TEXAS GOVERNMENT

Texas Government: From Republic to the Modern Era

Texas Government: From Republic to the Modern Era

Introduction

Government in the nineteenth century exhibited several paradoxes. American ideology prescribed explicit limits on civic authority, yet government intervened widely in commercial and social activities, using its powers with significant effects. Citizens held the protection of individual rights as a foremost obligation of government, but many persons were denied liberty. Theory instructed officials to serve the public interest, but certain groups received favored treatment. Some of these contradictions resulted from changes in the scale and direction of governance during the 1800s. Yet these paradoxes also reflected the tension between theory and practice inherent in American politics.

The American Revolution magnified the conflict between power and liberty in political thinking and conditioned citizens to view government with apprehension. This outlook held that the power of government tempted officeholders to abuse authority and thereby deprive citizens of their rights, including the enjoyment of private property. Civic norms dictated constant vigilance of power holders and faithful observance of constitutions as safeguards for liberty. Influenced by these strictures, the authors of the Constitution formed a national government with three separate branches and subdivided the legislature into a House of Representatives and a Senate. The body of the Constitution contained explicit limits on uses of power, as did the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments). Finally, the Constitution distributed power between the central government and the states.

History of Texas

Before the 1500's, Texas was a massive land occupied by seven different kinds of Indian tribes. The seven tribes were: the Caddo's in east and northeast Texas, the Karankawa's ranged along the Gulf coast, the Coahuiltecan occupied the region along the lower Rio Grande, the Lipan-Apache were the furthest eastward and had the most contact with the early Texas settlements, the Comanche were in the north, and the Tonkawa lived in the region of central Texas. These tribes protected the land for hundreds of years until the first European explorer, Alonso Alvarez de Pineda, came to explore and map the Texas coastline.

As soon as the land was found, many other explorers came to Texas seeking for fortune and using it as a base for smuggling and privateering operations. Several European countries wanted to claim it as their own to build new settlements, especially Spain. The Spaniards built Catholic missions in Texas and along with the missions, the towns of San Antonio, Goliad, and Nacogdoches and formed the Mexican government. Shortly after, Texas was becoming a more known place, and many people wanted to come and colonize it, even the Americans.

In 1821, Moses Austin, became the first man to obtain permission from the Mexican government to bring Anglo-American settlers into Spanish Texas. But before he could set out to Texas to build an American settlement, he contracted pneumonia and died. His dying wish was to have his son take over and colonize Texas. So two years later, his son, Stephen Austin, brought 300 families and settled on 200,000 acres of ...