Texas History Exam 2- Essay Questions
Describe the era of "the great Texas cattle drives." What brought the trail drives to an end?
Lasted until 1885. Only occasionally did ranchers actually accompany their her;instead most commissioned the job to experienced trail bosses who received their part of the profits as well as about $100 a month. Although Hollywood romanticized the trail drives, *they were boring and mundane, with the trips lasting up to four months, depending on where they started. For the cowboys who earned Little except at round up and branding time, the money was good, even if the work was routine*. During the era, trail rides changed in important ways. At Abilene, citizens tired of reckless cowboys who would trash part of the town while drunk. *Therefore the local residents in 1872 called for the enforcement of a quarantine for Texas cattle, forcing the drovers to take their herds sixty miles westward*. The cattlemen then abandoned the Chisholm Trail and moved further west to Dodge City, Kansas, The Western Trail, or some called it the Dodge City Trail. *Barbed wire ended the era of "the great Texas cattle drives."* With the advent of Barbed wire fencing, more large ranches and cattle syndicates were established in Texas. *With the closing of the range and the growth of big ranches the trail drives and the cattle frontier had ended.*
According to Wheeler, "the cattle industry and the attendant cowboy culture started centuries earlier with the Spanish." Explain.
When *conquistadors trekked northward out of New Spain in the 16th century, they often drove herds of cattle and horses along with them*. It was the vaquero, the original *Spanish Cowboy, who brought the utilitarian trappings of the cattle industry to Texas long before the Anglo Americans appear in the region*. The vaquero's wide brimmed, high crowned sombrero protected him from the sun and sheltered him from the rain. The bandanna that hung around his neck could be placed over his nose and mouth to filter dust out of the air. Hard leather chaps protected his legs from the sharp sticks from the prickly pear cactus, or mesquite thorns. Finally a wide leather belt supported his back while astride a horse for hours each day.
How did farming change following the Civil War? What problems did farmers confront?
*Agriculture in Texas changed mostly to subsistence farming, wherein a farmer produced a variety of crops to meet his immediate needs and enjoyed some measure of financial independence, to one that left him more vulnerable*. With the arrival of commercial agriculture witnessed the emergence of cotton as a principal crop, with cotton growers increasingly linked to fluctuations of the national and international prices and markets. *Texas farmers lay dependent on economic forces beyond their control. Production of agricultural commodities steadily increased, but the price remained flat. The harder farmers worked the less they benefited. Population rose and land values increased dramatically making it difficult to get good farmland. Increase in foreclosure and higher rates of tenant farming and sharecropping.*
How did the Farmer's Alliance respond to the problems confronting farmers?
Devoted to the plight of the agricultural class through direct political action. In 1886, meting in Cleburne, Texas, alliance members served notice that they wanted and *planned to only support those elected officials who endorsed their program. Promised to use the ballot box to reward their friends and punish their enemies.* The roots of the National Farmers' Alliance and Industrial Union, commonly known as the "Southern Alliance," dated back to approximately 1875, when a group of ranchers in Lampasas County, Texas organized as a Texas Alliance as a means of cooperating to apprehend horse thieves, round up stray animals, and cooperatively purchase large stores of supplies.This group gradually moved into more extensive action in response to the perceived abuses towards smaller operators engaged in by land speculators and massive cattle operations.The organization grew and was organized on a statewide basis in 1878.
Walker describes Jim Hogg as "the most reform-minded governor in the state's history. " What did Hogg do to merit this description?
Hogg *fulfilled his promises to voters and used the agencies of state government to correct what he and his supporters believed were long standing abuses*. Significant legislation passed during his administration included, in addition to the establishment of the *Railroad Commission*, the *Allen Land Law (1891) which forced alien property owners to dispose of their holdings in Texas within six years*; the Stock and Bond Law (1893) which gave the Railroad Commission the power to oversee the issuance of stocks and bonds by railroad companies in order to guarantee the validity of the issues; and the Perpetuates and Corporations Land Law (1893) which forced corporations to divest themselves of unused real estate holdings in Texas within fifteen years. *Also supported increases in funding or higher education, a limited set of prison reforms, and restrictions on the amount of indebtedness Texas cities and counties could incur*.
Analyze, discuss, and evaluate the following statement: "Arguably, the coming of the railroads did more to advance the industrialization in Texas and hasten the process of urbanization than any other single event".
Railroads not only brought technology to Texas, but they also brought *skilled labor* and more sophisticated labor specialization. In addition, they *brought capital and finance*. Railroads made *travel possible year around and provided access to all areas of the state*. Formerly small and migratory businesses were able to settle in one location, growing larger and realizing greater profits through the adoption of more efficient methods of operation and marketing.
What contributions did John Henry Kirby make to the lumber industry?
Recognizing the enormous potential financial potential of the lumber industry in Texas, *Kirby allied himself with several wealthy investors from New England and established Kirby Lumber Company, headquartered in Houston*, on 1901. During it's heyday, *Kirby's company harvested trees from 800,000 acres*, operated seventeen large mills, and *employed seven thousand workers*. It produced more than 300 million board feet of finished lumber annually and enjoyed earnings of some 40 million. First million dollar company in Texas and for its time, the largest lumber company in the American South.
What was the impact of the Civil War on Texas' economy and cities, on slavery, on churches, on women?
Texas Economy- The Texas economy experienced some adjustments though possibly not as great as those experienced by other Confederate states. With Texas bordering with Mexico, they continued to produce cotton and sell it in large quantities across the Rio Grande to Mexican and European buyers. The border trade also meant that *Texans did not suffer from shortages of manufactured goods to the same extent as the Confederates in states located east of the Mississippi River. Nevertheless, Texans faced the need to develop substitutes for some unavailable items, fashioning cotton wicks for candles, and homemade straw hats*. Texas Cities- Texas urban areas remained *smaller and less vulnerable to military* attack or the impact of inflation than may cities elsewhere in the Confederacy, bu most of them keenly experienced wartime changes. Galveston found its trade reduced by the blockade and fear of Union occupation, which took place in the fall of 1862. Houston and San Antonio became active and growing centers for new trade with Mexico. Along with Austin they served as focal points of government and military activities. Mobs formed to seize the city market. Theft became common in cities. Vigilantes from to dispense their own form of justice. Looting broke out in Houston, Austin, and other towns. Refugees from Galveston, other coastal cities, as well as Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana poured into Texas cities which became crowded. Many newcomers feel unwelcome. Slavery- Changed little at the beginning of the war. Confederate commanders commanded one- fourth of the slaves on plantations to construct earthworks for defense along the coast or to drive supply wagons. Poorly fed and clothe man of these laborers fell ill or died. Such disruptions made way for more escapes from slavery. Most did not attempt to escape because they had children or elderly family members who could not stand the hardships of involved. *Slavery changed less and seemed further from collapse than other states which were more frequently invade by Union armies*. Churches- retained its concern with individual sin., but *war also forced members to grapple with collective sin and social needs*. Denominations shifted concerns from missionaries to soldiers. Church groups provided chaplains to minister to Texas troops. Supplied soldier with bibles. *Christian leagues organized*. Revivals held among troops and civilians. Hope that God will recognize their increased virtue and aid their cause. Exhibited increased social concerns. Some churches contributed to medical institutions for the military. Collected money to provide education for disabled soldiers. Individual congregations provided assistance to refugees. Women- The wives and daughters of planters continued to read romantic European literature, attend concerts, give private plays for friends, and generally limited their *activities to the home and upper class society*. Young women at the women;s college held military drills similar to the men of their age. *Others set up spinning jennies and looms in their homes to produce not only clothing, but also tents,and packs for carrying equipment*. Some raised money to purchase materials. Others became industrial workers in munitions factories. Visited hospitals to nurse and feed the wounded. Replaced ale teachers who left for the military. For women who remained at home in rural areas a variety of new tasks awaited them =. In addition to raising children, cooking, sewing, and possibly directing household servants, they found themselves also, *faced with actual farming and overseeing the slave field hands*. On the frontier daily routines of fighting off Indian raids.
What institutions supported Freedmen following the Civil War?
The Freedmen's Aid Society was founded in 1861 during the American Civil War by the American Missionary Association (AMA), a group supported chiefly by the Congregational, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in the North.* It organized a supply of teachers from the North and provided housing for them, to set up and teach in schools in the South for freedmen and their children*. The AMA founded a total of more than 500 schools and colleges for freedmen in the South after the war, so that freedmen could be educated as teachers, nurses and other professionals. The work of the Society accelerated with the end of the war and the beginning of the Reconstruction era. *Education for freedmen was seen as a top priority among both blacks and whites*. The Society was supported by a variety of religious groups and denominations, and it began work in the South three months after organizing. By the end of the first year, it had recruited 52 instructors. The teachers instructed more than 5,000 students in 59 schools. The schools were open to men, women, and children in the South. By the turn of the century, blacks had raised their rate of literacy by an amazing amount; it was a major success story since the end of the war. By then the Democratic-dominated state legislatures had imposed racial segregation and were under funding black schools and other facilities. The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, usually referred to as simply the Freedmen's Bureau, was an agency of the United States Department of War to "direct such issues of provisions, clothing, and fuel, as he may deem needful for the immediate and temporary shelter and supply of destitute and suffering refugees and freedmen and their wives and children." The Freedmen's Bureau Bill, which established the Freedmen's Bureau on March 3, 1865, was initiated by President Abraham Lincoln and was intended to last for one year after the end of the Civil War. The Freedmen's Bureau was an important agency of early Reconstruction, assisting freedmen in the South. The Bureau was made a part of the United States Department of War, as it was the only agency with an existing organization that could be assigned to the South. Headed by Union Army General Oliver O. Howard, the Bureau started operations in 1865. Throughout the first year, its representatives learned that these tasks would be very difficult, as Southern legislatures passed laws for Black Codes that restricted movement, conditions of labor, and other civil rights of African Americans, nearly duplicating conditions of slavery. The Freedmen's Bureau controlled a limited amount of arable land. The Bureau's powers were expanded to help African Americans find family members from whom they had become separated during the war. *It arranged to teach them to read and write*, considered critical by the freedmen themselves as well as the government. Bureau agents also served as *legal advocates for African Americans in both local and national courts, mostly in cases dealing with family issues*. The Bureau encouraged *former major planters to rebuild their plantations and urged freed blacks to return to work for them*, kept an eye on contracts between the newly free laborers and planters, and pushed whites and blacks to work together in a free labor market as employers and employees rather than as masters and slaves.
What were the characteristics of Texas society prior to the Civil War? What attitudes did Texans share with other Southerners?
Tradition of military revolution, the Texas military experience emphasized* volunteers rather than professional soldiers*. *Lone star nationalism*. Southern Protestantism with emphasis on evangelical style and individual salvation. Texans shared the prewar Southern inclination towards the state's rights philosophy. They did not oppose federal action uniformly, however, if it meant protection of slavery or protection of frontier settlers against Indians. *Ardent individualists, influenced by their frontier existence. Slavery received support from most non slave holding Texans as well as slaveholders because it not only provided a system of controlled labor, but also a social domination over black people by whites.*
