Inquizitive Ch. 1 The Political Culture, People, and Economy of Texas

What is the underlying cause that led to the founding of the La Raza Unida Party?

Political, social, and economic institutions were designed to exclude Latinos.

Which of the following best describes the social impact of the Black Codes, White primaries, voter suppression, and segregationist ideas that dominated Texas politics between Reconstruction and the civil rights movement?

African Americans were subjugated and given a social status similar to the status they held when slavery existed.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and the world's largest inland desalination plant at Fort Bliss in El Paso are great examples of which of the following?

Cities gain significant financial and technological advancements from government programs.

The city of _____ is the largest in the state, with a population of over 2.5 million people, while the _____ metro area is the largest metropolitan area in the state, with over 6.9 million residents.

Houston. Dallas-Fort Worth.

Which of the following industries helped contribute to Houston's growth over time?

Correct: Oil. Cotton. Trade. Incorrect: Cattle.

Examine the following timeline on when Confederate monuments were erected in Texas. Which of the following best supports the assertion that these monuments were aimed at celebrating the authority of White Texans after the Civil War ended?

Approximately half of the monuments were erected between 1900 and 1940.

The _____ has an overwhelmingly Latino population that is consistently high in the international border areas along the _____ to its end at the Gulf of Mexico.

Basin and Range Province. Rio Grande.

Provincialism in Texas has historically contributed which of the following feature(s) to the state's political culture?

Correct: A narrow worldview and an intolerance of diversity. A rejection of modern urban lifestyles. A belief that the public interest is not served by spending on social services and education. Incorrect: A focus on free markets to encourage business growth.

Which of the following goals would be consistent with the La Raza Unida Party platform?

Correct: Expand voting access for Latino citizens. Increase the number of Latino officials in public office. Incorrect: Help get more Democrats elected in urban areas. Increase the number of skilled-worker visas for Mexican immigrants.

Which of the following economic activities are located primarily in the Gulf Coastal Plains region?

Correct: Fruit and vegetable farming. Timber. Petroleum export. Industrial manufacturing. Incorrect: Ranching.

Which factors help explain why the Austin metro area has a higher average income than other major metro areas in Texas?

Correct: High tech. State capital. Highly educated workforce. Incorrect: Strong transportation infrastructure. Younger population.

What future trends can be inferred from the information in the chart? The Changing Face of Texas, 1850-2018

Correct: If current trends continue, Latinos will be the largest single demographic segment of the state population in the near future. Texas will become more firmly positioned as a majority minority state. Incorrect: African American influence in Texas politics will decline enormously. The absolute number of African American and White residents in the state will soon reach zero.

Provincialism in Texas has been eroded by which of the following factors?

Correct: Increasing urbanization. The growing influence of people of color, women, and LGBTQ groups. The importance of Texas in the global economy. Incorrect: An increase in the population of rural communities. The statewide dominance of the Republican Party.

Which of the following statements about the cotton economy in Texas are accurate?

Correct: It established an underclass in Texas society. It helped bolster the Populist movement. Incorrect: It remains a driving force of the Texas economy today. About 5 percent of the Texas population now lives on cotton farms or is connected directly to cotton cultivation.

Which of the following statements about the Latino population in Texas are true?

Correct: Latinos have become the majority in major Texas cities. Latinos are a diverse population. Latinos are concentrated in south and west Texas. Incorrect: Latinos have lost political influence since the 1980s. Latinos are the majority population group in Texas.

Study the following information about other large states in the United States to determine which of the following statements are accurate.

Correct: Texas and California have similar proportions of Latino residents. Florida and New York have a higher proportion of Black residents than Texas. Incorrect: Texas and California exactly match each other in terms of racial diversity. Florida, New York, and Ohio closely resemble each other in terms of racial diversity.

In what ways did Texas benefit from the United States' membership in the landmark NAFTA trade deal?

Correct: Texas goods have had more access to foreign markets. Trade stimulated growth along Texas's border. NAFTA helped speed up a diversified economy. Incorrect: NAFTA helped boost employment in Texas.

What characteristics about the Asian American population of Texas make it difficult to draw conclusions about the population?

Correct: Texas's Asian American population is made up of people of many different nationalities. Asian Americans compose only a small part of the state's total population. Incorrect: Asian Americans are widely spread across the state.

What were the political impacts of the trend shown in the chart? Urbanization in Texas, 1850-2010

Correct: The state's economy has become less focused on traditional industries such as farming, ranching, and oil. The population shift means politics in the state are increasingly dominated by the growing and diverse urban and suburban areas of the state. Incorrect: Leaders in rural areas of the state have become more important in their roles as they represent larger geographic areas. The population in urban areas has started to become more aware of environmental and economic issues facing rural areas of the state.

Innovations like the steel plow and barbed wire affected the Texas economy in what ways?

Correct: They increased cotton production. They virtually ended open-range grazing and cattle drives. Incorrect: They expanded the market for Texas cattle.

Texas is often most characterized by which two political cultures?

Correct: Traditionalistic. Individualistic. Incorrect: Moralistic. Provincialistic.

One of the values American political culture emphasizes is equality. However, American conservatives tend to emphasize an ideal of equality of opportunity whereas American liberals tend to emphasize the ideals of political equality and economic equality. What does this difference suggest to us about our national political culture?

Even though members of a society share a value, their experiences and identities cause it to be emphasized in different ways.

When Hurricane Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast and Houston with more than 50 inches of rain in 2017, a national economic issue emerged for which of the following reasons?

Harvey forced the closure of oil and gas refineries.

What technological advancements have made the Texas oil and gas industry one of the most valuable in the world?

Horizontal drilling and fracking.

Why does "Juneteenth" hold a particularly special place in Black communities in Texas?

It commemorates the day enslaved people in Texas were emancipated.

In the early twentieth century, less than 50 years after the end of the Civil War, influential groups in the state sought to rewrite history by promoting the _____ narrative, which suggested that the South's primary cause was not to protect _____ but to valiantly protect _____ from an overreaching federal government.

Lost Cause. Slavery. States rights.

Which of the issues below have been identified as priorities that the influential cultural conservatives in the Republican Party would like to see enacted?

Policies that cultural conservatives DO want to enact: Traditional marriage. Limits to abortion. Immigration restrictions. School choice. Policies that cultural conservatives DO NOT want to enact: Expanded LGBTQ rights. Climate change mitigation. Promotion of gender equality.

The persistent poverty created by the sharecropper and tenant farmer systems had what political impact on Texas?

Poor farmers supported Populist movements that led to stronger popular control of government.

Which of the following ways has been used to deal with the controversy surrounding memorials and monuments to the Confederacy and its leaders placed on public grounds?

Providing more historically accurate and inclusive context by moving them or adding new monuments.

Match each industry with the urban area it is most associated with.

San Antonio military installations. Houston energy. Fort Worth cattle. Austin high tech.

Business interests are a large part of the Republican coalition in Texas. In recent years, priorities of business interests have been challenged by which of the following groups that make up another important part of the Republican coalition?

Social conservatives.

The authority to regulate production and transport of oil and natural gas in Texas belongs to which agency?

Texas Railroad Commission.

Which of the following is the biggest driver of Texas's population growth?

The natural difference between births and deaths.

Which of the following statements accurately describes the trend in the number of Latino officeholders in Texas from 1980 through the early twenty-first century?

The number of Latinos in public office has increased dramatically since the 1980s.

_____ is the process by which people move from _____ areas to the cities and suburbs.

Urbanization. Rural.

Though African Americans were emancipated in 1865, they were disenfranchised by the _____ and forced to pay _____ taxes in order to vote. It was only after the Voting Rights Act of _____ that the political system opened up for African Americans.

White primary. Poll. 1965.