Political Parties in Texas during the 1850’s- During this time, Texas had been newly accepted

into the United States. James Pinckney Henderson served as the elected governor, and
Sam Houston as one of their US senators. More than that, the US had just gained more
land including California which was filled with gold. But it was not all so simple and
good, there was an issue that was tearring the union apart, slaves. The northerners wanted
to do away with slavery and the southerners wanted to continue with slavery. Another
question was, would California be a slave state too? Third thing was that they were
arguing about boundaries, would it be at the Rio Grande or would most of New Mexico
be excluded. Then in 1850 Henry Clay, a senator from Kentucky, made a proposition. In
this proposition the slave trade would end in the nations capital, they would pass a strong
fugitive slave law, the territories from Mexico would be organized, and California would
be a free state. At first Texans were not happy about not getting their lands, but then felt
okay when the boundaries were set to be from the Rio Grande, and they would get $10
million from the US. Traditionally Texans were more in the democratic party. Then came
along the whig party, which was created in the late 1840s and ended in the early 1850s.
THe slavery issues were what caused the end of the whig party. Then we had the
Known-Nothings, an organization that was made up of nativists, anti-catholics,
democrat-haters, unionists,and other nationalistic elements. Many people became
intrigued with this group and switched over. Their support for state banks and federally
subsidized programs of internal improvements appealed to planters, lawyers, and
merchants. Even with the win in 1854, this party soon came to an end as slavery too
would be what divided the party. The growing vigor of the Republican party further
weakened the Texas Democrats.
The year 1859- In August of 1859 Sam Houston won and became governor. After this Houston
distanced himself from the Know-Nothings and claimed to be the same staunch supporter
of national democracy that he had always been. By doing this, he received support from
non-slave holding voters in the Rio Grande country, western Texas, and North Texas. Yet
he still appealed to former Know-Nothings and Whigs and successfully enticed into his
camp several thousand voters who had not participated in the election of 1857. He also
won the support of two other elements; those eligible to vote for the first time and new
people who recently arrived in Texas. This 1859 victory was hailed as a tribute to
unionism, but it was only a partial success. The Secessionist Democrats ended up
selecting Louis T. Wigfall, a fire-eater, to represent them in the US senate. In the fall of
1859, there were many issues occurring. One of them being that John Brown attempted to
have a slave rebellion. This caused fear within the south because this meant the
northerners would do anything, even be violent, in order to end slavery. They did not
know the willingness of the government's abilities to defend the border region. WHen
members of the HOR in Washington DC wasted two months debating the selection of a
Republican speaker between 1859-1860, thereby delaying defense measures for the Texas
 frontier communities, many Texans grew convinced that the Republicans held the
immediate concerns of their party above those others.
The election of 1860- On april 23, 1860, the democrats met up to nominate their candidate for
the upcoming presidential election. They did not come to an agreement and tried again in
June, but they failed there again. In frustration, they split from the national party and
ended up electing John C. Breckinridge as their candidate. The northern democrats
wicked Stephen A. Douglas as their candidate. Some others came together to try and
unionize the parties, and while that happened the northerners were thinking of picking
Abraham Lincoln. Texas democrats at first had trouble picking who they supported, but
by summer most Texans showed support for Breckinridge. He was the one that most
mirrored the pro-slavery stance of Texas. Even with this Abraham Lincoln was still
winning. They thought he would ignore the state’s frontier problems, push for tariffs, and
internal improvement programs that southern states resisted.
Cause of secession- The news of Abraham Lincoln becoming president of the United States,
brough Texans to want succession. Mainly because they feared that this meant that he
would do away with slavery, and one after another the southern states began to ask for
succession. Then on December 17, Houston called for the legislature to meet in for a
special session on January 21, 1861. Thereby legalizing secession convention; still he
asked that the decision of the secessionists be submitted to a public referendum. Then on
January 28, 1861, the delegates met in the so called secession convention and votes
where sever ties with the north 166 for 8 against. There are many other theories of why
the secession happened. One being that there was a conspiracy by the northern
republicans to overturn the southern culture. Another was the denunciation of slavery as
immoral or its defense as a positive good. Then there was the constitutional issues of the
states’ rights versus the inviolability of the Union. THe incompatibility of the economic
systems of the south and the north. And then the conflicting values that revolved around
religion, immigration, cultural conformity, or sectional prejudices.
Secessionist sentiment in Texas- Texas really wanted to stray away from this Union as it feared
that slavery would abolish. On February 23, by a statewide referendum, Texas ratified
secession, with 46,188 votes for and 15,149 against. By 1850, people who had resided in
the lower south regions had already been deep in the cotton and slavery culture. This is
what led plantation owners and their supporters to vote for secession. They were wanting
to keep their economy the way it was as it was growing more now with sugar as well and
it all required slave labor. Voters living in the upper south regions strongly rejected the
call for disunion. This was mainly because this cultural province had few slaves. The
west Texas frontier was opposed to secession. Shortly after the referendum, the secession
convention announced the withdrawal of Texas from the Union. This called for a new
constitution to be written. Houston refused, and when he declined to swear allegiance to
the South, they replaced him with Edward Clark. Refusing to stay in office, Houston
rejected Lincoln's offer and instead relocated with his family to Galveston.
The Civil War in Texas- Texans took up the Southern cause without hesitation. Acting under the
instructions of the Secession Convention, Ben McCulloch on February 16 went to San
Antonio, compelled Brigadier General David E. Twiggs, commander of the Department
of Texas, to surrender all US forces there and evacuate federal property in Texas, then
raised the Lone Star flag over the Alamo. A few days later, Colonel John S. “Rip” Ford,
with some 500 volunteers, captured Brazos Island, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, from
its twelve US Army defenders. By the time that news of the shelling of Fort Sumter
arrived in South Texas, Ford had taken Fort Brown and secured the lower Rio Grande
country, gaining a foothold on the Mexican port city of Matamoros across the Rio
Grande. A glorious remembrance of the past drove the will to enlist in the Confederate
cause. Texans recalled the more noble aspects of their rebellion against Mexican tyranny
in 1836 and what they hailed as the majestic days of the Republic. Now, in 1861, they
saw fellow Southerners similarly assailing despotism and in secession another oppressed
community embroiled in a struggle for liberation. Texas nationalism, therefore, thrust the
state into secession and, once committed, Texans made the call of the Confederacy an
echo of the one (as they remembered it) of their illustrious past, one of liberty, freedom,
and independence. With the withdrawal of federal troops from posts on the northern and
western frontiers, the responsibility of protecting citizens from Comanche hostility fell
upon state and special volunteer companies. By the summer of 1861, these units appeared
in Indian country along the Red River, chasing away Comanche war parties. By 1862,
Texas forces occupied eighteen military stations roughly from the 97th meridian at the
Red River, thence southwestward toward Eagle Pass in South Texas. But the Comanches
were too masterful and resourceful to be deterred from conducting their raids, and
throughout the Civil War they continued to wreak havoc upon settlers. By war’s end, the
line of settlement in West Texas had receded conspicuously eastward toward the interior
of the state, running from today’s counties of Cooke to Uvalde. As the westward wing of
the Confederacy, Texas served as a launching point for campaigns against Union forces
along the upper Rio Grande. An expedition under Lieutenant Colonel John R. Baylor
subdued Fort Bliss in El Paso in July 1861, and the next month Baylor’s men assumed
control of southern New Mexico. Another campaign under Henry Hopkins Sibley left
San Antonio in November 1861, marched through the El Paso Valley, and moved into
New Mexico, where it met up with Baylor and his men. Then, on February 21, 1862, the
Sibley Brigade, temporarily under the command of Colonel Tom Green, encountered
Union soldiers at Valverde, and in an all‐day battle defeated the Unionists. Sibley then
continued toward Upper New Mexico and brought it, too, under Confederate rule. In late
March, the Union launched a counteroffensive and repelled the Southerners, forcing them
back to Fort Bliss. Sibley and what remained of his force retreated to San Antonio by the
summer of 1862. After this time, most of the trans‐Pecos region fell to Union control.
The Texas coast had ever remained vulnerable to Union attacks, but in late 1862 John
Bankhead Magruder took steps to secure this vital area. Of extreme value was the port
city of Galveston, which had fallen to Union guns in October of that year. In a daring
night assault on New Year’s Day 1863, Magruder’s unit (which included troops under
Colonel Tom Green of New Mexico fame) attacked the city by both land and sea. Fierce
fighting ensued, resulting in a spectacular Confederate win that reestablished their control
of Galveston. A few days later, Union gunboats returned to regain the port and shell other
fortifications along the coast, but the Confederates repelled the strike. Still, Magruder and
the Texans knew that the federals would return, and they duly prepared for an all‐out
Union invasion of the state, though they did not know when or where the enemy troops
would land. In the middle of 1863, the war’s current turned against the South following
Union victories at Gettysburg (Pennsylvania), Vicksburg (Mississippi), and Chattanooga
(Tennessee). For Texans, the task of defending the state’s three frontiers remained. In the
north and west, a state of near‐anarchy persisted throughout the war years. Organized
rings of bandits and cattle rustlers proliferated, with much of the resulting lawlessness
and loss of property conveniently blamed on Indians. Indian raids–consistently
exaggerated in official reports– continued sporadically, including one major attack by
Comanches on settlers near Elm Creek in Young County in October 1864 in which seven
whites were killed and several women and children were taken captive. The Texan
authorities rarely responded effectively to such incidents. In January 1865, a combined
force of Rangers and Confederate soldiers attacked a camp of 1400 peaceful Kickapoos
at Dove Creek, west of San Angelo. Armed with new Enfield rifles, the Indians killed
some thirty‐five soldiers and wounded another sixty, routing the attackers. Overall,
however, Texas Indians emerged from the Civil War in a weakened condition. Severe
droughts (in 1860, 1862, and 1864), disease, and Anglo retaliation for crimes real and
imagined caused the Comanche population of the southern plains to decline by as much
as 40 percent between 1860 and 1865. In August 1865, federal authorities in Kansas
signed a peace treaty with the Plains tribes, relinquishing much of West Texas west of the
100th meridian to the Comanches. The US government soon reneged on the treaty
(Texans never recognized it) and conflict on the frontier would continue into the 1870s.
On the southeastern coastline, the long‐anticipated Union offensive against the state
occurred in September of 1863, when a Union fleet of four gunboats and twenty‐two
troop transport vessels carrying approximately 4000 men attacked Sabine Pass. Though
outnumbered, the Confederates led by Lieutenant Richard W. Dowling repulsed the
attack. Recoiling, the Union troops turned their invasion plans to the region of the lower
Rio Grande Valley. On November 2, 1863, Nathaniel P. Banks and some 7000 Union
troops took Brownsville (Figures 5.7 and 5.8), interrupting the important Confederate
supply line through Matamoros. Now the Union marched north to secure the Nueces
region, but ultimately it decided it best hold Brownsville only and concentrate on plans
for another northeastern invasion of the state. Not until the next summer of 1864 did Rip
Ford regain the lower Valley and restore the supply lines from Matamoros to Texas (and
from there to the rest of the Confederacy). The expected counterattack upon South Texas
 came in May 1865; this time Ford rebuffed the enemy. But the Unionists proved to be
members of the regular garrison at Brazos Island (a small island near the mouth of the
Rio Grande), which Ford had failed to take in 1864. From a prisoner of war, Ford learned
that the South had surrendered over a month earlier. As fate would have it, this was the
last land battle of the Civil War.
Texans in the Confederate War Effort- In the Texans that had contributed to the war effort,
people did not know the exact number of the people that had been involved; it was known
to be maybe 68,500, but some say it was more that it was about 90,000. When
determining the number of casualties remains elusive; around 24,000 Texans that had
been perished when they were fighting for four years. Furthermore, many Texans had
distinguished themselves in combat in the Texas units. When discussing more companies
winning praise in valor, Terry’s Texas Rangers was named for the unit’s organizer,
Benjamin Franklin Terry. Now the Rangers had seen constant action in the
Kentucky‐Tennessee‐Mississippi region and, carrying out their reputation for swift and
daring mounted attacks, assisted in efforts to delay Sherman’s march through Georgia in
1864. Also earning kudos for bravery was Ross’s Texas Brigade, named for its
commander, Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross. This cavalry brigade conducted hit‐and‐run
strikes in the Alabama–Mississippi–Tennessee theater and participated in several major
battles and numerous small engagements–in three months in 1864, Ross’s unit engaged
the enemy almost daily. Another outfit that won wide acclaim for its audacity and bravery
was Hood’s Texas Brigade, named for John Bell Hood, who succeeded the brigade’s
original organizer, Louis T. Wigfall. Now this unit had fought the military of the Army
that was located in Northern Virginia. They had participated in the Battle of Manassas
and Antietam in the late summer of 1862 and another battle in the Battle of Gettysburg in
July 1863.
Civilians in Texas during the Civil War- In talking about labor scarcity when it came to
civilians in Texas during the Civil War, it forced women and children to toil
in the munitions factories. Unable to collect taxes or place confidence in the paper money it
issued, the state found it difficult to purchase weapons elsewhere. Troopers had to supply their
gear, and in the latter stages of the war, fighting men had so much trouble acquiring mounts,
firearms, and other provisions that they called on families back home to furnish their basic
requirements, including clothes. With proper medical care commonly insufficient, soldiers
suffered ailments like colds and stomach disorders, if not epidemics of infectious diseases such as
measles. Food scarcities compelled soldiers to confiscate domesticated animals from civilians,
including pigs and chickens. The state also strained to assist distressed families of
Confederate soldiers serving at the battlefront. Families at home contended with problems male
heads of households previously discharged: working the crops, making home repairs, fixing
broken fences, and so on. At the local level, charitable groups stepped up to help suffering
families and their men and boys in combat. Women often led this task, working
with municipal officers and other civic‐minded leaders. With returns from various
fund‐raising functions–such as dinners, entertainment programs, and musical
performances–ladies' societies aided families with members in the Confederate ranks but also
helped found Soldiers’ Aid Societies. As to Mexican Americans, only the relative isolation of the
border country protected them from attacks such as those Anglos had leveled against Germans,
even though 2500 Tejanos served in the Confederate's ranks, including officers like Santos
Benavides.
Impacts of the Civil War in Texas- The way the civil war had an impact in Texas when it ended
was that. There has been a surrender that had taken place on a Confederate leader by the
name of Robert E. Lee at the Appomattox courthouse in Virginia; in this case, Texans had
thought of the future in a sense of satisfaction, remorse, and uncertainty. Now there was
pride that had taken place in Texans that they had played a major battle in the civil war
because of that the number of regarded officers who had furnished the confederacy. Now
the war had furthered or even launched the political careers of various Texan veterans.
No, instead of recognizing the effects of the military invasion in Texas, I decided to avoid
the wild spread of destruction and the demoralizing effects of the military invasion;
because of this, Texans wanted to forget of everything that they remembered and decided
to distance themselves of the painful memories of slavery, secession, and defeat. Instead,
they decided to use the state's frontier plus the Western heritage. Furthermore, all the
experiences like the antebellum and the civil war it had gave Texans meaning Texas a
distinctly Southern identity for years and years to come. Though Texas and the S did lose
the war in that legal slave meaning slavery was a thing of the past so if they wanted to
continue something in the United States, it would have to be tread in the rugged Rd. of
reconstruction
Administration of Andrew Jackson Hamilton- After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated,
Andrew Jackson Hamilton succeeded in the presidency on April 15, 1865. Andrew
Jackson was a former US congressman from Texas and a unionist who fled to the North
as provisional governor of Texas on the day of June 17, 1865. No one named Johnson had
instructed Hamilton to call a convention plus to undertake the necessary steps to form a
new civil government in the state. Furthermore, Hamilton was a new provisional
governor; he had faced a task that was not easy. What he had to think about first was that
anything that had a new state government for Texas had to satisfy President Johnson and
the people in the Republican Congress plus the political realities at home, And this was
where whites wanted to maintain white supremacy but also resumed their former political
power. Now Hamilton had the idea to finally conclude That the only way to be acceptable
to Congress was that the new state constitution must protect the life, liberty, and property
of blacks but not only that to assure that the blacks had equal protection under the law
plus the right to testify in trials. Though Hamilton did not advocate political rights such
as voting or even office holding for freedom. What Hamilton did believe in, though, was
the convention in which it should formally recognize the end of slavery. He believed it to
happen by ratifying the 13th amendment to the federal constitution and the state
 government, which had to be controlled by citizens loyal to the United States
government. Now, later on how Milton had a faction which was called the union party.
Now the ones that had shaped the Union party politics were the Confederate Texans. In
continuation, when the war had started in Texas, the Texans who had been loyal to the
South had abused those sympathetic to the North by committing acts of violence on them.
Not only that, but they were also confiscating the possessions and basically violating the
unionist's constitutional rights. Now, after all, that happened in 1865, the unionists had
resolved to take control of the state's government. It had the idea that the ex-Confederates
had to pay for further offenses. Now Hamilton had hoped no time he could have support
not only by the avoided wartime unionist but also by the opposed secessionist Democrats
that was before the war. In other words, Hamilton wanted to reconstruct a moderate
coalition supported in Sam Houston in the 1850s.
Furthermore, there had been a conservative opposition to the unionist of Hamilton that had
taken shape. Because of this, Hamilton did delay for a long while until he could yield to the
pressure of President Johnson, who had pressed in a rapid real statement in the former
Confederate states. Now Hamilton, on November 17, 1865, had the idea of an election to be
held on January 8, 1866, because he wanted to select delegates for 28 constitutional
conventions. In this convention, all the white Texans were able to participate by saving those
excluded by President Johnsons' amnesty Proclamation in the previous year; So, when the
convention had assembled in Austin on February 7, 1866, the conservative factions had been
represented.
Conservative Unionist- Conservationists of Unionists, violence took place, for instance, the campaigns
of murder plus plunder that land Breakers had led in the intense undermining of the unionist that
was influenced after the civil war. Instead of acting loudly, these land Breakers of bands acted in
silence in the sense of rebel, which happened from 1865 to 1874; it targeted freed persons,
northern soldiers, freedom bureau agents, members of the state police, and those who were
opposed to the re-emergence of antebellum; in its attitudes and ways. Furthermore, the pro
confederate rings had been led by Creed Taylor and his relatives, in which Tim and his relatives
had terrorized the law-abiding citizens, for instance, the northern rule in Texas. but it was
mostly on the southern and western edges of Central Texas, in which they hired gunslingers,
stole cattle and horses pillaged at will, and committed acts of cold-blooded murder but with the
ascent of conservative Democrats. Now, additionally, there was a deputy sheriff of DeWitt
County by the name of William E. Sutton, plus other law officers who had killed most of
Taylors 's family members during the year of 1868 now the these desperados had sworn
vengeance, in which they had assaulted sudden in the year of 1874. no in Taylors gans regin of
terror it had finally ended during the time that the reconstruction had ended. in which the
Democrats had been back in power in Texas which had meant that they had gotten a law in
order to implement whatever agenda that they had; overall the conflict that had happened was
named Sutton, in other words, it was known as Tylor Feud.
The election of James Throckmorton- James Throckmorton, Texas Republicans had gotten a chance
to implement their own platform when General Philip Sheridan, who was the commander of the
military district had included Texas, removed Governor James W. Throckmorton from the
office, which then made citing him as an impediment to Reconstruction on July 30, 1867, and
replaced him with Elisha M. Pease as the interim governor. Furthermore, the commander of the
sub district of Texas had followed up by dismissing all the principal statewide elected officials
and recruiting Republicans to fill the vacant offices. Furthermore, in the end, the military
authorities had been unable to find acceptable officials for the bulk of local posts; in that case,
there had only been 500 of 2377 elected officials that had been ultimately replaced. Now,
leaving so many unreconstructed rebels in place had drastically limited the aims of
Congressional Reconstruction and had left the future of the state’s new Republican Party in
question. Military authorities then had announced an election in February of the year 1868 in
order to pick delegates to get into a different constitutional convention, but that had to be for
summer, which had been scheduled.
The administration of James Throckmorton- In the administration of James Throckmorton as
governor, the legislature had convened in August 1866 and acted with dispatch to empower the
conservative Democratic leaders of the state. For example, the legislators chose one of Texas’s
US senators Oran M. Roberts was the same man who had presided over the secession
convention 1861. Moreover, the legislators were inclined to support the programs being
advanced by the ex‐Confederates. Lastly, the lawmakers worked to limit civil rights for blacks.
Black Codes in Texas- In order to regulate the live of African Americans, the 1866 state legislator
enacted a “black code,” a body of laws resembling those adopted in other ex-Confederate
States. The black code did not mention race specifically, but it clearly intended to dictate the
ways in which the freedmen could earn a living. The black code, for example, included a
contract labor law specifying that laborers wanting to work for more than 30 days would have to
enter a “binding agreement.” A child apprenticeship law provided employers with easy
opportunity to indenture black children until they reached adulthood or married. Other segments
of the black code stipulated that workers suspected of being truant from their jobs could be
arrested and put to work on public projects without pay until they agree to return to their proper
employer. Further legislative acts clarified what the constitution of 1866 had failed to
enumerate: Blacks were prohibited from interracial marriage, holding public office, serving on
juries, voting, or pressing claims or bearing witness against white defendants in the courts.
though such measures, the conservatives sought to re-establish, as nearly as possible, the social
conditions that had existed for African Americans in Texas before the Civil War, including
serving as a cheap and controllable labor force.
The Freedmen's Bureau in Texas- During Presidential Reconstruction, Texans also resisted the
efforts of the Bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands, commonly known as the
Freedmen's Bureau. Established by the US Congress in 1865 to help African Americans across
the South make the transition From Slavery to Freedom, the Freedmen's Bureau dispatched
Bureau agents to Texas in September 1865 to discharge its functions. No sooner did the agents
arrive, however, than trouble begin. White Texans tested the outsiders from the north, looking
upon Bureau men as “carpet baggers” who wanted to render the South powerless, as Intruders
bent on interfering with race relations, and as opportunists working only for the money, they
derived from their offices. moreover, The Bureau suffered internally from its own inability to fill
offices and build an administrative center as at the grassroots level most of its appointees were
recently retired Union Soldiers. With only about 70 field agents and subordinates at its full men
power level, the Freedmen's Bureau lacked the personnel to carry out its mission of helping
ex-slaves successfully enter society as free persons.
Congressional Reconstruction- Between March and July of 1867, the US Congress managed to
dismantle Johnson's reconstruction policies and redesigned them, inaugurating in the defeated
South the period that all historians call Congressional Reconstruction. Now, a series of new
Reconstruction Acts divided the ex-Confederacy into five districts, suspended existing state
Governments, and demanded that the ex-Confederate states right new constitutions, with all
Races participating in the selection of delegates to the receptive Constitutional Convention, all of
which had to draft new state constitutions that granted suffrage to black males and permitted
them to hold public office. All prospective voters were subjected to the restrictions of the
Reconstruction Acts, which barred from voting former Confederate office holders who had
earlier sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Therefore, under Congressional
reconstruction, only about 7,000 and 10,000 Texans were disenfranchised for having held office
before 1861 and then actively engaging in the Rebellion.
Convention of 1868- At the convention, which met in Austin on June 1st, 1868, delegates
engaged in continuous debate. Disagreements arose between followers of Edmund J. Davis, a
former district judge in Texas who became a brigadier general in the Union Army, and those of
former governors Pease and Hamilton. The Davis faction supported ad initio, equality for the
freedpersons, the state financing of public schools, the use of eastern railroad interests to build
new lines in Texas, the disfranchisement of the ex-Confederates, and the division of the state into
a number of smaller one. The moderate supporters of Pease and Hamilton rejected ab initio, the
effort to partition the state, the movement to extend complete civil rights to African Americans,
and the use of eastern railroad companies to further internal improvements. By late August, the
money allotted for the session run out, so the delegates disbanded until December with no
document ready to put before the electorate.
Constitution of 1869- The constitution of 1869, which resulted from the convention when it
adjourned in early February, departed from the Texas political tradition in a number of ways. It
be granted suffrage and general civil rights to Black Texans enthusiastically supported the
opportunity of all Texans to receive a public education, thought to check local and county-level
interference with state laws by increasing the power of the governor, and attempted to keep the
railroad from plundering the state's most valuable asset, by prohibiting a land grants to
corporations in order to further internal improvements. Some historians see this document as one
that augured a progressive social, political, and economic transformation.
 Administration of Elisha M Pease- On July 30th, 1867, Governor James Throckmorton was
replaced with Elisha M. Pease as interim governor. The commander of the sub-District of Texas
followed up by dismissing all the principal Statewide elected officials and recruiting Republicans
to fill the vacant offices. In the end, however, the military authorities were unable to find
acceptable officials for the bulk of local posts, and only 500 of 2,377 elected officials were
ultimately replaced. Leaving so many unreconstructed rebels in place drastically limited the aims
of Congressional Reconstruction and left the future of the State's new Republican party very
much in question. Military authorities then announced an election for February 1868 to choose
delegates to yet another constitutional convention scheduled for the coming summer. Having
taken over state government, the Republicans invited black political participation, and a number
of black Texans readily accepted, becoming active co-agents and giving direction to Texas
reconstruction. In the campaign to mobilize the freedmen at The grassroots level, many blacks
achieved leadership roles, the most prominent among them being George T. Ruby of Galveston.
As a teacher and traveling agent Freedmen’s Bureau, Ruby had already organized local chapters
of the Union (or Loyal) League in the areas he had visited. Throughout the South (and therefore
in Texas) the Union League after 1867 was the vehicle utilized to integrate the newly
enfranchised freedmen into the political process. The League also served African Americans in
efforts of self-help and self-protection. The convention of 1868 occurred during the
administration of Elisha M. Pease. Weakening the Republicans further was persistent intra-party
conflict. During the four-month adjournment of the Constitutional Convention, the state party
came to espouse discernible positions, and Texans started to refer to the Davis faction as
“Radicals” and the followers of Governors Pease and Hamilton as “Moderates.”
The union and army and the Freedmen's Bureau- From the time Congressional
reconstruction began in Texas until 1868 when the Freedmen's Bureau ceased operations in the
state, Bureau agents faced formidable opposition in their efforts to carry out their work. The
continued efforts of the Bureau agents between 1868 and 1869 to provide education for freedmen
were impeded by hostile whites who abused the northern teachers who stopped many of the
black schools. Still, the bureau made schooling a priority, and by 1870 the state-managed some
66 schools, with an enrollment of more than 3,000 black children; approximately 300 black
students even engaged in “higher” learning. The rate of black illiteracy had been reduced in the
process, and the groundwork for black education in the state had been established. The
southerners’ view that bureau agents were opportunistic carpetbaggers is not substantiated by
recent, balanced studies of the Texas bureau. True, some of the agents were inept and
disinterested in their work, but many, such as William G. Kirkman, who was stationed in Bowie
County in 1867 (and who was murdered by Cullen Montgomery Baker the next year), and
Charles E. Culver, who took command of a subdistrict in east-central Texas, defied such
classification. These two northerners carried out exemplary service in rendering needed
assistance of the respective black communities they served. The occupying troops, or blue coats,
meantime, continued to Bear the stigma of Outsiders who were propping up an unfriendly
government. At this point in Union Army soldiers began to perform even more duties, such as
helping to register voters of all Races, filling offices when local citizens could not take the
loyalty oath, trying lawbreakers and Military courts, protecting Freedmen & Freedmen Bureau
agents from the Ku Klux Klan, and forcing martial law. While Texans resented the
power-wielding by the occupation army, military rule in the state during Reconstruction continue
to be rigidly depicted as capricious and despotic.
The election of 1869- By the time of the state election in December 1869, the Republicans had
formally split and consequently fielded 2 candidates. The Radical Republicans chose Edmund J
Davis, who supported the principle of ab initio and the 13th and 14th amendments to the US
Constitution. Seeking to garner the support of disaffected Democrats, the moderate Republicans
ran A J Hamilton, even though he did not believe in much of the program.For a number of
reasons, the Democrats did not nominate a candidate of their own during the campaign.
Hamilton's moderate Republicans pushed hard to gain the support of the old guard conservative
Democrats, believing that this tragedy presented their best chance of defeating Davis. But several
factors undermined Hamilton's campaign.For one thing, Democrats refused to endorse A man
who dreamed the war had fled to the North while there.Hamilton had cemented his relationship
with national politicians and who had criticized them while serving as provisional governor.
More importantly, the radical Republican opposition marshaled the black vote through the efforts
of the Union League, in which Ruby’s registration efforts had paid dividends. Approximately
37,375 blacks cast ballots in 1869 and with their support and the utmost participation of the
Republican electorate Davis edged out Hamilton 39,838 to 39,005. Voters also approved the
Constitution of 1869 by a wide margin of seventeen, 72,366 to 4928. In January 1870, General
Joseph J Reynolds, Texas military commander, who was in.Perfect governor since Pease had
resigned in September 1869. Appointed Davis governor before Davis' 's constitutional term
officially began. The results of the election then went to the US Congress with few problems.
The Congress produced a bill to restore Texas to the Union, which President Ulysses S Grant had
signed on March.30 General Retinoids thereupon transferred civil authority to the slate of the
Republican winners on April 16th, 1870. This measure terminated Congressional Reconstruction
in Texas. Although the state now had a Republican controlled legislature, its membership
consisted of diverse elements.Although several Radicals had been victorious, Democrats and
their allies won more than 40% of the seats in both houses. Moderate Republicans furthermore,
held enough seats to sway legislation in either chamber. Additionally, 2 black senators and 12
black representatives sat in the 12th Legislature.1870 through 1871, they constituted about 12%
of the body's entire membership. Of these men, George T Ruby, This is the best known. Born,
raised, and educated in the North, Ruby came to Texas in 1866 via Louisiana, where he did
educational work among blacks as a teacher.Women's Bureau in Galveston. Ruby cultivated
close ties with the city's black community and established a solid political base, which she
enhanced by becoming an agent for the Bureau as he traveled throughout the state. In this
capacity, he established chapters of the Union League. By 1868, he captured the presidency of
the League and molded it into an efficient.Public and political machine. His influence in the
Republican Party circles became evident when he performed the duties of vice president at the
First State Convention.The Republicans held in Houston in 1868. Between 1869 and 1873, Ruby
served as a state senator from Galveston and contributed significantly to the work of several
influential committees.The other black senator was Matt Gaines, a self educated former slave
who became a lay preacher of the Baptist Church after the Civil War. And this legislator. He
gained attention as an advocate for African American causes and a persistent critic of those
colleagues who remain lukewarm on issues pertinent to blacks.Although he alienated the
opposition in the legislature, he won the grateful support of his African American constituents.
Although less strident than Ruby and Gains, the 12 black representatives who sat in the 12th
Legislature nonetheless served with competence, Richard Allen, a former slave who during
Reconstruction earned a reputation as an accomplished bridge builder. Held various public
offices locally, he has been judged to have been a very capable representative. Another
colleague, Benjamin F Williams and minister and land speculator wielded such influence among
his black associates in the House that he was nominated for Speaker.Overall, black legislators.I
served during the era of Reconstruction in Texas a mass political savvy and performed as well as
did their black counterparts throughout the South to an office. They had acquainted themselves
with the new politics and function adequately with it, and carrying out their work, they displayed
allegiance to the Republican Party
and their black supporters.But they also responded ably to the diverse needs of the districts they
represented
The administration of Edmund J Davis- Governor Edmund J Davis initiated what scholars
referred to as Radical Reconstruction. His top priorities include the reestablishment of law and
order, the funding of a statewide school system for blacks and whites, the subsidization of
internal improvements in the protection of the frontier, and executing these provisions.Under the
new state constitution, Davis was aided primarily by scalawags and only minimally by the
carpetbaggers of lore.Scalawags and Carpetbaggers were born out of the animosity towards
reconstruction. Both labels were invented by Southerners and used pejoratively, The former to
identify Southern whites allied with the Republican Party, and the latter to refer to Northerners
who participated in Radical Reconstruction. Southerners despised Both groups.Because of their
alleged collusion with the radicals. But in Texas, carpetbaggers hardly influenced
Reconstruction.With Scalawag, how?Therefore, the governor moved vigorously and in his first
two years in office, he made successful strikes.Towards.Accomplishing in his legislative goals,
Davis organized the state police.During its lifespan, the state police chased after organized
gangs, dealt with Clue Klux Klan activity and tracked down murderers, ruffians, And livestock
wrestlers attempted to settle. Local disputes erupting out of the era's myriad political differences
set out to diffuse county feuds while all the time trying to protect the freedmen from violence. A
state militia composed of Analystes between the ages of 18 and 45 was created.As a volunteer
unit to help guard the frontier and the border with Mexico. But the group could also assist in
handling internal problems or upheavals. Both these forces would be under the oversight of the
governor, for this legislation established an attractive homestead program designed to settle the
state and encourage farming, the plan offered.Several options, among them providing heads of
households 160 acres of land so long as the family worked its grant for three years. This
legislator also created a Bureau of Immigration to attract European settlers.In April 1871, Davis
signed a bill financing a public school system, which progressive features as a state
Superintendent and compulsory attendance. Higher, higher taxes were imposed on property to
finance, efforts and state issued bonds.Two railroad companies to subsidize railroad construction
projects and necessary moves given the prescriptions under the Constitution of 1869 against
awarding land grants.To Interstate railroad interest. Actually, these reforms harmonized with
most people's conventional politics. Texans always had desired some kind of public school
system. Since the 1850s, the government had tried to bring about the internal improvements, but
a program for an updated infrastructure was now set up across the state, not only for the old
Radical Reconstruction, therefore, did not seek to overturn long standing economic, political, and
social mores. The redistribution of land was never attempted, labor Did not receive.Protective
legislation and blacks, the backbone of the Republican Party, did not achieve full political
equality. Davis did make a place for African Americans and his administration, but no black
person held a high level position such as a cabinet post. Even key openings in the Republican
Party continued.Good black Texans.Overall, the Davis administration succeeded in establishing
A credible record. Admittedly, the state government's expenses almost tripled between 1870 and
at the end of the Davis administration, but several unusual factors justified the increase.
Population growth required expanded services such as public school system.To accommodate
rising school enrollment, including that of three children, paying for railroad building, Place
added strain on the budget the Expanded Frontier broadened The need for.Defense crime
increased during the period, and the militia and state police had to contend with all kinds of
lawless activity in public disturbances, exigencies that required the need to hire more men.
Nevertheless, David's opponents were included. Some Republicans and the conservative
Democrats seized on the increased expenses and managed to mold.Public opinion into
associating the radical administration with corruption and extravagant spending. Scholarly
research suggests that the greatest percentage of the state's revenue went to law enforcement, the
common school system, and the frontier defense so that the radicals were not in fact, wasteful
with taxpayers money. But Texans opposed.But they considered arbitrary taxation and others
condemned what they believed to be a central governments usurpation of local anatomy.Critics
of the administration also tech Governor Davis for cozying up to Northern railroad companies,
even though the governor vetoed some bond aid bills to save money for the state.Clearly, Davis's
critics were maneuvering to wrest power from him at the first opportunity. As Democrats
campaigned in the special Congress congressional election of October 1871, they stressed the
issues of high taxes Corruption.Fraud and misgovernment. Their propaganda hit responsive
courts. When the results were in, the Democrats had elected all four of their candidates to the US
Congress. The assault on Texas Republicanism spilled over into the general legislative election
of November 1872, in which the Democrats won majorities in both chambers of the 13th.Later,
as a result, for the remainder of his term, Davis fought in vain to preserve the programs he had
enacted. Democrats overthrew his public school system. They abolished the state police.There
are changes to homestead policy that made public lands less affordable. Finally, a constitutional
amendment in 1873 permitted the government to use land grants as an enticement to railroad
building because bond aid had become a financial burden on the state.
African Americans during the Reconstruction- The former slaves, whose status was the
central issue of Reconstruction and Reality, found themselves only partially liberated.Generally,
white Texans had retained their old radical attitudes.And during Reconstruction, they found ways
to deny the freedmen equal protection under the law.Social segregation, for one thing,
arose.Immediately after the war, although most forms of legally mandated separation did not
arise until the latter part of the century.Devising methods of Labor control, White farmers
affected tendency or sharecropping arrangements, the latter used more commonly in return for
land, seed, fertilizer, tools, food, farm animals and other essential.Black sharecroppers delivered
a good portion of the year's crops to the landowner.Freedman at first like the arrangement, as it
actually permitted them a degree of independence and provided a release from gang labor and
direct supervision by whites. And for the first time in their lives, black sharecroppers established
their own work schedules, something that meant a great deal to former slaves. But sharecropping
seldom led to prosperity and most freedmen.Chronic and depth.By the mid 1870s, many rural
blacks had become tenants with their families, destined to work together under a white landlord.
Those who labored for salaries on the old plantations experience other kinds of miseries, and
urban blacks, vying with discrimination and competing with new laborers arriving from the
counting countryside, had little choice.Take the most undesirable and lowest paying jobs. Thus,
black Texans pursued every viable form of employment.Black women sought jobs in white
households, washing clothes, cooking meals, cleaning house and raising children. Some black
men found work in East Texas burgeoning lumber industry, others wanting to contribute to the
process of radical reconstruction during the state police or militia in the early 1870s. A recent
computer examination.Concluded that Freeman made-up somewhere around 1/3 of the men who
saw extended duty in the State Police. Despite the fact that labor practices of the day confined
most blacks to performing menial tasks for substandard wages, some black Texans managed to
find successful businesses or enter former.Former jobs.These persons forming an.Entrepreneurial
elite during Reconstruction.On the West Texas range, African Americans, some of whom.Had
been herders and pre civil war plantations made their marks as Cowboys.Discrimination
generally restricted Black man riding the trail.To the Rose.Of Cooks or wranglers, underwriting
conventions decreed that the black crew members.Attempt the most risky work on the road, such
as subduing unruly beaves or testing swollen waterways, for danger. Despite such work,
handicapped black Cowboys would earn respect among fellow drovers. Those adept at horse
management were particularly valued. Matthew Bones Hooks wandered throughout West,
TX.The Panhandle hearing loud as a Bronco Buster during the late 19th century and the forts of
South and West Texas Africans, Americans served as a U.S. Army regulars with the infantry and
cavalry, albeit in segregated regiments. Most renowned of the black troopers were the Buffalo
Soldiers.These particular units were responsible for.Scouting, charting and recommending roots
linking the frontier to settled areas of the state. On numerous occasions, the Buffalo Soldiers
proved gallant in combat, in particular Emmanuel Emmanuel Stands, who won the Medal of
Honor in 1970 for bravery against Apache foes near Fort Mckavett.At the Battle of Rattlesnake
Springs on August 6, 1880, Buffalo Soldiers forced the Apache chief Victorio, to abandon Texas
from Mexico.When the last of the frontier troops left in the mid 1880s, black regulars had been
serving in Texas for nearly two decades and had made significant contributions to peace,
security, and settlement of West Texas. Among those who had served in the region from 1878 to
1882 was Lieutenant Henry O Flipper, the first black man to.Graduated from the US Military
Academy in the first black officer in the regular U.S. Army.Overall economic conditions drove
black Texans into dismal living standards. Although many African Americans expressed the
desire to acquire their own land and build their own dwellings, most found shelter in one or two
room shanties, ordinarily in segregated districts, laskine potable water illnesses such as
smallpox.Korilla ravaged black communities, food scarcities, lingered and indigenous poppers,
orphans in the infirm language from the lack of public assistant.Without access to proper medical
attention, blacks face high rates and mortality, especially infants. Admits such travel. Blacks did
their best to forge normal and decent lives for themselves and their families. They turned to the
family as a means of coping. Viable African American families structures had existed for some
time.even under the cruelties of slavery and blacks moved to legitimize these arrangements
immediately following the war. From its appearance in Texas in March 1865, the Freedmen's
Bureau had outlined a policy regarding family organization, including the stipulation that blacks,
having lived together outside of wedlock, were not legitimate spouses. Many black couples,
however, lived in an uncertain marital status until 1870.The urine which Texas formally legalized
black marriages and any case recent studies derived from the census data point to a degree of
stability within the black family and Reconstruction Texas, and to a resemblance to the white
family and its patriarchal structure.Oh, we're of the importance of education by communities
built their own schools at times. With the help of the Freedmen's Bureau. Several black religious
institutions also made efforts to provide fundamental education. Those fortunate enough to have
acquired some education as free persons or as slaves before 1865 taught in early schools, passing
on to children.Their own knowledge and black soldiers who had acquired some reading and
writing skills were in the military, tutored illiterate adults. Religion also aided blacks and
resistant oppression as free people. Black Texans established their own centers of worship,
structuring the hierarchy and Christian message of their respective institutions to fit their own.As
a focal point in the community, the independent black church became a place in which to hold
religious services, social activities, educational instruction, political planning, and an office for
such miscellaneous services as helping to place black workers and available jobs from the church
came.Reinforcement of the people, sense of morality and proper behavior. A large percentage of
African Americans joined the Baptist Church. The eternal cohesiveness of the black community
also was manifest in initiatives by blacks to transfer ideas of justice to the new status as free
persons like Texans had learned something of Texas.During slavery and recognize that the courts
could be used for self protection While the Freedmen's Bureau function in Texas, Black spot
their grievances before Bureau courts seeking redress for numerous rocks. All the civilian courts
offered blacks little sympathy. Once the Friedmans borough left in 1868, African Americans did
find sympathetic.We inform Republican District Court judges appointed by Governor Davis
between 1870 and 1873. Leaders at the local level, moreover, sought to assert their people's
newly won rights. Besides Ruby, the activists from Galveston who were so instrumental in the
development of the Union League, other black organizers for the League.Included Richard Allen
and DW Bryant of Houston. Through the efforts of the Union League, Blacks had been able to
choose delegates to the Republican convention in 1868. After Davis became governor, African
American participation increased in local and state politics.
The election and administration of Richard Coke- Following their legislative victory in 1872,
the Democrats bided their time until the next general election, when they hoped to regain full
control of the state government. When the gubernatorial race came around in December 1873,
Davis again ran on the Republican ticket while Richard.An ex confederate campaigned as a
conservative Democrat. During the campaign, Davis highlighted the problems he had initiated,
whereas Koch and his followers talked of redemption, of restoring strong states rights and of
overthrowing the coalition of Republicans and freedmen even as Texas.Immigrants try to keep
blacks from the polls. The Republicans got out even more votes than they had in the earlier
gubernatorial race of 1869. These efforts were, however, insufficient to fend off a Democratic
victory. Coach took the election convincingly, outdistancing Davis in the vote count, 100,000.15
to 52,141. Davis ready to transfer his office to Coke. But on January 5th, 1874, the Texas
Supreme Court in the case of X Part Rodriguez declared the election illegal because the polls had
been open for only one day.The court's decision had stemmed from an arrest involving a
Mexican American named Joseph Rodriguez, whom authorities in Harris County accused of
voting twice.On two separate days in the December election, Rodriguez's lawyers maintained
their clients innocence, asserting that a law passed by the 13 legislator in March 1873 conflicted
with the four day provision in the state constitution. Rodriguez's second vote was therefore
immaterial because it had been.Passed on a day when elections were not legally authorized, the
Democrats, in an exercise in hair splitting, suggested that the semicolon made the second clause
subordinate to the first.And that therefore the 1873 law mandating one day elections was legal
and the coaches election should stand.The Republican court concluded that the semicolon and
the sentence made the two clauses independent, and consequently the legislator had not been
empowered to alter the length of the voting period. Although the decision was probably legally
correct and raged, Democrats thereafter derisively labeled the court the semi colon court.Now
Davis found himself in a bind. One option was to disregard the decision of the state Supreme
Court and abide by the results of the election. But to do so would be to discount the judicial
system role in governance. Instead, he wired President Ulysses S Grant for direction. Coke and
the Democrats, meanwhile, made it plain they would not abide by the court's ruling.And they
pursued plans to take over the government immediately. On January 13th, 1874, they convened
the 14th legislator, and two days later they swore in Coke as governor. When Grant's reply
arrived in forming Davis that he refused to get involved in the Texas controversy, Davis assumed
the president was telling him to disregard The Supreme Court decision.The Radical
Governor.Thus formally resigned the executive seat on January 19th, 1874. The Democrats'
resurrection and coaches victory spelled the end of Reconstruction in Texas. The bearded and
slightly balding Coke possessed A booming voice in an often sported floppy felt hats and long
tailed coats The new governor Appeared to business interests who recognized his moderate
endorsement of railroad and industrial expansion, but also to a rural constituency. His perceived
support for some agrarian goals won him the undying loyalty of the patrons of husbandry of
farmer society, better known as the Grange.Coke and his Democratic supporters represented a
group of politicians that has been described as Southern redeemers for their goal was to redeem
the South from the Republican role. According to the thinking, Republicans had destroyed
Southern prosperity and upset the region's traditional racial relationships. They suggested that the
agricultural depression of.1870, which grew in the industrial panic of 1873, was the fruit of
Republican misrule.The Redeemer solutions for the future.Included the endorsement of the New
South, the concept that the South should emulate the North in some ways in order to
industrialize. And the way to industrialize, according to New South advocates, was to hold down
the expenses of the government, lower taxes and create an inexpensive labor supply. Such
measures would attract Northern investment to the Southern States.
The constitution of 1876- The conservative Democrats back in power, a majority of the states
citizens wanted to raise all vestiges of Reconstruction and they were demanding the replacement
of the Constitution of 1869. A new document, they figured, would reverse Republican successes
on behalf of blacks and let the state return to the limited concept of government that had
prevailed before the Civil War.Coke delayed calling a constitutional convention until 1875, citing
lack of adequate financing. But after an 1874 legislative Commission failed to revise the
Constitution of 1869, Koch asked the legislator to submit a proposal to the citizens for
Colleen.Of the Constitutional Convention In August 1875, voters approved the proposal, which
called for a convention to meet in September and selected three delegates from each of the 30
state.Senatorial districts to write their new constitution.Of the 90 delegates who gathered in
Austin, 75 professed allegiance to the Democratic Party. Five of the 15 Republican delegates
were black. None of the delegates had participated in the Constitutional Convention. Of 186941
farmers composed the delegation's largest singlebloc.With 29 lawyers constituting the second
largest group, although overall the conventional delegation was not a particularly distinguished
one, several of the delegates convened in Austin would go on to have distinguished political
careers. John H Reagan, who by 1875 had recovered from censure, cast upon him following the
uncovering of his forewarn.Belong to the Grange. Already elected in 1875 to the US House of
Representatives, he would carve out a reputation for himself there and later in the US Senate as
an expert on railroad regulation. Other well known delegates included Lawrence Sullivan Sul
Ross, a hot tempered frontiersmen and hero of the principle.For Indians wars, who would go on
to become governor of the state and then president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of
Texas, Also present at the convention where the distinguished Texas Ranger John S RIP Ford
and the future populist leader Thomas L Nugent, the majority of the Constitutional
Convention.Just a general return to what might best be described as Jacksonian concepts of
liberty, limited government and frugality. Frugality.The delegates set the tone for the convention
By authorizing salaries of $5 per day for themselves, as opposed to the $8 per day then received
by legislators. In addition, the convention voted to keep no official record of its proceedings in
order to save the cost of hiring a stenographer and printing the minutes for a model constitution,
the delegates.The light on the Texas Constitution of 1845, which in turn had been heavily
influenced by the earlier Constitution of Louisiana and other similar documents written by
Jacksonian Democrats. The concepts of fragility and antimonopoly particularly appealed to the
farmers in the convention, although altogether.Her past politics, Those attending the convention
did not vote in the accord, especially on the significant issues confronting the state, namely
economic development and social obligations. Diverse stance on such matters.Period throughout
the proceedings, including fractions with the Grange constituency, they were, for instance,
delegates who believed the government had a responsibility to promote private
enterprise.Something best accomplished by reducing taxes and limiting spending on social
requirements such as education. A second group clashed with this reasoning, calling for a
government commitment to both business activity and to ventures intended to realize and
enlighten sedentary.The third element felt the government should prioritize investments to full
social needs and deemphasize attention to business growth. A last faction opposed any role of
government in fostering business development or funding social services. These disparate
elements would shift positions from convenient coalitions.And compromise on pressing issues to
shape the final document. Consequently, the Constitution of 1876 included provisions that.Where
did the state from chartering banks empowered the state, if it chose to do so, to regulate
corporations and railroad companies, establish a state debt ceiling of 200,000 and put a strict
limit on the maximum ad valorem tax rate. One of the more hated controversies of the
convention.Involved a proposed Poltex some Democratic delegates, particularly those from
countries with sizable African American populations, wish to require payment of.The attacks as
suffrage requirement, ostensibly to disenfranchise black people. But other delegates seemed
equally committed to disenfranchising wide voting prospects. This latter element would include
urban wage laborers who possess no property and thus paid no taxes, but also uneducated
members of society whom corrupt politicians might manipulate.Ultimately, a combination of
delegates who came from countries in which the Republican Party posed no significant threat to
Democratic control and others who wish not to see any responsible white Texans disfranchise
defeated the proposal. The convention then went on to deny women, but not aliens, the right to
vote. In short, the new constitution.Recognized only the Jacksonian concept of universal
manhood suffrage.The distrust of a powerful and expensive sexual government, one heightened
by the depression of the 1870s and the skewed perception of Republican misrule, permeated the
majority of the articles of the new Constitution. The chief executive or governor received the
traditional constitutional charge of responsibility for overseeing the execution of laws, but no
real authority.Control of the executive branch rested with the electorate.The office of Secretary
of State was still a governor appointed position, but voters would choose the other five members
of the executive Branch, Lieutenant Governor, Comptroller, Treasurer, Commissioner of the
Land Office, and Attorney General. The Governor could of course veto legislation subject to the
legislative powers and 2/3 vote override and was empowered to cause.Special sessions of the
Legislature.The salary of the governor was lowered to 4000 per year, and the term of office was
from four to two years. The general pattern of autistic sterility in government and direct
responsibility of public officials to the electorate was continued in other articles of the new
constitution, the term of 31 Senators was reduced from six to four years and the 150 member
House of Representatives were served two year terms the framers chose. By mail rather than
annual legislative sessions. And they cut the pay of lawmakers to $5 a day for the first 60
days.Of each session and two dollars two dollars a day thereafter. Our judicial positions became
elective rather than a point of which district judges and those from lower courts serving for four
years.An appellate court services serving for six.The Texas Supreme Court would accept in civil
cases.In the Court of Appeals would conduct criminal once Most significant, the demands for
economy and government and what backlash against reconstruction produced judgments that
shape the future of education in Texas, upset with the centralization and the expense of public
school system.Many delegates to the Constitutional Convention argued that parents should bear
sole responsibility.For the education of their children. Family farmers, for their part, favored
local educational control as a way to east state finances and establish Community Schools with
terms that were correct.Responded to crop circles. Whereas some delegates strenuously argued
against any public support for education whatsoever, others understood the need for schools as
learning citizens would enhance the economic progress and modernization of the state. The new
constitution subsequently.Authorize the $1.00 tax on males between the ages of 21 and 60 and
reserved up to 1/4 of the state's annual revenue for public education. It made little provision for
local taxes to fund Community School. Cities and towns could levy school taxes only if 2/3 of
taxpayers in the district approved.Other than new document eliminated the Office of State
Superintendent and Compulsory Education.It mandated segregated schools. The Texas school
system, already inadequate even by the 19th century standards, had received a weakening bill.
The convention did, however, indulge a permanent school fund with revenue from lands
previously set aside for the support of public schools and added to this fund.Money is derived
from the sale of 1/2 of the unreserved sections of the public domain and a like measure the
convention took from the University of Texas 3,000,000 acres granted it to it.In 1858 and
replaced it with 1,000,000 acres of unclaimed land farther West. As luck would have it, the
smooth place some of the universities property over pools of oil and the later editions of acreage
helped the Permanent School Fund accrue.Considerable monies.The convention delegates
adopted new constitution in November 1875 by a vote of 53 to 11. The assembled seemed very
enthusiastic about the document they had created, and the campaign over its ratification sparked
little enthusiasm. Those who defended the document justified the public school provisions as
necessitated by poverty.Employer.Republican extravagance, the Grange in most state Democratic
leaders and newspapers did campaign for its ratification, however voters ultimately.And prove
the new concentration.By better than two to one margin, despite the contemporary and latter
criticisms of the Constitution of 1876, it reflected fairly well the current political views of most
white Southerners.Shortly after their own redemption, Alabama 1875, Arkansas 1874, Georgia
1877, Louisiana 1879, North Carolina 1876, Tennessee 1870, and Virginia 1870 also adopted
new constitutions.These documents, different in particulars but all displayed a general distrust of
activist government and a desire to limit its powers. Moreover, they all called for the
retrenchment in government service and expenses and placed a ceiling on taxes.In Texas, checks
from the state government were written into the Constitution of 1876 so that most changes in
government service and legislative powers could only be affected by an amendment reported out
by 2/3 of the legislator and approved by the voters.Consequently, more than a century later, the
state citizens still serve as an awkward check on the legislative process by approving or
disapproving amendments to the Constitution that deal with matters that could best be handled
by legislative actions. Critics have maintained that the 19th century constitution is 1 poorly
suited to cope with the evolving industrial and urban Society of present day Texas.texans seemed
satisfied however with awkward amending process and the archaic constitution too serious
attempts to write a new and modern constitution in 1919 and 1975 were vetoed by the electorate.
Demographics in Texas in the late 1800’s- Texas grew dramatically after the Civil War. In
1860, the population of the state barely exceeded 600,000, but by 1890, more than two million
persons caught Texas home. Most of those who relocated to Texas at the time were white
Southerners. Residents of the state had been devastated by the Civil War and post.25 Economic
stagnation sought out another ex Confederate state with cotton lands and similar racial attitudes
in which to resettle. Texas had retained its public lands and now generously opened vast tracts of
land that its settlers would be willing to move. Thus Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Missouri, Louisiana, and.I just sent the majority of the immigrants to Texas. Only about 2% of
the newcomers had arrived from New England. During Reconstruction, the state had encouraged
immigrants.And established the Texas Bureau of Immigration. But the Redemption Government
of 1876 abolished the agency. Nonetheless, other solicitations of immigrants continued. Private
companies such as railroad agricultural organizations such as the Grange, and local societies
hired agents in Saint brochures.To the Old South in Europe to recruit whites whom they assumed
would become independent farmers. One such agent, W Lang, resigned as worthy Master of the
Grange in 1890 in order to accept the presidency of the Southwestern Immigration Company,
and from 1881 to 1884 he remained in Europe trying to recruit immigrants.Through the
successive Lang and other agents was limited. The state did add over 38,000 foreign born settlers
between 1880 and 1890. The influx of new people did little to alter the previously formed
cultural regions that had determined the course of pre war politics. North and North Central
Texas mostly received Saturdays from the upper South and east.Southeastern Texas. Those from
the Lower South.From these areas, people eventually made their way into West and South Texas.
Numerous factors played a part in this growth. The pacification of the Indian peoples and their
confinement on reservations outside of the state removed a formidable obstacle.For settlers
pushing farther West, cattlemen found new grazing areas in the rangelands of West TX. Farmers
followed the ranchers, bringing with them families and social institutions that gave the new
settlements of degree of permanence. Railroad lines were in hand in hand, with the push
southworth and westward, helping to give birth to urban.Light switch, in turn, furthered the
stability of the developing culture.
Indians in Texas after the Civil War- The Great post Civil War trail drives had lasted only two
decades. By the 1880s, railroad building had made it more cost effective to ship cattle to market
than to drive them. Cattle lost weight on the trail, diminishing their price. The cost of
provisioning trail hands kept rising and Kansas.Fearful of the Texas fever that often arrive with
northbound, herds began to enact laws that prevented Texas cattle from passing through their
state. Furthermore, the long drives had upset the ecological balance of the land. The range could
only support so many cattle, but ranchers continually overstocked it. Yearly, the pastures grew
thinner and quantities of good grass.Then, after Stockman began importing barbed wire around
1874, fencing the range further reduced its gracing capacity. Finally, calamities, freezes and
droughts In the mid 1880s, doubt cattle ranchers from the Pecos River to the Panhandle, a
devastating blow which some never recovered its heyday.Thus the cattle industry in Texas
changed. Now ranchers divided the entire range with barbed wire fences, carefully calculated
how many cattle each pasture could sustain, supplemented their herds dietary needs with special
feats, controlled the animals breeding, and took a new interest in ranching methods then being
introduced by stockmens associations because.Texas, alone of the Western states, controlled its
own public domain investors with ample capital cuteness.Mammoth Land Holdings, Charles
Good Nights JA Ranch by the light 1800s compromised 700,000 acres in Palo Duro Canyon, as
well as enough fences, houses, corrals and water tank tanks to maintain a ranch boasting 40,000
head of cattle. Thomas Sherman.Rugby enlarged his Shoe Bar Ranch in the Panhandle, two
450,000 acres in 1882. The Matador Land and Cattle Company of Dundee, Scotland, put up the
capital to procure some three 300,000 acres and herd of 60,000 cattle in Motley County, and the
enterprise grew into an immense empire.Across Dickens, Crosby, Garza and Kent County stood
the spur ranch of four 39,000 acres spread owned by the Espuela Land and Cattle Company of
London. The largest of Texas ranches was the X IT, situated along the western boundary of the
Panhandle owned by chicago-based syndicate that received 3.50 acres from the state and
payment for having built the new capital in Austin in 1888. Also, change was the Cowboys place
on the range in the popular imagination.Anglo and black cowboy salt work wherever available in
South Texas. Vaqueros became wage laborers, at times having to perform disgraceful field work
and narrow bygone. Cowboys now acquired a new characterization instead of an overworked
Cohan, earning me meager wages and toiling among disagreeable animals that Cowboys
emerged as an independent.Figure.Unencumbered by social restrictions, living on the open
range, amidst Indians, outlaws and wild critters.And otherwise taming the Badlands. Numerous
mediums help shape this romantic rendition. They included the dime novels of the late 1970
nineteenth century, Western fiction penned by more professional writers in the early 20th
century.Master artist who specialized in Western scenes in Hollywood films. In its wake, the
reign of cattle kings left the settled region. Farmers had followed closely behind. The ranchers
pushed forward to the line of settlement. New railroads expanding West also lured many people,
giving rise to towns planned by railroad promoters and blatant attempts to create new centers of
commerce or get already established settlers to make financial contributions to their lines.
Abilene, TX, Sweetwater, Big Spring, Midland and Odessa grew.Adventures negotiated by
railroad executives and townsfolk wanting access to railroad service for their communities on the
northern frontier. Similar agreements made directly or indirectly between railroad lines and
groups of people produce such towns as Amarillo and the Panhandle and Lubbock in South
Plains, El Paso, and Extreme West.Texas increasingly attracted new arrivals from other parts of
Texas and the United States following the completion in the early 1880s of four major railroad
lines.