The document discusses the political culture and history of Texas, highlighting key historical events and demographic changes that shape its identity. It examines economic transitions from an extractive economy to manufacturing and services, emphasizing the role of diverse populations in Texas's evolution. The text also addresses the political landscape, including the potential shift towards a more competitive political environment due to the growing Hispanic population.

1. LONE STAR POLITICS
PAUL BENSON
Tarrant County College
DAVID CLINKSCALE
Tarrant County College
ANTHONY GIARDINO
Tarrant County College
Copyright (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved

2. Chapter 1
TEXAS SOCIETY
AND POLITICAL
CULTURE
Copyright (c) 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights
reserved

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Learning Objectives
• Differentiate between government and
politics
• Explain the historical pieces of the Texas
mosaic
• Differentiate among the geographic regions
of the state
• Analyze the economic forces in Texas
• Analyze the influences of major
demographic groups in the state
• Identify the dominate political cultures in
Texas

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Introduction
• POLITICS VS. GOVERNMENT
• POLITICS =
• The process of seeking or maintaining power
• GOVERNMENT =
• Public institutions acting with authority to levy taxes
and to allocate things for society

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Famous Quotes About Texas
• “Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is
a nation in every sense of the word”
• Author John Steinbeck
• If you've ever driven across Texas, you know how different one area
of the state can be from another. Take El Paso. It looks as much like
Dallas as I look like Jack Nicklaus
• Pro Golfer Lee Trevino
• I am forced to conclude that God made Texas on his day off, for
pure entertainment, just to prove that all that diversity could be
crammed into one section of earth by a really top hand
• Author Mary Lasswell
• “You Can All Go to Hell and I’ll Go to Texas”
• David Crockett

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Cattle drivers were once a vital part of the Texas economy. How has the
glorification of that era added to the Texas mystique?
© akg-images/The Image Works

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Texas Mosaic
• The joining of small
pieces of material, varied
in shape and color, to
produce a whole image –
• Often used describe the
social and cultural
diversity that defines
Texas

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Historical Pieces
• Some of the more interesting pieces in the Texas
mosaic emerge from history
• THE EXPLORERS – THE SPANISH
• Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca & Francisco Vásquez
de Coronado
• Established Spain’s claim to Texas -largely
unchallenged for the next century and a half

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© Archive Photos/Getty Images
This painting of Coronado is by famed artist Frederic Remington.

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Historical Pieces
• THE EXPLORERS - THE FRENCH
• 1684: René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle,
landed on the Texas coast –
• Claimed the area for the King of France
• La Salle’s ill-fated excursion lasted barely 3 years
and ensured Spain’s continuing attempts to occupy
Texas for the next 130 years

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Historical Pieces
• THE COLONISTS – THE HISPANICS
• Spain used missions to subdue conquered or
indigenous peoples
• Converted them into Christians and Spanish
subjects
• Missions prospered in south Texas –
• Blended Coahuiltecan Indian culture with an
emerging Mexican culture

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© National Geographic/Getty Images
Cowboys ride in front of the Alamo, a mixing of two iconic Texas images.

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Historical Pieces
• THE COLONISTS - THE ANGLOS
• Stephen F. Austin organized the first Anglo
settlement (1823) –
• Farmers received 177 acres of land; ranchers,
4,428 acres
• 1830: Mexico enacted restrictions on immigration,
but this heightened the tension

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Historical Pieces
• THE TEXAS REVOLUTION
• 1835: fighting broke out between
Anglo settlers near Gonzales and
Mexican cavalry troops from San
Antonio
• Within weeks - Anglo colonists and
allies from the Hispanic
communities revolted

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Historical Pieces
• Revolution lasted a mere 7 months with relatively
few major battles
• Sam Houston was General Santa Anna’s “Texian”
counterpart
• San Jacinto – April 21, 1836:
• Surprise, emotional memories of the massacres at
the Alamo and Goliad, and luck led to the “Texian”
victory

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Santa Anna would continue to be an
important figure in Mexican politics,
off and on, for two decades after Texas
Independence.
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,
[LC-USZ62-21276]

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Historical Pieces
• THE TEXANS – THE REPUBLIC
• 1836 – 46: The independent nation created by
Texans
Population growth, an expanding frontier,
a deteriorating economy, a chronically bankrupt
government, Indian attacks, Mexican invasions,
European immigration, and politics that made your
typical barroom brawl look like a
Sunday School picnic

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Historical Pieces
• STATEHOOD – 28TH
STATE
• U.S. public opinion and a political agenda based on
“Manifest Destiny” combined to bring about the
annexation of Texas in February 1846
“TEXAS EXCEPTIONALISMTEXAS EXCEPTIONALISM” – integral
part of the social, cultural, and political
equation

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Historical Pieces
• THE CONFEDERACY
• Few major battles were actually fought on Texas soil
- but the state became a major supplier of men and
material to the South’s war effort
• When the Confederacy capitulated,
Texas was economically
devastated, politically decimated,
and militarily occupied

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Historical Pieces
• RECONSTRUCTION
• Post-Civil War period (1865–1877):
• Former Confederate states had
restrictive laws applied to them by
the federal government
• This (and E. J. Davis) led to Texas
becoming a one-party Democratic
state

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Historical Pieces
• THE AMERICANS – A FRONTIER
STATE
• PROGRESSIVE ERA: 1890–1910
• Texas enacted numerous laws
designed to protect ordinary
citizens and to prevent their being
taken advantage of by large
monopolies

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Historical Pieces
• THE AMERICANS – A MODERN
STATE
• Big Oil followed the 20th century into
Texas by ten days – Spindletop
• Movement from rural to urban areas
accelerated
• Cheap, readily available fuel powered
the drive toward industrialization

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Historical Pieces
• THE AMERICANS – A MODERN STATE
• The Depression and the collapse of farm prices hit
Texas hard
• Hastened the exodus of many rural Texans to urban
areas
• East Texas and Permian Basin oil discoveries and
jobs in defense plants after WWII eased the economic
pain

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Historical Pieces
• THE AMERICANS – A MODERN
STATE
• 1960s: LBJ’s presidency focused
on domestic policies and Viet Nam
• 1970s and 80s: A roller coaster of
politics, economics, and
demographics
• 1990s into the 2000s: Republican
dominance in elected offices

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Geographic Pieces
• GULF LOWLANDS – COASTAL PLAINS
• The Balcones Escarpment: an ancient fault line
which geographically divides Texas
• The eastern area, the Gulf Lowlands, contains 4
geographic subdivisions -
• The Coastal Plains; Piney Woods; Post Oaks
and Prairies; South Texas Prairie

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Tourist shops in Texas
used to sell postcards of
Texas crowding other
states into the Atlantic
and the Pacific Oceans.
Size is a major factor
in the geography of
Texas.

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Geographic Pieces
• WESTERN HIGHLANDS
• North and west of the Balcones Escarpment, the
land becomes more rugged, more varied, and more
arid
• There are 5 geographic subdivisions:
• The Edwards Plateau; Llano Uplift; Wichita
Prairie; High Plains; West Texas Basins and
Ranges

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Economic Pieces
• THE FIRST STAGE – TAKE IT
• Until recently, the Texas economy was firmly
grounded in extractive activities -
• Taking something directly from the
land
• Depended on the three Cs - cattle, cotton, and
crude -
• Crucial during Texas’s formative
years

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The Spindletop
gusher ushered
in a new
economic era
in Texas.
How might the
state have been
affected if not
for its vast oil
resources?
Prints and Photographs Collection, The Center for
American History, The University of Texas at Austin,
Copy neg. CN01264

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Economic Pieces
• THE SECOND STAGE – MAKE IT
• Manufacturing expansion went into full swing with
the advent of WWII and growth of defense
contractors
• Leading manufacturer of petroleum-based chemicals
and compounds
• Steel production and metal smelting increased in the
1970s

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Economic Pieces
• THE THIRD STAGE – SERVE IT
• 1980S economic disaster:
• Collapse of the oil industry, and severe
cuts in defense spending
• 1990s comeback:
• Economic optimism was widespread
• 2000s:
• Terrorist attacks, corporate misdeeds, and
a questionable government regulatory
climate

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Growth of Economic Sectors in Texas

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Economic Pieces
• Key to future growth - developing an educational
infrastructure to meet demands of an evolving, 21st
century economy
• Requires educated (not merely skilled) employees,
able to adapt to a rapidly changing, highly
competitive, increasingly global economic reality

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Demographic Pieces
• POPULATION SIZE
• Texas State Data Center estimates 25,373,947
people in 2010 - second most populous state, and an
almost 22% increase over the 2000 Census total
• POPULATION GROWTH
• Texas has enjoyed continuous growth, however,
some areas have lost population

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Demographic Pieces
• POPULATION DISTRIBUTION
• Over 80% of the state’s
population resides in
metropolitan areas, and almost
58% of all the people in Texas
can be found in ten urban
counties
• Texas’ political agenda is now
dominated by issues vital cities
and suburbs

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Demographic Pieces
• POPULATION DIVERSITY
• ANGLOS: estimated 45% of the population -
decreasing
• HISPANICS: estimated 39% - the fastest growing
• AFRICAN AMERICANS: 11% - expected to
decrease
• OTHER: 4% - expected to increase

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THE “TEXAS TRIANGLE”
• Contains the four
largest metropolitan
areas in Texas:
• Houston
• Dallas/Fort Worth
• San Antonio
• Austin
• Over 500 miles away
is El Paso, the 5th
largest metropolitan
area.
• What implications
does this
geographical
configuration have
for El Paso?

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Putting It Together:
The Picture of Texas
• POLITICAL CULTURE
• Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors
that shape how people act politically
• Daniel J. Elazar identified 3
predominant U.S. political cultures -
individualistic, traditionalistic,
and moralistic

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Political Culture
and Policy
• THE CHANGING FACE OF
TEXAS
• Texas continues its kaleidoscopic
evolution as a society and a culture
• Diversity is the hallmark of our
history, our geography, our
economy, and our population

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The “Purpling of Texas?”
• Texas has had a tradition of
conservative politics and political
culture.
• Many researchers are pointing to
the quickly growing Hispanic
population and its possible influence
on Texas as becoming a swing
state, meaning it will necessarily be
strictly conservative in its political
leanings in the future.
• National Democratic Party leaders
have targeted Texas as a possible
swing state within the next 4 years.

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Why “Purple”?
• Red States – Conservative (Texas)
• Blue States – Liberal
• Purple States – can go either way
depending on situation/candidate
• This depends on the voter behavior of
immigrants, Hispanics, and those 21-27
years of age. All of these groups tend to
vote less often so this becomes the key.

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State Representation By County
(Republican = Red,
Democrat = Blue)