahoma on the north, Louisiana and Arkansas on the east, and New Mexico and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south.

By residents, the state is generally divided into North Texas, East Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, and West Texas, but according to the Texas Almanac, Texas has four major physical regions: Gulf Coastal Plains, Interior Lowlands, Great Plains, and The Basin and Range Province. This is the difference between human geography and physical geography.

Some regions of Texas are associated with the South more than the Southwest (primarily East Texas and North Texas), while other regions share more similarities with the Southwest than the South (primarily West Texas and South Texas). The Texas Panhandle and South Plains regions don't fit either category; they seem to have more in common with parts of the Midwestern United States. The size of Texas prohibits easy categorization of the entire state wholly in any recognized region of the United States; geographic, economic, and even cultural diversity between regions of the state preclude treating Texas as a region in its own right.

See also: Texas Irrigation Canals

Geology

Main article: Geology of Texas

Shaded Relief Map of the Llano Estacado.

Texas is the southernmost part of the Great Plains, which ends in the south against the folded Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. It is mostly sedimentary rocks, with east Texas underlain by a Cretaceous and younger sequence of sediments, the trace of ancient shorelines east and south until the active continental margin of the Gulf of Mexico is met. This sequence is built atop the subsided crest of the Appalachian Mountains–Ouachita Mountains–Marathon Mountains zone of Pennsylvanian continental collision, which collapsed when rifting in Jurassic time opened the Gulf of Mexico. West from this orogenic crest, which is buried beneath the Dallas–Waco–Austin–San Antonio trend, the sediments are Permian and Triassic in age. Oil is found in the Cretaceous sediments in the east, the Permian sediments in the west, and along the Gulf coast and out on the Texas continental shelf. A few exposures of Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks are found in the central and western parts of the state, and Oligocene volcanic rocks are found in far west Texas, in the Big Bend area. A blanket of Miocene sediments known as the Ogallala formation in the western high plains region is an important aquifer. Texas has no active or dormant volcanoes and few earthquakes, being situated far from an active plate tectonic boundary. (The Big Bend area is the most seismically active; however, the area is sparsely populated and suffers minimal damages and injuries, and no known fatalities have been attributed to a Texas earthquake.)

Climate

The large size of the state of Texas and its location at the intersection of several climate zones gives the state highly variable weather. The Panhandle of the state is cooler in the winter than North Texas or the gulf coast. Different regions of Texas experience vastly different precipitation patterns: El Paso averages as little as 7.8 inches of rain per year while the average annual precipitation is 59 inches in Orange, Texas.Weather. Handbook of Texas Online. Moderate snowfall often falls in the winter months in the north. Maximum temperatures in the summer months average from the 80s °F in the mountains of West Texas and on Galveston Island to around 100 °F in the Rio Grande Valley. Nighttime summer temperatures range from the upper 50s °F in the West Texas mountainsMonthly Averages for Marfa, TX weather.com to 80 °F in Galveston.Monthly Averages for Galveston, TX. weather.com.

Thunderstorms are more common in the eastern and northern part of the state, although they are far from rare elsewhere in the state. Tornadoes are common in Texas, with the state averaging around 139 a year, more than any other state. [1] NOAA National Climatic Data Center. Retrieved on October 24, 2006. Tornadoes are most frequent in the northern half of the state from April-July, although tornadoes can happen anywhere in the state, except perhaps for the Big Bend area.

See also: Catastrophic Texas Hurricanes since 1900

Law and government

Main article: Government of Texas

State law and government

Republican Rick Perry has served as Governor of Texas since December 2000, when George W. Bush vacated the office to assume the Presidency. Two Republicans represent Texas in the U.S. Senate: Kay Bailey Hutchison (since 1993) and John Cornyn (since 2002). Texas has 32 representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives: 21 Republicans and 11 Democrats.

The Texas Constitution, adopted in 1876, is the second oldest state constitution still in effect. As with many state constitutions, it explicitly provides for the separation of powers and incorporates its bill of rights directly into the text of the constitution (as Article I). The bill of rights is considerably lengthier and more detailed than the federal Bill of Rights, and includes some provisions unique to Texas.

The executive branch consists of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Land Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, the State Board of Education, and the Secretary of State. The comptroller decides if expected state income is sufficient to cover the proposed state budget. Except for the secretary of state—who is appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate—each of these officials is elected (the three Railroad Commission members are voted at-large; the State Board of Education members are voted in single-member districts). There are also many state agencies and numerous boards and commissions. Partly because of many elected officials, the governor's powers are quite limited in comparison to other state governors or the U.S. President. In popular lore and belief the lieutenant governor, who heads the Senate and appoints its committees, has more power than the governor. The governor commands the state militia and can veto bills passed by the Legislature and call special sessions of the Legislature (this power is exclusive to the governor and can be exercised as often as desired). The governor also appoints members of various executive boards and fills judicial vacancies between elections.

The Legislature of Texas, like the legislature of every other state except Nebraska, is bicameral (that is, it has two chambers). The House of Representatives has 150 members, while the Senate has 31. The speaker of the house, currently Tom Craddick (R-Midland) leads the House, and the lieutenant governor (currently Republican David Dewhurst) leads the state Senate. The Legislature meets in regular session only once every two years. The Legislature cannot call itself into special session; only the governor may call a special session, and may call as many sessions as often as desired.

The judicial system of Texas has a reputation as one of the most complex in the United States, with many layers and many overlapping jurisdictions. Texas has two courts of last resort: the Texas Supreme Court, which hears civil cases, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Except in the case of some municipal benches, partisan elections choose all of the judges at all levels of the judiciary; the governor fills vacancies by appointment.

County government

Texas has a total of 254 counties, by far the most counties of any state. Each county is run by a commissioners court consisting of four elected commissioners (one from each of four precincts drawn based on population) and a county judge elected from all the voters of the county. County government is similar to the "weak" mayor-council system; the county judge ha