A Brief History of Texas

Podcast Transcript

Each of the fifty US states is like a separate country. Its area, population, and economy are comparable to those of other independent nations.

Yet, the histories of each state, while different, all share broad commonalities.

However, one state has a history that is totally different from all the rest.

Learn more about the history of Texas and how an independent republic became one of the United States on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

If you were to ask the residents of the 49 states that are not Texas, they would probably tell you that Texans are a bit different.

If you ask Texans….they would probably agree that Texans are a bit different.

Texas has an identity that other states simply lack. There is a sense of pride that Texans have in their state that is missing from, say, North Dakota or Oregon.

Much of this has to do with its history and size.

If Texas were its own country, it would be the 51st largest country in the world between Côte d’Ivoire and Nepal by population. By area, it would be 39th between Zambia and Myanmar.

By GDP, it would be the 8th largest in the world, between France and Brazil, which have significantly larger populations. France has over twice the population, and Brazil has over seven times the population.

However, this episode is not about oil or cattle ranching. Or even the Dallas Cowboys, who have falsely claimed the title of America’s team, or the Houston Texans, who I just sort of pity.

This is about the unique history of Texas.

Just to provide a quick description for those who aren’t familiar with the geography of Texas, Texas is in the southern United States. Mexico’s border with Texas is the longest of any state or country. Eastern Texas would be considered part of the Southeast United States, but the western part of the state would be considered part of the Southwest United States. Texas is so large that it is usually just considered its own thing.

Texas is so big that the city of El Paso in the west is closer to Los Angeles than it is to the city of Texarkana, within the state of Texas, in the East.

Likewise, the distance from the northwesternmost point of the Texas Panhandle is almost the same as Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexican border, as it is the Canadian border.

As for history, we need to start at the very beginning, about 10,000 years ago. That is the point where the earliest human remains in the state can be dated back to.

A human skeleton known as the Leanderthal Lady was found in 1983 just outside of Austin. It dates back to between ten and thirteen thousand years ago.

Thousands of years ago, Texas was much more green than it was today. Less desert and more prairies. Before 6000 BC, there were a large number of megafauna in the area, including mammoths and mastodons.

Around 6000 BC, the climate started to change, and the megafauna began to go extinct. Native people in the region had to change their diets to smaller game and fish.

When I talk about the various native people who inhabited Texas, you have to paint with a broad brush, given how large and varied the Texas landscape is.

That being said, starting about 2000 years ago, Texas became a crossroads of various native peoples.

Several Native American cultures developed, including the Caddo in East Texas, which is known for its complex chiefdoms and mound-building, and the Karankawa, Coahuiltecan, and Jumano peoples in other parts of the state.

The word Texas is actually derived from the Caddo people. It comes from the word táysha, which means friend or ally.

I should note that there was no Aztec presence in Texas outside of an occasional expedition or trade mission. This was far north of the Aztec heartland.

The recorded history of Texas begins with the arrival of Europeans. The first recorded mention of the land, which is today Texas, took place in 1519 when the Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Pineda first mapped the Texas coastline in 1519. However, he never established any outpost or permanent settlement in Texas.

The first European settlement was not on the coast. Rather, it was far inland and over 150 years after de Pineda’s first mission on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

It was established by a mix of Spanish and Native Americans who fled the Pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico after the Pueblo Revolt in 1681. They established a settlement outside of modern-day El Paso. If you remember back to my episode on the subject, the Pueblo Revolt was the indigenous uprising against the Spanish which brought horses to Native Americans.

Soon after, the Spanish began moving into the territory, both to expand their territory and to counter the French who were moving toward them from Louisiana. As they did in other Spanish territories in areas such as California, the Spanish established a network of missions and fortified bases known as presidios.

One of the French explorers in the region was René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He established Fort Saint Louis in 1685 at the mouth of the Lavaca River, which was actually a mistake because he was supposed to establish a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Texas, known as Tejas, became part of the Spanish colony of Mexico, and when Mexico achieved its independence in 1821, Texas, along with much of what is the western United States today, came with it.

Texas was sparsely populated, and the newly independent Mexico wanted to consolidate its control over Texas, so they encouraged settlement with land grants.

They wanted to do this to secure Texas from the rapidly growing United States, which was next door. Unfortunately, many of the settlers were not Spanish-speaking Mexicans as they had hoped, but rather were English-speaking Americans, known as Texians.

There were clashes between the Anglos and the Mexicans. Much of the problem was due to the fact that the seat of power in Mexico was in Mexico City, which was very far away, with a large desert between it and Texas.

One of the Anglos who moved to Texas and brought 300 families with him was Stephen F. Austin. Born in Virginia and raised in Missouri, Austin was the de facto leader of the first Anglo Texans. He initially sought good relations with the Mexican government but was also responsible for the introduction of slavery into the region.

These first Anglo settlers were allowed to stay in Texas so long as they became Mexican citizens, converted to Catholicism, and obeyed Mexican laws.

On April 6, 1830, Mexico passed a law that banned further U.S. immigration to Texas and increased tariffs, exacerbating tensions with the settlers. It also suspended the property contracts of many settlers and stationed more Mexican troops in Texas.

These conditions on the Anglo settlers, as well as the introduction of slavery into Mexico and the abolition of the Mexican constitution by President and General Santa Anna, eventually erupted into conflict and war.

The first battle of the Texas Revolution is often described as a skirmish at the town of Gonzales on October 2, 1835. It erupted when Texan colonists refused to surrender a small cannon to Mexican troops, rallying under a flag that read “Come and Take It.”

Things escalated quickly after that. Texan forces, led by Stephen F. Austin, Jim Bowie, and others, laid siege to the Mexican garrison at San Antonio. The Texans eventually captured the town, delivering a significant blow to Mexican control over Texas.

In early 1836, things did not go well for the Texans.

In what is undoubtedly the war’s most famous battle, Mexican troops under General Antonio López de Santa Anna laid siege to the Alamo mission in San Antonio.

After a 13-day siege on March 6, the Mexican forces took the mission, killing all the Texan defenders. The dead included James Bowie, William B. Travis, and Davy Crockett.

Just three weeks later, on March 27, following the Battle of Coleto, approximately 430 Texican fighters surrendered to Mexican General José de Urrea and were subsequently executed by order of Santa Anna. It became known as the Goliad Massacre, named after the town where it took place.

The heavy-handed tactics of Santa Anna at the Alamo and Goliad backfired by strengthening the resolve of the Texicans and drawing even more people to the cause.

The fortunes of the Texican cause turned around quickly. On April 21, less than a month after the Goliad Massacre, the Texicans ended the revolution with a resounding victory over General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto.

This decisive battle, led by General Sam Houston and lasting just 18 minutes, saw the Texican army achieve a stunning victory. Despite being outnumbered, they killed 650 men on the command of Santa Anna at a loss of only 11.

The following day, they captured Santa Anna, effectively ending the war.

With Santa Anna in their captivity, they forced him to sign the Treaties of Velasco. The treaties consisted of two documents, one public and one secret.

The public treaty mandated the withdrawal of all Mexican troops from Texan territory and the release of Texan prisoners, while the secret treaty required Santa Anna to work towards officially recognizing the Rio Grande as the southern boundary of Texas upon his return to Mexico.

Despite these terms, the Mexican government refused to recognize Santa Anna’s authority while captive and subsequently never ratified the treaties, leading to ongoing disputes over Texas’s independence and territorial rights.

The Republic of Texas, which had been declared on March 2, became a living entity. Elections were held in September, and Sam Houston was elected as the first president.

However, there was a problem. Mexico never acknowledged the Treaties of Velasco and never recognized the Republic of Texas. In fact, Mexico occupied most of the territory claimed by the Republic of Texas.

The United States did recognize the Republic of Texas in 1837, but there were years of conflict with Mexico. Mexico continued to view Texas as a rebellious province.

I should note that the land the Republic of Texas claimed wasn’t just the boundaries of the current state. It also included parts of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming.

After a decade of financial and military problems, Texas finally decided to join the United States as the 28th state on December 29, 1845.

This was actually one of the most momentous cases of a state entering the union for a host of reasons. Most states were American territories before becoming states.

Texas was an independent republic, complete with its own currency and military. Even more importantly, it was land that was claimed by Mexico.

Everyone knew that if Texas were to become a state, it would mean war with Mexico. That was why the US Senate rejected the annexation of Texas in 1844.

There was another problem that delayed Texan statehood: slavery. In 1820, the Missouri Compromise put limits on new slave states. However, the compromise was in reference to land from the Louisiana Purchase, and Texas wasn’t part of that.

Part of the annexation terms was that Texas could be subdivided into four more states, provided that those states above 36°30’N, the line stipulated in the Missouri Compromise, be free states.

This stipulation became moot with the Compromise of 1850. California was admitted to the Union as a free state, and Texas relinquished their claim to lands in the states I mentioned in exchange for $10 million dollars.

Many Texans claim that the provision to create four more states out of Texas is still in effect, which is partially true. However, it is just as true for any state, as creating a new state from an old one requires the consent of the state legislature and Congress.

So, Texas could be split into five states, but then so could Michigan or Idaho.

You can see why Texas is unique among the US states. Its history with Spain and Mexico, its revolution, its independence, and finally, its controversial admission to the union is a history unlike any other state.