Texas

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Texas
Capital Austin
Nickname The Lone Star State
Official Language English
Governor Rick Perry, R
Senator John Cornyn, R
(202) 224-2934
Contact
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, R
(202) 224-5922
Contact
Ratification of Constitution/or statehood December 29, 1845 (28th)
Flag of Texas Motto: "Friendship"

Texas was the twenty-eighth state to enter into the union and was admitted on December 29, 1845. Texas is the second largest in population after California and has the second largest land-area after Alaska. It has the largest land-area in the continental US. Before its admission, it was its own country, having gained independence from Mexico.

The capital of Texas is Austin, and the largest city is Houston. It was solidly Democratic from about 1900 to the 1970s, then Republicans gradually took control and now dominate the political atmosphere of Texas.

Up until the 1980's Texas had a booming oil industry, starting with the Spindletop oil gusher. For many years Texas was one of the largest oil producers in the world.

Currently, Texas is shifting from the oil industry to the service sector. It has a growing tech industry and is home to many well-known corporations such as Dell and Texas Instruments.

The current governor of Texas is conservative Republican Rick Perry.

History

Texas was originally a northern part of Mexico. However, when Mexico had trouble settling this northern frontier, it invited American settlers by giving them certain civil guarantees (and implicitly assuring them that a blind eye would be turned to slavery, illegal in Mexico). Many Americans came, led by Stephen F. Austin.

However, when the dictator Santa Anna came to power, he rescinded these guarantees and threw Austin in prison when he protested. Led by General Sam Houston, the American settlers revolted in the Texas War of Independence, establishing the Republic of Texas and immediately petitioning for annexation to the United States. Due to the sectional conflict over slavery, annexation was delayed for nine years before being finally granted by joint resolution of Congress. Mexico immediately protested, leading to the Mexican-American War.

After the war, Texas' southern boundary was settled at the Rio Grande River. However, its western boundary, now bordering New Mexico Territory - was still indefinite. When Texas tried to assert its authority in Santa Fe, President Zachary Taylor threatened war. At the height of the quarrel, Taylor suddenly died. His successor, Millard Filmore, left the whole matter to Congress. In the Compromise of 1850, Texas agreed to its present borders in exchange for the United States assuming the debt from the Republic of Texas.

During the American Civil War, Texas joined the Confederacy. While it was not itself the scene of much fighting, it provided a jumpoff-point for Confederate attacks on New Mexico Territory.

Energy

Texas-oil.jpg
Oil-symbol.jpg


Texas leads the Nation in fossil fuel reserves and in non-hydropower renewable energy potential. Texas crude oil reserves represent almost one-fourth of total U.S. oil reserves, and Texas natural gas reserves account for almost three-tenths of total U.S. natural gas reserves. Although Texas’s oil reserves are found throughout the State in several geologic basins, the largest remaining reserves are concentrated in the Permian Basin of West Texas, which contains more than 20 of the Nation’s top 100 oil fields. Similarly, deposits of natural gas are found in abundance in several Texas production basins, with the largest fields heavily concentrated in the East Texas Basin in the northeastern part of the State. Texas’s fossil fuel reserves also include substantial deposits of lignite coal, found in narrow bands in the Gulf Coast region, and bituminous coal, found in north central and southwestern Texas.[1]

Texas is also rich in renewable energy potential, including wind, solar, and biomass resources. Wind resource areas in the Texas Panhandle, along the Gulf Coast south of Galveston, and in the mountain passes and ridgetops of the Trans-Pecos offer Texas some of the greatest wind power potential in the United States. Solar power potential is also among the highest in the country, with high levels of direct solar radiation (suitable to support large-scale solar power plants) concentrated in West Texas. Due to its large agricultural and forestry sectors, Texas has an abundance of biomass energy resources. Although Texas is not known as a major hydropower State, substantial untapped potential exists in several river basins, including the Colorado River of Texas and the Lower Red.

Due to its large population and an energy-intensive economy, Texas leads the Nation in energy consumption, accounting for more than one-tenth of total U.S. energy use. Energy-intensive industries in Texas include aluminum, chemicals, forest products, glass, and petroleum refining.

Petroleum

The State’s signature crude oil type, known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), remains the major benchmark of crude oil in the Americas.

Texas leads the United States in both crude oil production and refining capacity. Texas’s first major oil boom began in 1901 with the discovery of the Spindle Top oil field in the upper Gulf Coast basin. Since then, major discoveries have been made in East Texas, West Texas, and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas oil production increased until 1972, when it peaked at more than 3.4 million barrels per day. Afterward, production declined rapidly, and in recent years Texas crude oil output has fallen to less than one-third of its 1972 peak.

Although Texas oil production is in decline, the State’s signature crude oil type, known as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), remains the major benchmark of crude oil in the Americas. Because of its light consistency and low-sulfur content, the quality of WTI is considered to be high, and it yields a large fraction of gasoline when refined. Most WTI crude oil is sent via pipeline to Midwest refining centers, although much of this crude oil is also refined in the Gulf Coast region.

Texas’s 26 petroleum refineries can process nearly 4.8 million barrels of crude oil per day, and they account for more than one-fourth of total U.S. refining capacity. Most of the State’s refineries are clustered near major ports along the Gulf Coast, including Houston, Port Arthur, and Corpus Christi. These coastal refineries have access to local Texas production, foreign imports, and oil produced offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the U.S. government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which operates two large storage facilities in Bryan Mound and Big Hill, Texas. Many of Texas’s refineries are sophisticated facilities that use additional refining processes beyond simple distillation to yield a larger quantity of lighter, higher value products, such as gasoline. Because of this downstream capability, Texas refineries often process a wide variety of crude oil types from around the world, including heavier, lower value varieties.

Refineries in the Houston area, including the Baytown refinery, the Nation’s largest refinery, make up the largest refining center in the United States. From Houston, refined product pipelines spread across the country, allowing Texas petroleum products to reach virtually every major consumption market east of the Rocky Mountains. This network includes the Colonial Pipeline system (Koch), which is the largest petroleum product pipeline system in the United States and is vital for supplying markets throughout the South and East Coast.

Texas’s total petroleum consumption is the highest in the Nation, and the State leads the country in consumption of asphalt and road oil, distillate fuel oil, jet fuel, liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), and lubricants. Texas LPG use is greater than the LPG consumption of all other States combined, due primarily to the State’s active petrochemical industry, which is the largest in the United States. Four separate motor gasoline blends are required in Texas to meet the diverse air quality needs of different parts the State, including reformulated motor gasoline blended with ethanol required in the metropolitan areas of Houston and Dallas-Forth Worth. The agriculture-rich Texas Panhandle has several corn- and milo-based ethanol plants that are operational or under construction.

Natural Gas

Texas is the Nation’s leading natural gas producer, accounting for more than one-fourth of total U.S. natural gas production. In the early days of Texas oil production, natural gas found with oil was largely considered a nuisance and was often flared (burned off) at the wellhead. Although some Texas cities and towns located near oil fields began using natural gas for energy, it was not until the State banned flaring after World War II that oil producers began to find new markets for natural gas. Two pipelines that once carried crude oil to the East Coast were converted to carry natural gas and a new natural gas pipeline to California was built, setting the stage for strong natural gas production growth in the 1950s and 60s. Texas natural gas production reached its peak in 1972 at more than 9.6 billion cubic feet of annual production. Since then, output has declined steadily to less than three-fifths of that level.

Today, an expansive network of interstate natural gas pipelines extends from Texas, reaching consumption markets from coast to coast, including those in California, the Midwest, the East Coast, and New England. Texas has 10 natural gas market hubs located in both East and West Texas, more than any other State, and its natural gas storage capacity is among the highest in the Nation. Most of Texas’s 34 active storage facilities are depleted oil and gas fields converted for storage use, although many sites have also been developed in salt dome formations. These storage facilities allow Texas to store its natural gas production during the summer when national demand is typically lower and to ramp up delivery quickly during the winter months when markets across the country require greater volumes of natural gas to meet their home heating needs. However, due to the growing use of natural gas for electricity generation in the United States, Texas has occasionally withdrawn natural gas from storage during the summer months to help meet peak electricity demand for air-conditioning use.

Texas consumes more natural gas than any other State and accounts for about one-fifth of total U.S. natural gas consumption. Texas natural gas demand is dominated by the industrial and electric power sectors, which together account for more than four-fifths of State use. Because Texas demand is high, and because the State’s natural gas infrastructure is well connected to consumption markets throughout the country, several companies have proposed building liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals along the Gulf Coast in Texas.

Coal, Electricity, and Renewables Natural gas-fired power plants typically account for about one-half of the electricity produced in Texas and coal-fired plants account for much of the remaining generation. Although Texas produces a substantial amount of coal from 13 surface mines, including five of the 50 largest in the United States, the State relies on rail deliveries of subbituminous coal from Wyoming for the majority of its supply. Nearly all of the coal mined in Texas is lignite coal, the lowest grade of coal, and all of it is consumed in the State, mostly in arrangements where a single utility operates both the mine and an adjacent coal-fired power plant. Although lower in energy content than other varieties of coal, lignite coal is also low in sulfur, an important consideration in the State’s efforts to lower emissions. Texas consumes more coal than any other State and its emissions of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide are among the highest in the Nation.

Texas is a major nuclear power generating State. Two nuclear plants, Comanche Peak and South Texas Project, typically account for about one-tenth of the State’s electric power production. Until the recent uprating (capacity improvement) of the Number 2 reactor at Palo Verde in Arizona, the two South Texas Project nuclear reactors were the largest in the Nation.

Although renewable energy sources contribute minimally to the Texas power grid, Texas leads the Nation in wind-powered generation capacity, and substantial new wind generation capacity is under construction in Texas. Texas surpassed California as the country’s largest wind energy producer in 2006. Currently, there are over 2,000 wind turbines in West Texas alone, and the numbers continue to increase as development costs continue to drop and wind turbine technology improves. At 736 MW, the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center in central Texas is the largest wind power facility in the world.

Texas produces and consumes more electricity than any other State. Despite large net interstate electricity imports in some areas, the Texas Interconnect power grid is largely isolated from the integrated power systems serving the eastern and western United States, and most areas of Texas have little ability to export or import electricity to and from other States. Texas per capita residential use of electricity is significantly higher than the national average, due to high demand for electric air-conditioning during hot summer months and the widespread use of electricity as the primary energy source for home heating during typically mild winter months.


Education

Education

The weakness of education in Texas has always (and still is) an important priority. The Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico included the following grievance against the government of Mexico pertaining to education:

It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources, (the public domain,) and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self government.

Even today Texas is in the forefront of education in the country as the No Child Left Behind( NCLB) Act is being implemented. The administration of George W. Bush used Texas as a model for many of the reforms in the NCLB Act because of his previous experiences as governor of Texas.

In 2006 Texas ranked #25 out of 50 states on a composite index of public education.[2] Texas ranks:[3]

  • #49 in verbal SAT scores in the nation (493) and #46 in average math SAT scores (502).
  • #36 in the nation in high school graduation rates (68%).
  • #33 in the nation in teacher salaries. Teacher salaries in Texas are not keeping pace with the national average. The gains realized from the last state-funded across-the-board pay raise authorized in 1999, which moved the ranking from 33 to as high as 26th in the nation, have disappeared over the last five years.
  • Texas was the only state in the nation to cut average per pupil expenditures in fiscal year 2005, resulting in a ranking of #40 nationally; down from #25 in fiscal year 1999.
  • #6 in the nation in student growth. The general student population in Texas public schools grew by 11.1% between school years 1999 and 2005, with the largest percent of growth seen among low income and minority children.

Public Education

The Texas public education system consists of 1,033 independent and common school districts. There are an additional 190 charter school districts. Public school enrollment has continued to increase at a rapid pace. In the 2000-2001 school year, public school enrollment was at 4,059,619 students. By the 2006-2007 school year, the public school enrollment had increased by over 500,000 students to a mark of 4,594,942 students.

Higher Education

The University of Texas System and the Texas A&M System are two of the largest higher education systems in the nation, with numerous branch campuses. The University of Texas at Austin is the largest institution in the UT System, while Texas A&M is the flagship of the rival system. Thanks to ownership of oil fields, their endowments in 2006 reached $13.2 billion and $5.6 billion. The best endowed private schools were Rice University in Houston with $4.0 billion, Southern Methodist University in Dallas ($1.1 billion); Baylor College of Medicine ($1.0 billion), and Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth ($1.0 billion).

The state of Texas is home of many notable institutions of higher learning.

Notable Texans

The Texas capitol building in Austin
  • Lance Armstrong, who holds the record for most consecutive Tour de France victories, was born in Plano.
  • George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, former Governor of Texas.
  • Pat Garrett, the policeman who shot Billy the Kid, lived in multiple locations in Texas.
  • Sam Houston was the president of Texas when it was an independent nation, and lent his name to Texas's largest city.
  • Howard Hughes, the reclusive billionaire who was the subject of the movie The Aviator, was born in Humble.
  • Lyndon B. Johnson, former president, lived and died in Stonewall.
  • Ted Nugent, controversial conservative musician, lives near Crawford.
  • Ross Perot, former presidential candidate, lives in Dallas
  • Stevie Ray Vaughn, musician.
  • Claudia Johnson "Lady Bird Johnson", Born December 22, 1912. Lady Bird Johnson was the wife of President Lyndon B. Johnson. She is also known for her involvement in improving the physical conditions along the nations highways.


See also

Basic further reading

Advanced Bibliography

Surveys

  • Calvert, Robert A., Arnoldo De Leon, and Gregg Cantrell. The History of Texas (2002)
  • Campbell, Randolph B. Gone to Texas: a History of the Lone Star State (Oxford University Press, 2003, 500 pages.], standard scholarly survey excerpt and text search; complete online edition
  • Fehrenbach, T. R. Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans (2007), popular survey excerpt and text search
  • McDonald, Archie P. Texas: A Compact History (2007) excerpt and text search
  • Wooster, Ralph A. and Robert A. Calvert, eds. Texas Vistas (1987) reprinted scholarly essays

Localities and regions

  • Hill, Patricia Evridge. Dallas: The Making of a Modern City (1996).
  • Horgan, Paul. Great River, The Rio Grande in North American History, reprint, 1977, ISBN 0-03-029305-7
  • Jordan, Terry G. Texas, a Geography (1984) online edition
  • McComb, David G. Houston, a History U of Texas Press, 1981.
  • Meinig, D. W. Imperial Texas: An Interpretive Essay in Cultural Geography, (1969), 145 pages.
  • Melosi, Martin V., and Joseph A. Pratt, eds. Energy Metropolis: An Environmental History of Houston and the Gulf Coast. (2007), 350ppISBN 978-0-8229-5963-2. online review

Ethnicity and race

  • Barr, Alwyn. Black Texans: A History of African Americans in Texas, 1528-1995 (1996) excerpt and text search
  • De Leon, Arnoldo. Mexican Americans in Texas: A Brief History 2nd ed. Harlan Davidson, 1999.
  • Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986 University of Texas Press, 1987.

Pre–1865

  • Baum, Dale. The Shattering of Texas Unionism: Politics in the Lone Star State during the Civil War Era Louisiana State University Press, 1998.
  • Bell, Walter F. "Civil War Texas: A Review of the Historical Literature" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 109(2): 204-232. Issn: 0038-478x
  • Binkley, William C. "The Activities of the Texan Revolutionary Army after San Jacinto," The Journal of Southern History> Vol. 6, No. 3 (Aug., 1940), pp. 331-346 in JSTOR
  • Buenger, Walter L. Secession and the Union in Texas. University of Texas Press, 1984.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865 Louisiana State University Press, 1989. excerpt and text search
  • Campbell, Randolph B. Sam Houston and the American Southwest HarperCollins, 1993.
  • Campbell, Randolph B., and Richard G. Lowe. Wealth and Power in Antebellum Texas Texas A&M University Press, 1977.
  • Cantrell, Gregg. Stephen F. Austin: Empresario of Texas. Yale University Press, 1999. excerpt and text search
  • Carroll, Mark M. Homesteads Ungovernable: Families, Sex, Race, and the Law in Frontier Texas, 1823–1860 University of Texas Press, 2001.
  • Chipman, Donald E. Spanish Texas, 1519–1821 University of Texas Press, 1992.
  • Chipman, Donald E., and Harriett Denise Joseph. Notable Men and Women of Spanish Texas. University of Texas Press, 1999.
  • De Leon, Arnoldo. The Tejano Community, 1836–1900 University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
  • Friend, Llerena B. Sam Houston: The Great Designer University of Texas Press, 1954.
  • Haley, James L. Sam Houston (2004) excerpt and text search
  • Hardin, Stephen L. Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836 University of Texas Press, 1994.
  • Jordan, Terry G. German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth Century Texas University of Texas Press, 1966.
  • Jordan, Terry G. "The Imprint of the Upper and Lower South on Mid-Nineteenth-Century Texas," Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 57, No. 4 (Dec., 1967), pp. 667-690 in JSTOR
  • Kerby, Robert L. Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863–1865 Columbia University Press, 1972.
  • Lack, Paul D. The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835–1836 Texas A&M University Press, 1992. excerpt and text search
  • Lowe, Richard G., and Randolph B. Campbell. Planters and Plain Folk: Agriculture in Antebellum Texas Southern Methodist University Press, 1987.
  • Lowrie, Samuel H. Culture Conflict in Texas, 1821–1835 Columbia University Press, 1932.
  • Pace, Robert F., and Donald S. Frazier. Frontier Texas: History of a Borderland to 1880 (2004) excerpt and text search
  • Poyo, Gerald E., ed. Tejano Journey, 1770–1850 University of Texas Press, 1996.
  • Rives, George Lockhart. The United States and Mexico, 1821-1848 (2 vol 1913) vol 1 to end of 1845
  • Siegel, Stanley. A Political History of the Texas Republic University of Texas Press, 1956.
  • Silverthorne, Elizabeth. Plantation Life in Texas Texas A&M University Press, 1986.
  • Weber, David J. The Spanish Frontier in North America. Yale University Press, 1992. excerpt and text search

1865–1920

  • Barr, Alwyn. Reconstruction to Reform: Texas Politics, 1876–1906 University of Texas Press, 1971.
  • Buenger, Walter L. The Path to a Modern South: Northeast Texas between Reconstruction and the Great Depression University of Texas Press, 2001.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. Grass-Roots Reconstruction in Texas, 1865–1880 Louisiana State University Press, 1997.
  • Clampitt, Brad R. "The Breakup: the Collapse of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Army in Texas, 1865" Southwestern Historical Quarterly 2005 108(4): 498-534. Issn: 0038-478x
  • Cotner, Robert C. James Stephen Hogg: A Biography . University of Texas Press, 1959.
  • Crouch, Barry A. The Freedmen's Bureau and Black Texans. University of Texas Press, 1992.
  • Gould, Lewis N. Progressives and Prohibitionists: Texas Democrats in the Wilson Era University of Texas Press, 1973.
  • Jordan, Terry G. Trails to Texas: Southern Roots of Western Cattle Ranching University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
  • McArthur, Judith N. Creating the New Woman: The Rise of Southern Women's Progressive Culture in Texas, 1893–1918. University of Illinois Press, 1998.
  • Martin, Roscoe C. The People's Party in Texas: A Study in Third Party Politics University of Texas Press, 1933.
  • Pitre, Merline. Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares: The Black Leadership of Texas, 1868–1900 Eakin Press, 1985.
  • Ramsdell, Charles William. Reconstruction in Texas Columbia University Press, 1910.
  • Rice, Lawrence D. The Negro in Texas, 1874–1900 Louisiana State University Press, 1971
  • Spratt, John Stricklin. The Road to Spindletop: Economic Change in Texas, 1875–1901. Southern Methodist University Press, 1955.
  • Utley, Robert M. Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers Oxford University Press, 2002.


1920–2006

  • Blackwelder, Julia Kirk. Women of the Depression: Caste and Culture in San Antonio, 1929–1939. Texas A&M University Press, 1984.
  • Brown, Norman D. Hood, Bonnet, and Little Brown Jug: Texas Politics, 1921–1928 Texas A&M University Press, 1984.
  • Robert A. Caro. The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1) (1990); Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 2) (1991)
  • Cox, Patrick. Ralph W. Yarborough, The People's Senator. University of Texas Press, 2001.
  • Dallek, Robert. Lone Star Rising: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1908–1960. Oxford University Press, 1991.
  • Davidson, Chandler. Race and Class in Texas Politics. Princeton University Press, 1990.
  • Foley, Neil. The White Scourge: Mexicans, Blacks, and Poor Whites in Texas Cotton Culture University of California Press, 1997.
  • Green, George Norris. The Establishment in Texas Politics: The Primitive Years, 1938–1957 Greenwood Press, 1979.
  • Knaggs, John R. Two-Party Texas: The John Tower Era, 1961–1984 Eakin Press, 1986.
  • Lee, James Ward, et al., eds. 1941: Texas Goes to War. University of North Texas Press, 1991.
  • Char Miller. Deep in the Heart of San Antonio: Land and Life in South Texas Trinity University Press 2004.
  • Olien, Diana Davids, and Roger M. Olien. Oil in Texas: The Gusher Age, 1895–1945 University of Texas Press, 2002.
  • Patenaude, Lionel V. Texans, Politics, and the New Deal Garland Publishing, 1983.
  • Perryman, M. Ray. Survive and Conquer, Texas in the '80s: Power—Money—Tragedy … Hope! Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1990.
  • James Reston. The Lone Star: The Life of John Connally (1989)
  • San Miguel, Guadalupe, Jr. “Let All of Them Take Heed”: Mexican Americans and the Campaign for Educational Equality in Texas, 1910–1981 University of Texas Press, 1987.
  • Whisenhunt, Donald W. The Depression in Texas: The Hoover Years Garland Publishing, 1983.
  • The End of Cheap Oil National Geographic Society, 2004.

Primary source collections

notes

  1. ↑ See Energy Information Administration, State Report 2009
  2. ↑ See "Which State Is Smartest?" (2007) at [1]
  3. ↑ see Carol Keeton Strayhorn, Texas State Comproller, "Major Challenges Facing Texas Education Today" at [2]


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