TExES Social Studies 4-8 (118)

Texas history is taught in Grade 4 and again, in greater depth, in Grade 7, so it is the most heavily tested history on this exam. The Grade 7 standards organize the story into named eras; know the order of the eras, the defining events of each, and the people connected with them.

Texas was home to diverse Indigenous peoples including the Caddo (agricultural confederacies in East Texas), Comanche (dominant Plains power after acquiring horses), Apache, Tonkawa, Karankawa, and Jumano. These nations had distinct cultures, economies, and political organizations.

Spanish exploration began when Alonso Álvarez de Pineda mapped the Gulf coast in 1519. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, shipwrecked in 1528, lived for years among coastal peoples before reaching Mexico in 1536, and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado crossed the Panhandle in 1541 in search of fabled cities of gold. After La Salle planted a French fort near Matagorda Bay in 1685, Spain moved to occupy the province. Spanish missions and presidios established in the late 17th and 18th centuries sought to convert Indigenous peoples and establish Spanish territorial claims against French Louisiana. San Antonio de Béxar (1718) became the primary Spanish settlement.

Spanish Texas remained sparsely populated and peripheral to New Spain's concerns. The mission system declined as Indigenous populations were devastated by disease. In 1821 Spanish authorities approved Moses Austin's plan to settle American families in Texas, opening the way for the empresario system.

Mexican independence (1821) brought Texas under Mexican jurisdiction. Stephen F. Austin negotiated colonization contracts bringing Anglo-American settlers, who were required to become Mexican citizens and Catholic. By 1835, Anglo-Texans outnumbered Tejanos approximately ten to one.

Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas," settled the first colony of about three hundred families (the Old Three Hundred) along the Brazos and Colorado rivers. Other empresarios included Green DeWitt, whose colony centered on Gonzales, and Martín de León, the only Mexican empresario to found a colony in Texas (Victoria). The federal Constitution of 1824 joined Texas to Coahuila as the single state of Coahuila y Tejas.

Tensions arose over centralization under President Santa Anna, slavery (Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, though Texas received an exemption), immigration restrictions, and cultural differences. The Texas Revolution began at Gonzales in October 1835, when settlers refused to give up a cannon and raised the "Come and Take It" flag.

The Alamo (March 1836) became a rallying symbol when Mexican forces overwhelmed defenders including William B. Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett. The Goliad Massacre executed captured Texan soldiers. Sam Houston's victory at San Jacinto (April 21, 1836) captured Santa Anna and secured Texan independence.

The Convention of 1836 also wrote a constitution modeled on that of the United States and named David G. Burnet ad interim president and Lorenzo de Zavala vice president. Tejanos took part on the Texan side: José Antonio Navarro and José Francisco Ruiz signed the declaration, and Juan Seguín led a Tejano company at San Jacinto. Susanna Dickinson, a survivor of the Alamo, carried news of its fall to Houston.

The Republic of Texas (1836–1845) faced challenges including debt, Mexican hostility, Indigenous conflicts, and debates over annexation to the United States. Sam Houston served two terms as president, pursuing diplomatic recognition and fiscal restraint. Mirabeau Lamar's administration promoted aggressive policies toward Mexico and Indigenous nations.

Texas annexation was delayed by sectional controversy over slavery and concerns about war with Mexico. Texas became the 28th state in December 1845. The Mexican-American War (1846–1848) resulted from boundary disputes; the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the Rio Grande boundary.

Congress annexed Texas by joint resolution. Under its terms Texas kept its public lands and its public debt. In the Compromise of 1850 Texas gave up its claims to land in present-day New Mexico and beyond in exchange for ten million dollars to pay its debts, which fixed the state's present boundaries.

Antebellum Texas developed cotton plantation agriculture in eastern regions, with enslaved people comprising over 30% of the population by 1860. Texas joined the Confederacy in 1861, though Governor Sam Houston opposed secession. Texas contributed troops and supplies to the Confederate cause but saw limited combat.

Reconstruction in Texas included military occupation, constitutional conventions, and brief Republican governance. Violence against freedpeople and Republican officials was widespread. Democrats regained control ("Redemption") by 1874, establishing patterns of racial discrimination.

Cattle ranching expanded after the Civil War, with cattle drives along trails to Kansas railheads. The open range era ended with barbed wire fencing, railroad expansion, and the severe winter of 1886–1887. The Texas Rangers were reorganized for frontier defense and law enforcement, though their actions against Mexican Americans and Indigenous peoples included brutality.

On the frontier, buffalo soldiers (African American cavalry and infantry regiments) served at forts across West Texas. The Red River War (1874–1875) ended with the Comanche, Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne confined to reservations in Indian Territory; Quanah Parker, the last major Comanche war leader, later guided his people in reservation life. Ranchers such as Charles Goodnight and Richard King built large ranches, and trails such as the Chisholm, Western, and Goodnight-Loving carried longhorns to market.

The Spindletop oil gusher (1901) near Beaumont initiated Texas's oil boom, transforming the state's economy. Houston, Dallas, and other cities grew rapidly. Agriculture diversified with cotton, cattle, timber, and citrus. Texas remained rural, Democratic, and segregated.

The Galveston hurricane of 1900, the deadliest natural disaster in United States history, destroyed the state's leading port. Galveston rebuilt behind a seawall and created the commission form of city government, which other American cities copied.

Progressive reforms in Texas included regulation of railroads and corporations, prohibition, women's suffrage, and education expansion. Governor James Hogg (1891–1895) secured the creation of the Railroad Commission to regulate rates. Texas women won the vote in primary elections in 1918, voters approved free textbooks for public schools the same year, and Texas ratified the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.

The Great Depression devastated Texas agriculture and oil. New Deal programs provided relief, though Texas politicians including John Nance Garner played complex roles in national politics. World War II brought military bases, defense industries, and population growth.

Postwar Texas experienced urbanization, economic diversification, and political change. The oil industry remained important, but manufacturing, aerospace, technology, and services expanded. The Civil Rights Movement challenged segregation; Sweatt v. Painter (1950) desegregated the University of Texas Law School.

Texas's political transformation from solidly Democratic to competitive two-party (and eventually Republican-dominated) state reflected broader southern realignment. Lyndon B. Johnson represented Texas in Congress and became president (1963–1969), championing civil rights and Great Society programs.

Other Texans shaped the nation in this period. Dwight D. Eisenhower, born in Denison, commanded Allied forces in Europe; Chester W. Nimitz of Fredericksburg commanded the Pacific Fleet; Audie Murphy became the most decorated American soldier of World War II; Doris Miller of Waco was honored for heroism at Pearl Harbor; and Oveta Culp Hobby directed the Women's Army Corps. Federal spending brought the space program's Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Johnson Space Center) to Houston in the 1960s, and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments in Dallas invented the integrated circuit, the foundation of the state's electronics industry.

Barbara Jordan became the first African American elected to the Texas Senate since Reconstruction (1966) and later served in Congress. Henry B. González and other Mexican American politicians advanced Latino representation. Ann Richards served as governor (1991–1995).

Contemporary Texas is the second-largest state by population and economy. Issues include immigration, border security, education funding, healthcare access, water resources, energy policy, and urban growth. Its diverse population, in which Hispanic Texans form the largest group alongside large Anglo, African American, and Asian American communities, shapes the state's politics and culture.